How many times have you stepped in a casino and dreamt of walking out a millionaire? How often do you login to your online casino account with high hopes? Everyone plays to win and hopefully win big. Players win every day in casinos, but truly big wins are far in between.
Some players are truly lucky, turning a few bucks into millions. There are also the winners who create their luck by throwing money at the house, hoping lady luck will reward their efforts. Whichever route they arrive at these jaw-dropping millions, the taste hitting the jackpot is just as sweet. Here are people who have been lucky to have the dream of millions turn into hard cash (both land-based and online casinos);
The poker table is full of strange tales. Archie Karas’ was a gifted Greek immigrant who made a name as a genius poker player. He relocated to Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket. Archie quickly made a fortune at the poker tables, which allowed him to place increasingly larger wagers. He beat poker greats such as Stu Ungar.
Archie Karas set a record with a streak of good luck that was nicknamed ‘the run’ in Las Vegas. He won a cumulative fortune of $40 million at poker tables in 30 months. It took only three weeks to blow it away.
Big wins in online casinos are becoming more frequent. One of the earlier stories of fortune was of a Norwegian ( who was later known as only Peter) hit the jackpot big online. Peter tried his luck in progressive jackpots. In one lucky morning, Peter hit the jackpot for 11.7 million Norwegian Krone ($38 million). It is not surprising since online casinos routinely offer very big jackpots.
It was more like $40 million, much of it in MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. But Kerry Packer staked so much money and blew away so much of his winnings that it was hard to keep track of the money. He was a billionaire to start with, which allowed him to throw the money at the machine without worry. Kerry’s notorious nickname was the ‘Prince of Whales.’ He was generous enough to give $1 million in tips.
For Elmer Sherwin, lightning strikes twice. He walked into the Mirage Las Vegas a few hours after it opened and hit the jackpot for $4.6 million. Sixteen years after this win, he walked back to the same casino hoping to strike it big again. Lady luck smiled at him again, he hit an even bigger jackpot, taking home $21 million.
Hitting the jackpot at the slots is very rare, but for one 25-year-old, it happened in a big fashion. The player (he identified only as ‘young engineer’) walked to a slot machine in the Excalibur, Las Vegas and put in coins to the $100 mark. The slot machine rewarded him with an amazing jackpot of $39,713 982.25. He opted to split his wins into $1.5 million per year.
Tipping was a Post office worker until he walked into the Gold Coast Casino in Las Vegas. He hit a Megabucks jackpot worth $12 million. Sadly, he lost it all to a life of hedonism.
Is it possible to sweet talk a slot machine into rewarding you with huge winnings? It is what Amy Nishimura did when playing the slots in the Fremont Las Vegas. She played for three straight hours, all the while talking to the machine. The machine answered her prayer with $8.9 million in winnings from a $100 stake.
Mike Ashley was the billionaire owner of Newcastle United football team when he hit this big win (perhaps peanuts to him). He has walked into the Fifty London casino not expecting to play roulettes for more than 15 minutes. At the end of that quarter-hour, he was $1.83 million richer.
This retired teacher found luck in Mountaineer Casino and Resort in 2006. She has walked into the casino to play slots. The slot machine she played at was aptly named ‘Golden Chambers.’ At the end of 2 hours of playing, she was $3,718,311 richer. She also opted to split the winnings into monthly instalments.
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19 Jun 2024
23 Oct 2024
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