In year 2000 a very lucky waitress won over $34 million over slots. An urban legend developed after this incident as a few weeks after that humongous winning, the lady and her sister figured in a vehicular accident, paralyzing the waitress and killing her sister. The tragedy became the fuel that ignited the myth that bad things happen to those who win whopping jackpots. Well, not true especially on Wheel of Fortune slots jackpot winners!
There is a long list of Wheel of Fortune jackpot winners. From August 2015 to September 2018 alone, there is close to 300 very lucky winners of IGT Wheel of Fortune slot variants. These winners have beaten the odds even if most of them did not hit a $1 million pot prize. However, history of IGT winners do show a handful of uber lucky slot players who have won millions of dollars playing Wheel of Fortune Slots.
There are more than 1,500 Wheel of Fortune slot players who have won a least $1 million. The biggest recorded Wheel of Fortune jackpot won happened in March 2009. A man from Biloxi took home a total of $14.3 million. In July 2013, a retired woman from Indiana won $8.3 million playing at a 25-cent Wheel of Fortune slot in Mississippi.
With just $20, Fred won one of the biggest jackpots the Hard Rock Biloxi has seen in years. The regular slots player at the Hard Rock left to wait for the casino and the Mississippi Gaming Commission to review and finalize his win, as is per usually for all wins over $100,000. So Fred decided to take another few spins at a different machine.
Over $7 million was won in 2007 by a someone playing Wheel of Fortune Special Edition. In 2006, the jackpot of $5.9 million was won on the Wheel of Fortune Dollar slot machine. The required bet to win the jackpot was a mere $3.
In 2001, $4.5 million was won playing a 50-cent Wheel of Fortune slots. Caesars Palace created another multi-millionaire when the jackpot of over $4.5 million for its Wheel of Fortune Triple Wild Spins Duo Wheel slot game was hit by a very fortunate slot player in January 2014.
A story about another multi-million jackpot winner is quite astonishing. Gracie Salinas won $3.8 million with a bet of $3 on a Wheel of Fortune. As she had only $2, she had to borrow a dollar from her mother promising that she’ll split any winnings. And she did!
In March this year, New Yorker Theresa P. won close to $3 million at a Wheel of Fortune slots in Empire City Casino.
There are two latest big-time winners in Wheel of Fortune slots. The first one won $3,349, 616.56 on a $5 Wheel of Fortune machine in June 16, 2018. Another super fortunate soul won $3,225,340.08 on a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine only a week before June 16.
Wheel of Fortune slots are owned and operated by IGT, and therefore is the one responsible for paying jackpots won. The casinos only provide the location for the slot machines and get 10% of the gross earnings of the machines. Wheel of Fortune slots’ popularity is simply amazing!
Spin the Wheel to Win up to 500 Free SpinsPlay Now20 Free Spins + €300Play Now150% Up To $10,000Play NowDeposit $20, Get 100 Free Spins On TopPlay Now$3,000 Welcome BonusPlay NowWe’ve all seen the small notice on the slot machine that says something like, “Machine malfunction voids all pays and plays.” Have you ever really thought about what you would do if it happened to you?
Stephen Wilkinson was playing his favorite slot machine at the Philadelphia Park casino in Pennsylvania when he hit the jackpot for $102,000. The machine lit up, the jackpot music started to play, and on the screen it congratulated him on his win of $102,000. People quickly gathered around and began congratulating him, in fact the women beside him was so excited she phoned her husband to tell him the news. Well, Stephen was in for a big surprise but it wasn’t $102,000.
After several minutes of casino employees huddled in deep discussion, they made their way over to Stephen to congratulate him on his win. Wrong! They made their way over to let him know that there was a machine malfunction, and he did not hit the jackpot. However, they would compensate him for the malfunction by providing him with two free tickets to their buffet. No, I’m not making that part up. They tried to reconcile the situation by giving him two free buffet tickets. Unless there was gold and diamonds on the buffet, that doesn’t seem like just compensation to me.
What do you think? Do you think the casino should have to pay the money, or are they not liable because they have the warning on the machine? What about if it happened to you, how do you think you would respond? What would you do?
Let’s take a look at similar situation that occurred, you may have a different reaction. This actually happened to a fellow gambler that I know and it happened on a video poker machine instead of a slot machine, but video poker machines are classified as “slots” and have the same malfunction warning on each machine. This story has a slightly different twist to it, but ironically it was for about the same amount of money.
John was in the casino when he noticed a single progressive video poker machine. A single progressive simply means that the machine is not hooked up to any other machines, the jackpot rises as someone plays that machine only. Many video poker single progressives have a large display above the machine that lets the customer know how high the jackpot is. John noticed a $1 denomination ($5 for max play) video poker machine where the display read that the jackpot was $104,000 for a royal flush. If you don’t play video poker, just know that a normal payout for a royal on a $1 machine is $4,000. The progressives are reset at $4,000 and move up as the game is played.
John knew something wasn’t right. It’s almost mathematically impossible for a $1 video poker progressive machine to get over $100,000 without a royal flush being hit. If it got up to $20,000 it would be big news and you wouldn’t be able to play the machine because it would be packed with people. John decided to play and see what happened. The entire time he played the jackpot was still listed as $104,000 and was increasing as he played. After about an hour, sure enough John hit a royal flush.
What do you think happened?
If you guessed option C you would be correct. The casino explained to John that the progressive counter display had malfunctioned and they would not pay him the $104,000. John didn’t fight it too much because he knew there was nothing he could do. I think he was most upset at the fact that they paid him the minimum of $4,000, which is the reset amount, instead of at least compensating him something extra since it was a progressive. They claimed that the malfunction voided everything, and basically they were saying he’s lucky to be getting the $4,000.
What is your feeling on this situation? Is it different from the first story? Does it matter that John knew something was amiss when he sat down at the machine? I would love to hear your thoughts, and any similar situations that may have happened to you or someone you know.