Biggest Ever Casino Win
They say that the house always wins and that you cannot trust your hard-earned money in the hands of casino dealers or worse, feed it to the slots. Yet the lure of the casino is stronger than ever, both on land and online, and millions of people worldwide tempt their luck for the chance of earning the pay-out of a lifetime. In this article we look at ten of those glorious moments when players finally hit it big. We have set our sights high and counted down the top ten biggest casino wins in history, with winnings running into many millions of dollars. Read on to find out what the richest win ever made in gambling history is…
10 – $10.6 million
The Megabucks machine at the Aria in Vegas was on fire back in April of 2011 and a lucky gambler hit the jackpot almost three months after another big payout was doled out. The unknown player took home $10.6 million, making him or her another happy customer of the Megabucks game, which is responsible for making several new multi-millionaires, many of whom appear on this list.
9 – $12.7 million dollars
An unnamed 25-year-old man won the planet’s biggest ever jackpot with a $100 bet. The man was apparently in town for a basketball match when he found himself with some time to kill. A young Jonathan Heywood witnessed the biggest casino win in history after he won $17.2 million while playing a 25 cents per spin online slot game at Betway Casino. The 26-years old British soldier is from Cheshire, United Kingdom. 28, 2000 - Las Vegas cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan won a then-record Megabucks jackpot of $34.9 million at the now-defunct Desert Inn hotel-casino. Six weeks later, her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her sister and leaving her paralyzed. ALWAYS START WITH A GOOD BREAKFAST $22,618,156.67. Anyway, in just 40 minutes, Packer cashed out a whopping $40 million. This was definitely the biggest win that MGM Grand had witnessed and Packer was so elated that he left a million dollar tip for his dealers. Can’t believe we were not even lucky enough to be his croupier for the night. In 2000, Cynthia Jay Brennan, a cocktail waitress, became one of the luckiest people in the world when she won the largest Megabucks jackpot in history at the time. She was playing a state-wide.
Nearly three months prior to the win that came in number 10 on list, a women staying at the Aria decided to feed the Megabucks machine $6 while she was making her way to her room. Little did she know that action would literally change her life overnight, as a few seconds later she was the proud winner of a $12.7 million jackpot. The player wouldn’t believe her eyes and was reported saying that she thought the machine wasn’t working properly when she saw the sum flash on the screen.
Biggest Casino Winner Ever
8 -$14,487,759
Coming at number 8 is the biggest payout ever made online. The winner was a Norwegian player who is only known by his first name, Peter. One day, Peter logged in to his account and decided to give a progressive jackpot slot called Arabian Knights a spin, and exchanged some Norwegian Crowns into Euros to play the game.
A while later he had accumulated 11.7 million Euros in his bankroll and curious to find out what that amount was worth in his local currency, he contacted customer support. To his surprise, Peter had become a millionaire several times over during that session, to the tune of $ 14,487,759.
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7 – $21,147,947
Yet another happy Megabucks customer! Elmer Sherwin was 92 years old when he beat the odds and hit his second Megabucks jackpot at the Cannery Casino in Las Vegas. His previous jackpot was worth $,4.6 million but his latest lucky strike was nearly five times bigger at $21,147,947. The odds of hitting the jackpot twice on Megabucks are one in fifty million, making Sherwin one hell of a lucky geezer.
6 – $21,346,952.22.
In 1999 an unnamed man from Illinois won over $21.3 million at Caesars Palace after depositing only $10. The player, who was 49 years old at the time, gave his occupation as a business consultant and became a multi-millionaire after just one spin at a slot machine.
5 – $22,618,156.67
Johanna Heundl, a 74-year-old woman from California, was about to go to breakfast at Bally’s when she chanced upon a Megabucks machine. Not one to shy away from an early morning gamble, she reached into her purse and pulled out $170 to give to the machine. One quick spin later and Johanna made her way to the continental breakfast a mega-millionaire, with more than $22.6 million to her name.
4 – $27,580,879.60
Another massive win happened in Palace Station in November of 1998, when a retired flight attendant and a native of Las Vegas placed $300 in a slot machine. The unnamed woman was no stranger to big wins, she had already won $680,000 at the Palace station a while back, but on that November day she topped her personal record by hitting a huge $27.5 million jackpot. The top three biggest casino wins…
3 – $34,959,458.50
Number three in our list is a story of great luck, as well as tragedy. Cynthia Jay, a cocktail waitress at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas decided to take a spin at the Megabucks slot machine in January 2000 during a birthday party. On her ninth try, she won nearly $35 million which she spent by giving herself the wedding of her dreams just two weeks later. Sadly, Cynthia was involved in a horrible car accident seven weeks after winning that jackpot, which left her paralysed from the chest down and unable to ever walk again.
2 – $39,710,826.36
Taking the second spot on our list of the top ten biggest casino wins is a $39.7 million jackpot that was won by a 25-year-old software engineer from LA in March of 2003. The lucky guy deposited $100 at a video slots at the Excalibur and proceeded to win one the second biggest jackpot in the history of Las Vegas.
1 – $40 million
The story of Archie Karas has become legend. The world’s luckiest man and one of the finest gamblers in history walked into a casino with just $50 dollars in his wallet and emerged with his pockets bulging with $40 million worth of banknotes. Karas’s life story is a true roller-coaster of emotions fraught with big wins and equally massive losses, pointing towards the inevitable truth in every gambler’s career: you have to know when to grab the money and run, or keep on playing and risk losing it all. Forty million dollars. Imagine all the things you could do with that amount of money sitting in your bankroll or bank account. One thing you wouldn’t do for sure is work another day in your life!
An Honorable Mention
The following casino win isn’t necessarily one of the biggest wins in history, but definitely one of the most notables ones. In July 1891, Charlie Wells, known as “The man who broke the bank” won a million francs during an eleven hour session.
‘Breaking the bank’ is a phrase used when a gambler wins more chips that are available at that specific table, which is relatively difficult to accomplish. For most people in those days, a million francs would be a sufficient amount of money to keep you quite content.
However, Wells made another notable visit back in November that year and managed to make another million francs after some rather extraordinary luck. During a three day session, at a roulette table he managed to win five successful bets on the number five, which is unheard of in the game of roulette. This story was rather inspirational in that day and age, and inspired many musicians to write songs based on this event and ultimately make significant money for themselves.
The 3rd Largest Win
The third biggest win in casino history came from a man called Elmer Sherwin in 1989 and also 2005. That's right; he made his name with two multimillion dollar successes. In 1989, the largest progressive jackpot called ‘Megabucks’ was introduced.
The title speaks for itself and was an instant success in casinos. The odds of beating this casino slot game are approximately one in $50 million, which is difficult enough, but winning the jackpot twice is beyond belief. In 1989 Elmer won the jackpot for five million dollars and tried his luck again in 2005, winning an additional $21 million dollars, making him a mega-millionaire.
Online casinos are a bigger incentive for people to gamble in this day and age, the comfort of being in your home is a huge selling point for customers. A gentlemen named ‘Peter’ made the most of online casino slots by cashing in on 11.7 million Norwegian krone, which is the equivalent of $38 million dollars.
It almost seems too good to be true that whilst relaxing at home, drinking a coffee and clicking buttons, your life can change in a matter of moments. This story is a great example of why online casinos attract such a large amount of customers.
The Big Win
Last but the complete opposite of the least, is the story of Archie Karas who turned $50 into $40 million dollars over a period of three years. The majority of people would be happy with going into the casino and coming out with double their money or a small profit, but for Archie it was never enough
The run he went on proves that you can get your fair share of luck over a long period of time but the lack of fear that Archie had when gambling resulted in much larger winnings than most people would have reached.
Biggest Ever Casino Win Slot Machines
However, despite the life changing amount of money that Archie won, it wasn't a happy ending. He went on to show naivety in the world of gambling by losing majority of his winnings playing baccarat and dice games. Everyone gets their fair share of luck in certain situations, but managing your emotions and keeping your feet on the ground is vital when you've acquired such a large sum of money.