The Biggest Jackpots in Casino History
Many gamblers dream of hitting a huge casino jackpot and sometimes this becomes reality for lucky players.
Hardcore casino fans tend to overlook slot machines; however, these have produced some of the biggest wins ever seen in gambling history. Let’s take a look at some of these big winners and their incredible stories!
1. Elmer Sherwin
Elmer Sherwin was an exceptionally lucky World War II veteran who managed to win the Megabucks slot jackpot twice during his lifetime. The first win came at Mirage casino shortly after opening, when he scooped $4.6 million shortly thereafter. Sixteen years later he returned and this time won more than double that amount, taking home $21 million instead! He donated much of this bounty to charities helping Hurricane Katrina victims.
Unimaginably lucky individuals could win millions in slot machine jackpots; yet one 71-year-old Hawaiian woman did just that at Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas! Playing on just one machine for three hours with just $100 bet, she hit an 8.9 million dollar jackpot that changed her life and serves as an excellent reminder that never stop believing in luck!
2. Johanna Heundl
Every slot player dreams of hitting the jackpot – yet few actually succeed in doing so. Here are 10 players who managed to beat the odds and secure themselves big wins in slot machines.
Johanna Heundl is one of the luckiest slot players ever. In 1998 at Palace Station Resort and Casino she won an incredible $27.5 million jackpot; at that time it was the largest in Vegas history.
Heundl’s win was part of International Game Technology’s Megabucks progressive network, connecting 751 machines across 157 Nevada casinos and administered by International Game Technology. She became one of 57 Megabucks jackpot winners since its start in 1986 – with plans to use her winnings to help her family and visit Austria – and to receive annual payments instead of one large lump sum payment. Heundl’s incredible feat stands as testament to luck! Her win ranks among one of the greatest ever witnessed in Vegas history and stands as an extraordinary testament to luck’s influence!
3. Cynthia Jay-Brennan
In January 2000, cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan won a $39.7 million jackpot slot machine that at the time was considered the world’s largest casino jackpot prize. Her success allowed her to buy a house and pursue any dreams she desired.
Fortune took an unexpected turn: six weeks after she won a substantial prize, an intoxicated driver rear-ended her car, rendering her paralyzed from waist down.
Now, Jay-Brennan spends her days navigating her wheelchair around her newly purchased house with money from her big win. Terry Brennan helps with cooking, cleaning and picking up mail for her as well as moving her every three to five nights to improve circulation and place covers back over her while she shivers in cold. Terry works full time at Monte Carlo as a bartender; his assistance was instrumental in keeping Jay alive to see this far.
4. David McKay
Every person who has ever put coins or chips into a slot machine or on a table has dreamed of striking it rich, and some have done it – winning some of the largest jackpots in casino history that forever changed their lives.
Slot machines often go overlooked by casino enthusiasts, yet slot machines have produced some of the greatest wins in gambling history. Take for example a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles who won the Megabucks jackpot with only $1 in March 2003 – taking home $39.7 Million! His win proved that big winnings can come quickly from casinos; similarly Conor Revell proved this point by winning one million pounds on roulette wheel just four years later!
