Photo of Trinadad Torres courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

Admit it. You have the same dream we do.

Everything conspires and you find yourself in the right place at the right time – seated in front of a Megabucks slot machine that’s primed and ready to hit. You push the button (of course, pulling a lever would be more dramatic, but this is 2015 and the one-armed bandit has gone the way of the horse and buggy). The logos on the reels all line up. And then the moment you’ve been waiting for finally arrives…you realize you’re a millionaire.

Photos Of Slot Machine Jackpots

Correction: A multimillionaire.

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IGT’s Megabucks has been paying out ginormous life-changing jackpots for almost 20 years. Its slogan is “Dream big. Win big.”

A network of slot machines linked throughout Nevada, Megabucks boasts a top prize that builds from a base amount of $10 million. To play it costs $1 a spin, but to quality for that top amount you’ll have to shell out $3. That sounds pretty steep, we know. But trust us, if you hit Megabucks with only a buck or two invested, you’ll leave with a jackpot in the thousands instead of millions. And just imagine trying to live with that.

As you’d expect, Megabucks lays claim to having paid the largest slot jackpots in Vegas history. It last hit here in mid March at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The lucky winner was Trinadad Torres, a 78-year-old woman from Magna, Utah. She played $100 before netting the $10,744,292.71 jackpot. Her plans include traveling to the Philippines and buying a yellow Mustang.

While nothing to sneeze at, Torres’ windfall just misses placing her on our list below of the 10 biggest slot jackpots ever won in Sin City.

Photo of Excalibur courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $39,710,826.36
When: March 21, 2003
Where:Excalibur

More than 12 years ago, a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, who wanted to remain anonymous (and who can blame him?), hit the city’s largest slot jackpot after playing $100 on a Megabucks machine. A C-note in return for nearly $40 million…now that’s what we’d call a damn good investment.

Photo of Cynthia Jay-Brennan at the Desert Inn courtesy of Ethan Miller / Las Vegas Sun.

Jackpot amount: $34,959,458.56
When: Jan. 26, 2000
Where: Desert Inn (imploded in phases in 2001 and 2004 to make room for Wynn Las Vegas)

Gobs bigger than any tip she’d received, cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan, then 37 years old, hit the second largest Megabucks slot jackpot in Vegas (at that time it was the city’s highest Megabucks payout). But her story took a tragic turn when her car was rear-ended about six weeks later by a drunk driver. Her older sister Lela died in the accident, and Jay-Brennan was left paralyzed.

Photo of Palace Station courtesy of Station Casinos.

Jackpot amount: $27,580,879.60
When: Nov. 15, 1998
Where:Palace Station

Ignoring your budget isn’t always a bad thing. Just ask the then 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Vegas who racked up the city’s third largest Megabucks slot payout. She’d only intended to play $100 at Palace Station that day, but wound up putting $300 in…and we’re pretty she doesn’t regret overspending one bit.

Jackpot amount: $22,621,229.74
When: May 27, 2002
Where:Bally’s

How does that old expression go? The early bird catches…the $22.6 million slot jackpot. Well, that’s how Johanna Heundl (then 74 years old) of Covina, California, might remember it. She was on her way to breakfast when she decided to stop and play a Megabucks machine. Having looked away for a moment, she couldn’t believe her eyes when she turned back and saw all the logos aligned in the payline.

Photo of Caesars Palace courtesy of Caesars Entertainment.

Jackpot amount: $21,346,952.22
When: June 1, 1999
Where:Caesars Palace

An Illinois man, then 49 years old and described as a “self-employed business consultant,” put a $10 bill into a Megabucks machine at the Roman-themed property and hit this whopping multimillion-dollar slot jackpot on his first spin. Here’s what we want to know: Is he still consulting? Can we hire him to help us get into the business of being millionaires?

Jackpot amount: $21,147,947
When: Sept. 15, 2005
Where:Cannery Casino Hotel

One man, two times a Megabucks winner. What are the odds? They’ve got to be astronomical. Certainly, anyone would be happy to score a single multimillion-dollar slot jackpot. But not everyone is Elmer Sherwin. A frequent Vegas visitor, Sherwin hit his first Megabucks jackpot of $4.6 million at The Mirage back in 1989. It was a sign of even better things to come. Sixteen years later, at the age of 92, that lucky son of a gun (kidding, we’re not jealous…really) did it again, adding another $21.1 million to his bank account.

Photo courtesy of the M Resort.

Jackpot amount: $17,329,817.80
When: Dec. 14, 2012
Where:M Resort

Oh, the best things in life are free…especially when they lead to a $17.3 million jackpot. A Las Vegas woman stopped by the M Resort in Henderson to gamble with her “free play” credits and enjoy a meal with some dining vouchers. Before she knew it, she’d become a multimillionaire.

Photo of “Rampart Lucky Local” courtesy of the Rampart Casino.

Jackpot amount: $14,282,544.21
When: Nov. 30, 2014
Where: Rampart Casino

Late last year a Las Vegas man put $20 in a Megabucks slot machine at the Summerlin-area Rampart Casino. Within five minutes he’d hit a jackpot worth $14.2 million. His plans were altruistic (unlike ours). The man, dubbed the “Rampart Lucky Local,” said he would make a donation to his church. The church, which had been holding services in a high school gym, can now have its own location built.

Photo of Aria courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $12,769,933
When: Jan. 21, 2011
Where:Aria

A woman visiting her niece in Vegas decided to drop $6 in a Megabucks slot machine before heading back to her room. Her reaction when the winning symbols lined up: “The machine broke.” Luckily, her niece was there to clarify things. We think we should book a room at Aria because about four months after that jackpot occurred, another Megabucks jackpot hit at the resort for $10,636,897. Talk about lightning striking twice!

Photo of New York-New York courtesy of MGM Resorts International.

Jackpot amount: $12,510,549.90
When: April 14, 1997
Where:New York-New York

New York-New York opened its doors on Jan. 3, 1997. Perhaps due to a little of the “city that never sleeps” magic, Vegas resident Suzanne Henley made her fortune at the Big Apple-themed megaresort just a few months later. On her way home from work, she stopped in to play a Megabucks machine – one that she’d had an inkling might hit. Henley waited in line an hour before she could play. And at 1:44 a.m., after putting $100 in, her diligence paid off…to the tune of more than $12.5 million.

Comments

Thousands of people have become millionaires playing Megajackpots in the USA and now, players can win huge amount online too. The chances of hitting a jackpot are slim. Very slim. But all the casinos pay them out regularly, whether they are online or in Vegas.

Over the last few years, we have been seeing more and more online casinos with $1m dollar jackpots and the good news is the good casinos love to pay out because it is such good publicity for them.

If you like to play real money slots online to win jackpots, the first thing to do is research the casinos. You need to find a casino that has a good reputation for paying out their winners quickly and without fuss.

There are loads of online casinos that have paid out big multi-million dollar jackpots now, so doing the research is not difficult. One thing you can do is just google the casino you are looking at along with the word 'jackpot' and look for the press releases.

Youtube Casino Jackpots Videos

Online Slots Jackpots

Online slots jackpots are improving by the day. A decade ago very few of the casinos offered them, but as the industry has grown and government regulation of casinos has come in, more and more slots jackpot casinos are appearing with every month that goes by.

Some jackpots are now well over $1m and we have even see some at over $6m. In the UK, the Cleopatra slots jackpots (run by the same company that offers slots in Las Vegas) are often over $5m.

One thing to look out for, is how much you have to stake on each spin to have a chance of winning the jackpot.

Some slot machines have a rule that you must 'max bet' to be able to win a jackpot. If you do not max bet and hit the jackpot sequence of reels, you still get a big win, but not the really big progressive slot jackpot.

If you are a big money player, it might be that you tend to max bet anyway when you enjoy your slots, but for many of us, playing low value and still being able to win the jackpot is the thing we are searching for.

Some slot machines to look out for if you are one of us 'value' players are the ones where you only have to max bet on the winning line, rather than max bet by playing all the lines and all with maximum credits.

You should also look out for games where the lowest credit denomination is 1 cent, but the game still allows you to win the jackpot. There are plenty of them, but you have to search for them.

One of the best machines of this type is the Jackpot Party Penny Parade game. They have random jackpots, which can even be triggered even if you are only playing one line at 1 cent per spin.

Not only are these games some of best out there, with great bonus features, compelling characters in the video bonuses and amazing sound effects, the last time we looked, these machines had a big $1m jackpot.

TIP - if you are looking to win a jackpot playing pennies it is much better to play 5 lines at max bet if it means you have a chance of winning the jackpot, than it is to play 20 lines at a lower bet, but be unable to win it

Then there are the Wheel of Fortune Jackpots that are always popular - it's worth looking around to find the best wheel of fortune slot for you, because there is such a huge number of them in any casino, that you need to find the one that pays out the big slot prize for the amount you intend to play.

Pics Of Slot Machine Jackpots

As we mentioned before, a lot of machines have rules where they do not allow you to win a jackpot unless you max bet. These max bets can be as high as $5, especially on the newer big games. But on other machines, the max bet might be $1. So, what should we do?

Winning Slot Jackpots Videos

It stands to reason, that if you are playing $1 per spin on a $5 max bet machine and it does not allow you to take a maximum prize on that $1 spin, then you are getting bad value for money.

Pictures Of Slot Machine Jackpots

To maximize your potential, you would be much better off finding a different game to play where you can spin $1 and have a chance of the jackpot. The take-home message is simple - if you like to play for jackpots, make sure you take a good look around the casino and find the best slot for you.

Picture Of Slot Machine Winning

If you prefer just to play for the fun of exploring the game, seeing what the bonus features are like, the movie clips etc., then you would be better off ignoring the jackpots completely, playing minimum bet and just enjoying it as entertainment.

Whichever way you look at it, the slots are a form of entertainment. Fun. Not a way to make big money. jackpots are popular and you should try to get the best odds when you play, but they are still just part of the fun.