Summary of Nevada Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020. Nevada slot machine casino gambling consists of 163 casinos. Of these, 66 are in Las Vegas including 24 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. The remainder, including two tribal casinos, are located throughout the state. The minimum payout limit for slot machines in Nevada is 75% per gaming device.
Despite the fact that the odds of hitting a multimillion-dollar progressive jackpot on a Las Vegas slot machine are almost impossible, the truth is that it happens. Not to everyone, and not frequently, but it happens enough times for you to take a try yourself.
It seems that it happens even more frequently at online casinos. The biggest so far have been registered at Microgaming and NetEnt casinos, both unavailable to American players, where the biggest amounts paid out have been more than $20 million all of them won in the last couple of years.
You can try to find casino reviews of online casinos that accept American players, but you won’t find such big jackpots there and these are usually of low reputation. Maybe you can try using bitcoins, because more and more reputable online casinos accept bitcoins. It’s anonymous and no bank can block your transaction as explained at PureNetEnt.com.
Anyway, let’s see the biggest progressive jackpots in Las Vegas.
August 23, 2014 – $2.4 Million
The Lion’s Share slot at the MGM Grand is one tough slot machine known for not paying out a jackpot for more than 20 years until it was lit up by Walter and Linda Misco from New Hampshire in 2014. Just five minutes after they started breaking their $100 bill on this slot machine they won the $2.4 million jackpot. When asked what they will do with the money they said that they will pay for their grandchildren’s education.
The Lion’s Share 2.4 million dollar jackpot at the MGM Grand
February 19, 2012 – $2.9 Million
In 2012 a 26-year old U.S. Marine, Alexander Degenhardt was playing the Money Vault Millionaires Seven slot at the Bellagio on his day off from the Nellis Air Force base when suddenly he won nearly $2.9 million. He said he never won more than $200 on a slot machine, and this time he won a total of $2,882,808.32.
December 5, 2013 – $10,337,640
This jackpot was won on the Megabucks slot machine at the MGM Grand from the slot manufacturer IGT. Actually, the man that was identified as the winner of this jackpot was actually the executive producer of the movie “All American Christmas Carol” from 2013 with Meat Loaf in the leading role. The producer’s name was Mark Hodos.
Las Vegas Slot Machine Videos
April 22, 2011 – $10.6 Million
Two years earlier a jackpot lightning struck the same Megabucks slot machine made by IGT and an unidentified gambler took home $10.6 million. This slot machine was introduced in 1986 and had never paid out more than $10 million until it did for the first time in 1995 at the Gold Coast. This was the second time it did that at the Aria.
January 21, 2011 – $12.7 Million
Three months earlier the Aria celebrated another jackpot winner, this time a lady that was on her way to her room, but still decided to try her luck with a $6 bill before going to bed on the Megabucks slot. If she didn’t do it she would walk away to her room retire for the night without $12.7 million in her pocket. First she thought the slot machine broke down, but her niece assured her that she is a millionaire.
September 15, 2005 – $21,147,947
This is maybe the oldest jackpot winner ever, Elmer Sherwin, 92, who won $21.1 million on the Megabucks slot at the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas. What’s even more fascinating is that this was his second jackpot on the same slot machine after he won another one at the Mirage in 1989 of $4.6 million. What he said after winning the second one was that his lifelong dream was to win the jackpot twice.
June 1, 1999 – $21,346,952.22
Imagine winning more than $21.3 million on the first spin! This is what happened to a 49-year-old business consultant on the Megabucks slot at Caesars Palace in 1999. He deposit $10 and after just one spin cashed in $21.3 million.
March 27, 2002 – $22,618,156.67
Covina, California, probably saw its first millionaire citizen after Johanna Huendl, 74, won $22.6 million on Bally’s Megabucks slot. She was on her way to a breakfast at her hotel and decided to spend $170 on this amazing slot machine that has made many millionaires. She first thought that she won only $2 million after misreading the flash sign.
Las Vegas Slot Machine Warehouse
Johanna Huendl, 74, won $22.6 million on Bally’s Megabucks slot machine.
November 15, 1998 – $27,580,879.60
This 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Las Vegas is only one in the long line of retired elderly slot machine players that became rich from playing Megabucks. This unnamed woman won the Megabucks jackpot in Palace Station after putting $300. She first intended to play with only $100, but changed her mind after which the slot rewarded her with millions. This was her second big jackpot. She won the Wheel of Fortune slot machine jackpot of $680,000 at Palace Station some years earlier. This was also the first time that the Megabucks machine paid out $20 million.
January 26, 2000 – $34,955,489.56
Being a Las Vegas cocktail waitress has really paid off for Cynthia Jay in 2000. She decided to play the Megabucks slot at the Desert Inn and won $34.9 million. However, after six weeks people fueled up the myth that bad things happen to jackpot winners because she was rear-ended by a drunk driver, which left her paralyzed and killed her sister. It’s one of the most notorious urban legends in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Slot Machine Near Progressive Machine
Cynthia Cynthia Jay hit Megabucks at the Desert Inn and won $34.9 million.
March 21, 2003 – $39,710,826.36
And here is the biggest recorded so far, a $39.7 million jackpot won by a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles. Do we even need to mention the game on which the jackpot was won? Anyway, the odds to hit this jackpot were 16.7 million.
Megabucks are slots with progressive jackpots, combined into a single network that covers casinos in several American states. The owner and operator of this network is International Game Technology, better known by its abbreviated name IGT.
Megabucks slot is considered as an alternative to state lotteries and enjoys incredible popularity among Americans. Actually, there is an opinion that IGT specifically released it to create a lottery competition. Since the beginning of the eighties in the twentieth century, when the slot was launched for the first time, this slot made dozens of players millionaires.
Thanks to the skillfully organized advertising company, every Megabucks jackpot, when it reaches a considerable size, causes a real excitement among the gambling public. And every hit of the progressive jackpot is widely covered in the media, attracting even more casino visitors to the slot. No other slot in the world is overgrown with so many incredible myths, rumors, and legends. But with all this, there are a lot of gambling experts and just experienced players who consider Megabucks a hideous slot that absolutely does not deserve so much attention. So, who is right: fans or opponents of this slot?
Where to Play the Megabucks Slot
- Secure
- Fast Withdrawals
| Rank | Casino/Hotel | Details | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Sevens | $30-60Avg. Room Rates | View Deals | |
| 2 | Luxor | $60-120Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
| 3 | Harrah's | $70-140Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
| 4 | Hard Rock | $70-140Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
How to Play Megabucks
The classic version of the Megabucks slot from IGT is a 3-reel slot machine with the only one payline. In order to qualify for a progressive jackpot, the player must definitely bet three dollars. There are a lot of stories (both true and fictitious) about casino customers, who had the jackpot combination, but they did not receive any jackpot because of a bet less than three dollars.
The progressive jackpot is not completely nullified when a lucky winner gets it but starts to grow from a certain amount. In recent years, this fixed amount is $10,000,000. There are persistent rumors that soon this initial sum of the jackpot should increase by one million.
Megabucks Slot Odds
Strange as it may seem, there is no official information about the probability of winning the Megabucks jackpot. Some casinos say that the player has one chance out of 50 million, while others claim that this is one chance of 17 million. Whatever it was, when the sum of the jackpot is large enough, fans of this slot are ready to fly thousands of kilometers to try their luck.
What do Lady Luck’s favorites have from this slot? Do they get all that huge amount of money that is advertised? When you win a jackpot, events can unfold as follows. First of all, the lucky guy will receive a check for $1,400,000. Then the winner is given two or three months to decide how he wants to get his winnings. There are two options: the amount is divided into annual payments, which will be transferred to the player within twenty-five years, or he can get the winnings immediately at a time, but at a rate of 60% of the jackpot.
That is, having won ten million, the winner can receive in the second variant only six million, but at once and with one payment. After receiving the win, he still has to pay taxes. Unsurprisingly, almost all holders of Megabucks jackpots prefer to receive their winnings in the form of annual payments.
However, in this case, they also have to pay taxes, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States (IRS) very strictly follows this. Subtract from the total amount of the jackpot another 40%, because such winnings are taxed at the maximum rate. So, the next time you hear that someone has won ten million in Megabucks and immediately took all the money, you know that the lucky guy got a little over three and a half million at his disposal.
The Curse of the Megabucks Jackpot
As already mentioned above, there are a lot of urban legends about the Megabucks slot and its jackpot, mostly of a gloomy nature. For the most part, they describe the tragic fate of players who managed to win a huge jackpot. It is believed that almost all the lucky people either perish or suffer numerous woes. The cause of their numerous misfortunes is the so-called Curse of the Megabucks slot.
Of course, in these stories, there is much more fiction than the truth. However, there is no smoke without fire — some winners, really, seriously suffered after they won the jackpot. In particular, the further life of the waitress Cynthia J. Brennan, who won $34.9 million in 2000, was sad. A month and a half after the win, Cynthia and her sister were hit by a drunk driver. The sister died on the spot, and Cynthia was forever paralyzed. The guy who drove the car in a state of intoxication was imprisoned for twenty-eight years.
But the rumors about the curse of Megabucks spread even before the year 2000. Simply, this accident was widely covered in the press and made people remember about other similar events, which at that time did not become so resonant. In 2003, many media published a story about a 25-year-old player who became the owner of the Megabucks jackpot and either died from a drug overdose in a casino hotel or was killed in a street shootout. IGT companies had to work hard to convince the public of the falsity of these statements.
There are also a lot of rumors about underage players and employees of different casinos who won the Megabucks jackpot but could not get it due to existing rules. But none of these rumors received documentary evidence.
Many experts in the field of gambling suggest that ITG recently made relevant changes to the Megabucks system, which makes the jackpot play less often, but with larger amounts. Although officially the company claims that nothing of the sort has happened, this opinion remains very popular.
Where Could You Play Megabucks?
Las Vegas Slot Machine Locator
Most fans of slot machines and large jackpots are not afraid of the curse of Megabucks and are willing to play in this slot. You can find this slot in almost all real casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as in other establishments in Nevada, California, New Jersey, Mississippi, and some Indian reservations. Each state has its own separate network of Megabucks slots, but the biggest progressive jackpots are expected in Nevada. In other states, jackpots are much smaller.
Free Slot Machine Las Vegas
Why do Experts Consider Megabucks a Bad Slot?
Experts do not believe in the curse of the Megabucks slot, but this does not stop them from considering this gambling machine not worthy of attention. The fact is that this slot is very unprofitable for the player. Firstly, it has an extremely high percentage of the casino advantage, which reaches 10-15% (for comparison, many slots in the Las Vegas casino are limited to 2-3%). Secondly, the procedure for paying a jackpot is extremely inconvenient. The winner either loses 40% of the amount or gets it in parts for 25 years. But the progressive jackpots of most other slots are paid immediately and in full.
All this suggests that Megabucks is a mediocre slot, which gained its popularity only thanks to record payments and a masterly organized PR campaign.