We are always hearing about lottery winners and how they spend their winnings. When someone wins the lottery, he or she is plastered all over the news right after it happens, and then again a year later or so as an update on how their lives are going.
The media gives lottery winners a lot of attention because we as a society are incredibly curious about them. What were their lives like before they won? Do they deserve the money? What are they doing with the money? Are they spending it wisely?
Many people do not really realize that casino winners sometimes win just as much money as lottery winners do. Gamblers have unexpectedly won millions and millions of dollars by playing slots, craps, blackjack, roulette, and other games at casinos, both online and offline.
Progressive jackpots are popular casino games to win the biggest casino winning. They are connected through the various sites and can be won by any player from any big wins casino. What is the most money won at a casino?
Let’s talk about three lucky ducks who have hit it big and instantly became high rollers at casinos all over the world. What were their lives like before they won? What did they do with the money? Where are they now? Let’s find out!
1. Cynthia Jay Brennan / $34,959,458.56 / Las Vegas, NV / 2000
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 lottery jackpot slot machine called Megabucks in Las Vegas when she struck it big and won $34,959,458.56. The next nine weeks were wonderful for her. She celebrated her good luck, married her boyfriend, and was planning on traveling the world with him.
Unfortunately, nine weeks after she won $35 million, Cynthia was driving her new Camaro with her sister, Lela Jay, when a drunk driver with 16 prior arrests slammed into her car at a red light. Lela was killed right away, and Cynthia’s spine was shattered. The driver walked away with just a few scratches.
Today, Cynthia is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair. She can only move her arms and shoulders, and she requires assistance to do the simplest of tasks like brushing her hair and dressing herself. Her husband, Terry Brennan, is still working as a bartender at the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas and is taking care of his paralyzed wife.
Cynthia says she’d give the $35 million back if it meant walking again and getting her sister back.
2. Ashley Revell / $270,000 / Las Vegas, NV / 2004
Ashley Revell’s story is pretty interesting. Ashley was hanging out with his friends at a pub when one of them commented on how great it would be if they could bet everything they had on one spin. So Ashley did just that… and won.
Ashley was a 32-year-old man from London, England with a Rolex watch, a BMW, golf clubs, and 10,000 pounds to his name. He sold all, and we mean all, of his possessions at car boot sales and auctions and then headed over to the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas with only the clothes on his back and nearly 80,000 pounds to his name to place his one bet at a roulette table.
Ashley was originally supposed to place his bet at the Hard Rock Hotel, but negotiations with the hotel’s management fell through. Plaza Hotel & Casino stepped in and accepted the wager because they were looking for a lot of publicity. They offered Ashley a free suite room and a special roulette table where the bet could be videotaped and broadcast live through the Sky Network.
At first, Ashley couldn’t decide whether to bet on red or black. He came to decide on black, but a lot of his supporters preferred red, so Ashley switched over to red at the very last minute. It was the right choice, because the ball landed on number seven… red!
Everyone, including Ashley’s family and friends, cheered and popped open a bottle of champagne. His stack went from nearly 80,000 pounds to 153,680 pounds.
He celebrated his win by going on a trip around Europe on the back of a motorcycle. When he was in Holland, he met his future wife. When he came back home, he set up an online poker company named Poker UTD (which eventually went out of business in 2012) and later established iGaming Recruitment, a website that matches job applicants to online gambling companies.
So what does Ashley’s life look like now?
He does not gravitate towards the flashy lifestyle. He’s still an ordinary guy who drinks at the pub over the road, manages his business, and hangs out with his wife and two children.
Elmer Sherwin / $21,147,947 / Las Vegas, NV / 2005
Elmer Sherwin was probably the luckiest man in Las Vegas. He was a two-time Megabucks winner. In 1989, he won $4.6 million right after the Mirage opened on the Las Vegas Strip.
On an early Thursday evening in September 2005, 92-year-old Elmer Sherwin, a World War 2 vet, decided to plop down in front of a Megabucks machine at the Cannery Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas because he had a feeling that the machine was lucky. Well, he was right because he won the $21,147,947 jackpot.
With that money, Elmer donated a lot to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund and helped support his family, including his son and daughter-in-law.
Elmer passed away two years later, in March 2007.
Did you know that the online casino jackpots are already catching up to the largest jackpots of land-based casinos by their size? This became possible due to the appearance of slot machines with a progressive jackpot. Thousands of players around the world are accumulating a common bank and one lucky bet of just a few cents can win the biggest win in an online casino.
The most generous in the world are the slots with the progressive jackpot from Microgaming, especially the Mega Moolah machine, on the account of which there are several Guinness records.
Let’s look at the top 10 biggest wins in online casinos, for convenience of comparison, the amounts are converted into dollars.
10. Mega Moolah surprised the New Zealander with 10.14 million New Zealand dollars
Rawiri Pou from New Zealand opens up our list with a win in June 2016. Young Maori played in the popular video slot Mega Moolah and unexpectedly got a kiss from the lady Luck. He got 10,144,395.82 New Zealand dollars, which is approximately $ 7.41 million. The shaken young man said that he wants to spend this money on his family.
9. An Australian won 10.42 million Australian dollars in the Dark Knight
The second lucky person on our list is an Australian who in April 2016 won 10,423,223 Australian dollars in The Dark Knight from Microgaming. That’s about $ 7.86 million.
The Dark Knight is a slot referencing the movie “Batman” with Heath Ledger. On 5 reels you have 243 win combinations, including one of 4 types of jackpots. Most often, the machine gives out prizes of about $ 1 million but the Australian was incredibly lucky to break the bank of 8 times more!
This record will remain forever on the list of the biggest jackpots in online casino history, because a couple of months after the issuance of the largest jackpot slot, The Dark Knight was closed.
8. Mega Moolah gives millions of jackpots in Greece
You probably already heard that Mega Moolah is the most generous slot with the progressive jackpot. And it is true! On our list, this machine by Microgaming will meet more than once.
In March 2009, the lucky 36-year-old player with the nickname Georgios M won 6,300,000 euros, which at that time was $ 8,600,000. The owner of his own business from Greece had a pleasant time playing and became the owner of one of the biggest jackpots in the online casino.
Georgios M. said that he could not believe in his victory. He gave advice to all players: “Do not lose hope, one small moment can change your life!”
7. Hall of Gods gave 7.6 million euros to a lucky player from Sweden
In February 2012, the Swede became the owner of the first largest jackpot in the machine called Hall of Gods by the developer NetEnt. Betting only 50 euros, she received 7,674,233 euros!
Her jackpot was spent on repaying loans of the whole family and a family trip to Thailand. Joking, she added: “I still have enough for a new car.”
By the way, this woman at the moment of the win became only the fifth member of the “millionaires club”, taking place among those who won millions in the online casino (the first time it happened in 2009). Today, progressive slots are a lot more popular. Millions in prizes are won every month.
6. €7.8 million from NetEnt for online casino anonymous
For 3 years, the record of the Nordic Hall of Gods set by a Swedish lady, remained unbeaten, until in April 2015 the slot gave €7,820,888, about $ 8,730,000. The winner decided to keep their private life to themselves, so we do not even know his country, sex, and age. At the moment this is the biggest jackpot in Hall of Gods.
5. The biggest jackpot in online casino on a mobile device from Mega Moolah Mobile
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A mysterious player with initials of D.P., in August 2016, became the owner of the biggest jackpot on a mobile device. Of course, this was the game Mega Moolah Mobile. The lucky one wished to remain anonymous. But we know that he got €7.9 million, which is about $ 8.82 million; the game was played on the iPad.
As the operator who issued the jackpot said, the game was played at minimum bets – £ / $ / € 1.
4. Mega Fortune sends €8.57 million to Sweden
The Mega Fortune slot machine by NetEnt competes for the generosity of payments with the legendary Mega Moolah by Microgaming. So, in November 2015, Mega Fortune gave the Swedish player Alexander €8,577,204, approximately $ 9,570,000. The 30-year-old man played at night and was speechless when he saw the message about the jackpot. To share his joy, the man woke his wife. Alexander said that he would spend a part of the money to pay the mortgage and buy a car. Furthermore, he will definitely arrange a grand vacation.
Simon Hammon, responsible for the development of NetEnt products, then in November 2015 noted that in just two weeks the company paid €13 million to the owners of the biggest jackpots.
3. Virtual Guinness World Jackpot holder from 2011 in Mega Fortune
This happened on September 24, 2011. A gambler from Norway has decided to play a little online casino, broke the first progressive jackpot in history, having passed a mark of 10 million. His prize was 11,736,375 euros. The amount was so impressive that representatives of the Guinness Book of Records decided to bring it to their reference book.
Anonymous Norwegian played in the popular slot Mega Fortune, and the happy train caught up with him at 6 am. When asked where he was going to spend the money, he replied that first, he needed to calm down, and then decide where to spend millions. This Jackpot is one of the biggest wins in Mega Fortune Slot by NetEnt.
2. The biggest win in Mega Fortune – €17.86 million for Finland
In January 2013, the Mega Fortune slot broke its own record and issued the biggest win in its history – 17,861,800 euros.
An incredible amount went to a 40-year-old player from Finland. The funny thing is that the lucky bet in the online casino amounted to only 25 cents. “I laughed and cried at the same time,” said the winner. At the moment this is the biggest jackpot in the history of NetEnt.
British player won €17.88 million in Mega Moolah and set a record that hit the Guinness Book of Records
For Mega Moolah, the reputation of one of the most generous slots in the open spaces of online casinos is firmly entrenched. It has been holding at the top of Guinness Book of Records for a while now.
In October 2015, the 26-year-old British soldier John Haywood, who fought in Afghanistan, won the biggest jackpot in the amount of 17,879,645 euros, which is equivalent to almost 20 million dollars. Surprisingly, Haywood bet only 30 pounds and played only 7 minutes and 25 spins when the biggest online jackpot in the world fell into his hands.
After the win, John commented that everything was surreal, and he could not believe in victory. The lucky man promised to use most of this money to help his sick father.
CEO of Microgaming, Roger Raathever, personally congratulated the winner and noted that at the time of the win the provider has already paid half a billion euros to prize players.
As you can see, the biggest jackpots give out slot machines with the progressive jackpot from Microgaming and NetEnt, specifically, Mega Moolah and Mega Fortune. These incredibly generous slots are available at ShangriLaLive online casino, and, maybe, you’ve got a chance of becoming the owner of the next grand jackpot!