Silucky

The motto for most gamblers who come to Las Vegas on a lark is rather simple – go big or go home.

The Curse of Megabucks Progressive Slot Machine Megabucks is a Nevada state-wide slot jackpot network that is owned and run by the slot machine company, International Game Technology (IGT). Considered Nevada’s state lottery, Megabucks is extremely popular and has created quite a few millionaires in its 19-year history. What’s cool about Megabucks, all the slot machines around Vegas are all connected to one another. That means each person gambling on these machines is contributing to the jackpot amount, and whenever someone wins the jackpot, the jackpot amount for that machine, as well as all the other ones are reset to the starting amount which is $10,000,000.

If you’re going to wager real American dollars on games of chance and skill, there’s no reason to take the conservative route. Bankroll management notwithstanding, the goal for any gambler in Sin City is to hit it big, win the jackpot, and walk away with more money than you know what to do with.

Of course, the vast majority of us who take these shots don’t mint themselves instant millionaires. Instead, the house’s inexorable edge and every gambling game’s inherent odds against the player combine to pour our money straight into the casino’s coffers.

For this reason, what happened at the Excalibur casino on March 21^st of 2003 when a random tourist from Los Angeles decided to hit the slots has become the stuff of Las Vegas legend.

On that day, an anonymous 25-year old gambler arrived in town to visit his family. With the annual “March Madness” college basketball tournament in full swing, the player figured they might as well get some action down on Duke, Arizona, and the rest of the sport’s heavyweights.

Megabucks Slot Machine Las Vegas

The young man’s uncle heard about the trip to Excalibur Hotel & Casino and offered his nephew a little sage advice from a Las Vegas local – play the Megabucks slot machine and see what happens.

And with a $10 million starting seed* – not to mention millions of tourists plunking down the requisite $3 per spin to give themselves a chance – the Megabucks jackpot had swelled to an astounding $39.7 million.

*Megabucks initially offered a $1 million starting seed, before increasing to $7 million in 1997, and $10 million in 2005

Thus, the visitor from L.A. found a Megabucks machine and took a seat with $100 in hand.

What happened next made history…

How Does the Megabucks Slot Machine Work?

First things first though… in case you’re unfamiliar with the Megabucks slot, here’s a quick crash course on the greatest progressive jackpot game of them all.

Casino game manufacturer International Game Technology (IGT) introduced its Megabucks slot way back in 1986. At the time, slot machine jackpots were static in nature, meaning each individual machine offered its own kitty based on how many coins had been previously deposited in between major payouts.

IGT had a revolutionary idea, however, so the company linked its various Megabucks machines all over the Silver State together. In other words, whenever a player in Reno, Mesquite, or anywhere in Nevada for that matter played one Megabucks machine, their coins contributed to the same jackpot total.

This wide area progressive jackpot concept proved to be an immediate hit with players, who loved to watch the meter continuously climb into the seven-figures.

And those meters did climb on a daily basis too, thanks to the Megabucks game’s enormous odds against on the topline jackpot.

Megabucks is a deceptively simple game, one which eschews the multiple paylines and expanded reels that make up the bulk of a casino’s slot inventory nowadays. For a maximum bet of $3, players send three reels spinning, each featuring traditional symbols like 7s, cherries, and BARs. To form winning combinations, players hope to hit three matching symbols along a single payline.

The game’s jackpot symbol is a golden “Megabucks Eagle” which depicts the slot’s distinctive logo. The only thing is, landing even one of these crucial symbols along the payline requires the player to beat odds of 1 in 368. Knowing this, the odds against spiking all three at once come to an astronomical 1 in 49,836,032 – or (1/368)³.

For this reason, the Megabucks progressive jackpot often goes unclaimed for extended stretches, many of which lasting more than a year. With so much time in between big winners, and so many players statewide tossing $3 per spin into the kitty, Megabucks jackpots soon became notorious for reaching epic proportions.

Before that fateful day in 2003, Megabucks players enjoyed an incredible run which saw the jackpot rise to a then record $27.5 million in 1998. That life-changing sum was won by a lucky slot spinner at Palace Station in November of 1998, but the record was eventually broken with a $34.9 million payout awarded to a cocktail waitress playing at the Desert Inn in January of 2000.

A little more than three years later, a new record was waiting to be set at the Excalibur.

$100 Flier Turns Into Life-Changing Record Jackpot Win

Starting out with only $100, the player from L.A. had just 33 spins to work with given the $3* price of play.

*Megabucks can be played for $1 or $2 spins, but the progressive jackpot is only awarded to players who opt for the max-bet of $3

Even so, as a press release issued by IGT later revealed, the player with a birthdate featuring three 7s seemed to have Lady Luck on his arm from the very start. Within the span of those 33 spins, the man watched as not one, not two, but three of the “Megabucks Eagle” symbols slowly spun and came to a rest alongside one another.

Just like that, the player had beaten odds of nearly 1 in 50 million to put nearly $40 million in his pocket.

Well, not all at once anyway. The winner elected to take $1.5 million installments over the course of 26 years – which means he’s still receiving seven-figure payouts annually to this day. In fact, the winner has another 10 years and $15 million remaining on his record-setting payment plan.

Although he chose to remain anonymous, the winner provided the following statement to IGT:

“I’m still stunned; it doesn’t seem real yet. But both of my parents are still working, so some of this money will be used to fund their retirement.”

Largest Megabucks Jackpot Ever – And By a Long Shot

John Sears – who served as vice president of IGT’s MegaJackpots program at the time – confirmed that the $39,713,982.25 payout smashed the previous record for largest slot machine jackpot ever awarded:

“This MegaJackpot is nearly $5 million more than the previous world record slot jackpot amount of $34.9 million – this one goes into The Guinness Book of Records.”

Check out the table below – featuring 10 real megabucks jackpot wins – to get a better sense of just how ridiculous the record-setting jackpot really is:

Megabucks Jackpot History (Wins of $10 Million or More)

Competing Jackpot Hunters Lament Loss of Record-Setting Total

Within the slot machine gaming enthusiast community, learning that Megabucks’ massive jackpot had been won proved to be bittersweet indeed.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun conducted shortly after the news broke, Kim Wong from Kailua, Hawaii told the newspaper how she felt watching the meter reset back to $10 million:

Megabucks Slot Machine Current Jackpot

“I was here at lunchtime around 12:30 and it was still around $39.7 million. Then I came back around quarter after one and it was resetting. It was such a drag. It was a little more enticing with the $39 million up there, but I’m still playing.”

Judy Selasky from Lavonia, Michigan provided a similar story, telling the paper that even though a record payout was off the table, she and her husband would still play in hopes of a “lightning strikes twice” type of moment:

“I said, ‘Hurry up and get up to the room, so I can get downstairs. I figure if he won, there might be some magic here. I’m not a hog.”

Conclusion

In a city like Las Vegas which was founded on excess, setting the world record for slot machine jackpot winnings really is something special. And while we don’t know much about the software engineer from L.A. who did the deed, learning that a 25-year old tourist took the honors should give hope to every gambler who makes the sojourn to Sin City.

More than 16 years have passed since the record-setting spin, and nobody has even come close to claiming such an incredible Megabucks jackpot over that span – which shows just how astonishing that memorable moment in March of 2003 really was.

Photo of Trinadad Torres courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

Admit it. You have the same dream we do.

Everything conspires and you find yourself in the right place at the right time – seated in front of a Megabucks slot machine that’s primed and ready to hit. You push the button (of course, pulling a lever would be more dramatic, but this is 2015 and the one-armed bandit has gone the way of the horse and buggy). The logos on the reels all line up. And then the moment you’ve been waiting for finally arrives…you realize you’re a millionaire.

Correction: A multimillionaire.

IGT’s Megabucks has been paying out ginormous life-changing jackpots for almost 20 years. Its slogan is “Dream big. Win big.”

A network of slot machines linked throughout Nevada, Megabucks boasts a top prize that builds from a base amount of $10 million. To play it costs $1 a spin, but to quality for that top amount you’ll have to shell out $3. That sounds pretty steep, we know. But trust us, if you hit Megabucks with only a buck or two invested, you’ll leave with a jackpot in the thousands instead of millions. And just imagine trying to live with that.

As you’d expect, Megabucks lays claim to having paid the largest slot jackpots in Vegas history. It last hit here in mid March at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The lucky winner was Trinadad Torres, a 78-year-old woman from Magna, Utah. She played $100 before netting the $10,744,292.71 jackpot. Her plans include traveling to the Philippines and buying a yellow Mustang.

While nothing to sneeze at, Torres’ windfall just misses placing her on our list below of the 10 biggest slot jackpots ever won in Sin City.

Photo of Excalibur courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $39,710,826.36
When: March 21, 2003
Where:Excalibur

More than 12 years ago, a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, who wanted to remain anonymous (and who can blame him?), hit the city’s largest slot jackpot after playing $100 on a Megabucks machine. A C-note in return for nearly $40 million…now that’s what we’d call a damn good investment.

Photo of Cynthia Jay-Brennan at the Desert Inn courtesy of Ethan Miller / Las Vegas Sun.

Jackpot amount: $34,959,458.56
When: Jan. 26, 2000
Where: Desert Inn (imploded in phases in 2001 and 2004 to make room for Wynn Las Vegas)

Gobs bigger than any tip she’d received, cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan, then 37 years old, hit the second largest Megabucks slot jackpot in Vegas (at that time it was the city’s highest Megabucks payout). But her story took a tragic turn when her car was rear-ended about six weeks later by a drunk driver. Her older sister Lela died in the accident, and Jay-Brennan was left paralyzed.

Photo of Palace Station courtesy of Station Casinos.

Jackpot amount: $27,580,879.60
When: Nov. 15, 1998
Where:Palace Station

Ignoring your budget isn’t always a bad thing. Just ask the then 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Vegas who racked up the city’s third largest Megabucks slot payout. She’d only intended to play $100 at Palace Station that day, but wound up putting $300 in…and we’re pretty she doesn’t regret overspending one bit.

Jackpot amount: $22,621,229.74
When: May 27, 2002
Where:Bally’s

How does that old expression go? The early bird catches…the $22.6 million slot jackpot. Well, that’s how Johanna Heundl (then 74 years old) of Covina, California, might remember it. She was on her way to breakfast when she decided to stop and play a Megabucks machine. Having looked away for a moment, she couldn’t believe her eyes when she turned back and saw all the logos aligned in the payline.

Photo of Caesars Palace courtesy of Caesars Entertainment.

Jackpot amount: $21,346,952.22
When: June 1, 1999
Where:Caesars Palace

An Illinois man, then 49 years old and described as a “self-employed business consultant,” put a $10 bill into a Megabucks machine at the Roman-themed property and hit this whopping multimillion-dollar slot jackpot on his first spin. Here’s what we want to know: Is he still consulting? Can we hire him to help us get into the business of being millionaires?

Jackpot amount: $21,147,947
When: Sept. 15, 2005
Where:Cannery Casino Hotel

One man, two times a Megabucks winner. What are the odds? They’ve got to be astronomical. Certainly, anyone would be happy to score a single multimillion-dollar slot jackpot. But not everyone is Elmer Sherwin. A frequent Vegas visitor, Sherwin hit his first Megabucks jackpot of $4.6 million at The Mirage back in 1989. It was a sign of even better things to come. Sixteen years later, at the age of 92, that lucky son of a gun (kidding, we’re not jealous…really) did it again, adding another $21.1 million to his bank account.

Photo courtesy of the M Resort.

Jackpot amount: $17,329,817.80
When: Dec. 14, 2012
Where:M Resort

Oh, the best things in life are free…especially when they lead to a $17.3 million jackpot. A Las Vegas woman stopped by the M Resort in Henderson to gamble with her “free play” credits and enjoy a meal with some dining vouchers. Before she knew it, she’d become a multimillionaire.

Photo of “Rampart Lucky Local” courtesy of the Rampart Casino.

Jackpot amount: $14,282,544.21
When: Nov. 30, 2014
Where: Rampart Casino

Late last year a Las Vegas man put $20 in a Megabucks slot machine at the Summerlin-area Rampart Casino. Within five minutes he’d hit a jackpot worth $14.2 million. His plans were altruistic (unlike ours). The man, dubbed the “Rampart Lucky Local,” said he would make a donation to his church. The church, which had been holding services in a high school gym, can now have its own location built.

Photo of Aria courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $12,769,933
When: Jan. 21, 2011
Where:Aria

A woman visiting her niece in Vegas decided to drop $6 in a Megabucks slot machine before heading back to her room. Her reaction when the winning symbols lined up: “The machine broke.” Luckily, her niece was there to clarify things. We think we should book a room at Aria because about four months after that jackpot occurred, another Megabucks jackpot hit at the resort for $10,636,897. Talk about lightning striking twice!

Photo of New York-New York courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $12,510,549.90
When: April 14, 1997
Where:New York-New York

New York-New York opened its doors on Jan. 3, 1997. Perhaps due to a little of the “city that never sleeps” magic, Vegas resident Suzanne Henley made her fortune at the Big Apple-themed megaresort just a few months later. On her way home from work, she stopped in to play a Megabucks machine – one that she’d had an inkling might hit. Henley waited in line an hour before she could play. And at 1:44 a.m., after putting $100 in, her diligence paid off…to the tune of more than $12.5 million.

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