The 5 Biggest Slot Wins Ever

The appeal of slot machines is easy to understand. For a relatively small stake, you have the opportunity of winning big. And since the introduction of progressive pots, hitting the jackpot could mean becoming rich beyond your wildest dreams. Of course, the odds of a mega-win are pretty slim, to say the least. But what would life be without taking a chance every now and then? That, at least, seems to be the motto of these lucky few who hit the big one.

A Little Goes a Long Way

When you live in Hawaii, where do you go on vacation? Las Vegas, of course. At least that is what 71-year-old Hawaiian resident Amy Nishimura would tell you. She was a regular visitor to Vegas and obviously a woman of habit.

While in Vegas she always played the same machine in the Freemont Hotel. She would even talk to it to bring herself luck. It must have worked because on the trip in question, she had been playing for three hours, although spending less than $100, when she hit the jackpot. The payout was a cool $8.9 million. And while that's a lot of money, it's actually the lowest of our mega-wins.

Going Postal

We all know being a postal worker is a very stressful and unrewarding job. So you'd think that for USPS employee John Tippin, winning $11 million on the slots would be a life-changing experience.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't find it life-changing enough. A few years after his win, he published a book describing all the stress and downsides of becoming an overnight multi-millionaire. Poor guy.

How Will I Tell The Wife?

This plaintive cry can be heard in casinos around the world. But usually when some poor unfortunate has realised he's gambled away the kid's college fund, or the family's life savings, in an attempt to break a losing streak.

But in March 2003, this was the reaction of the 25-year-old who won the Megabucks jackpot in the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. Apparently, the young IT engineer was just killing time before a baseball game when he decided to try his luck on the slots. His subsequent $39.8 million win left him struggling with a problem we'd all love to have; How would he tell his wife, who disapproved of him gambling?

Apparently, his solution was to accept his winnings in instalments of $1.5 million a year over 25 years and hope the Missus wouldn't notice the extra money in the housekeeping jar. We wonder if it worked.

Not Once but Twice

For most of us, one big win on the slots would be enough to make us happy (unless you're a postal worker that is). But Lady Luck was really smiling on these lucky few who managed to hit the jackpot not once, but twice!

Reach for the Stars

$680,000 may not put you in the millionaire bracket, but it is certainly enough to make you comfortable. But for one 67-year old retired air stewardess, the sky was the limit. After winning the afore-mentioned sum, she continued to play the slots. And her persistence paid off. A couple of years after her first big win, she got lucky again, this time to the tune of a cool $27.5 million.

Stick to Your Guns

This is a phrase that must have been familiar to WWII veteran Elmer Sherwin. At the tender age of 76, he won the $4.6 million Megabucks jackpot at the Mirage Casino just 10 hours after it had opened its doors to the public.

He happily travelled the world with his winnings and also continues to play the slots whenever he was in Vegas, where his son lives. Not because he wanted the money though, he just wanted to be the first two-time Megabucks winner. His persistence paid off and 16 years later, making him 92 at the time, he won $21 million. This time around he donated most of the money to helping victims of Hurricane Katarina.

It seems the lesson here is "If once you don't succeed (and even if you do) try, try again!". Just remember that nobody is guaranteed a win on the slots, no matter how much money they put in.

Play the slots responsibly and they'll give you hours of thrills and maybe a life-changing win. Let them play you and you might end up asking yourself "How will I tell my significant other" but for all the wrong reasons. Good Luck.