The Biggest Slots Winner

[Solomon]

I didn't know about this, but when I read it, I thought I would pass it along.

The record for the largest slot jackpot at a land-based casino is held by an IGT Megabucks machine at the Excalibur in Las Vegas on 3/21/03. The winner was a 25-year-old software engineer from LA. He won after playing about $100 on the machine. He mentioned that he glanced away for a moment, and when he looked back he immediately saw that the winning symbols had lined up.

Wonder if he still plays the slots?

[ACPlayer]

How much was the win for?

[Solomon]

Oops. Sorry about that.

The jackpot was 39.7 million bucks.

The winner, who came to Las Vegas this weekend with four friends to visit his family and bet on the NCAA college basketball tournament, has chosen to remain anonymous, said spokesman Rick Sorensen of the Megabucks parent company, International Gaming Technology. He is unmarried and has no children, Sorensen said.

Sorensen said the man played about $100 on a Megabucks machien before hitting the jackpot at about 1:15 p.m. PST. He had been unaware of the record jackpot until he arrived in Las Vegas and was told by his uncle, Sorensen said. His friends were in the sportsbook at the time.

"I'm still stunned," the man said in a statement released by IGT. "It doesn't seem real yet." In Nevada's Megabucks game, 691 slot machines at 160 casinoes across the state contribute to the same progressive jackpot. The machines, owned and maintained by slot-making giant IGT, are networked. To win the jackpot, players must pay the maximum $3 on the $1 slot machine.

The winner will either receive the money in annual installments over 25 years or take a smaller sum all at once. He did not say in the statement which way he would handle his fortune but vowed to fund the retirement of his parents. The casino does not receive a percentage of the winnings.

Michael Starr, vice president and general manager for the Excalibur resort, said the winner remained stoic and calm as hoopla enveloped him on the casino floor after his triumph. Starr said the man, a frequent guest at the hotel, raised one arm, then the other, and uttered an understated "Wow."

"He remained composed, sipped his rum and coke and wanted to make sure everything was verified before he let anybody (in his family) know," Starr said.