Las Vegas Slot Machine Jackpot Winners 2019
The tables and slots of Las Vegas appear to be graced with a dash of festive magic this holiday season, with a huge number of lucky players scooping up six and seven-figure jackpots across the city. Millions were scooped up by over a dozen players over the space of just a few days, marking one of the City of Sin’s most lucrative winning streaks in recent memory.
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The ball first got rolling on Thanksgiving night, with one extremely lucky player netting a $1,056,821.80 prize on the $1 Wheel of Fortune machine at the famous Mandalay Bay Casino. This was followed quickly after by a visitor from California scooping up $1,736,673.07 from a $4 bet on a one-cent machine at Harrah’s Casino. The previous night a player at the exact same casino managed to win $502,657 from a single hand of Mississippi stud poker, where the high roller in question played an elusive Royal Flush.
A record-breaking jackpot. 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). The tables and slots of Las Vegas appear to be graced with a dash of festive magic this holiday season, with a huge number of lucky players scooping up six and seven-figure jackpots across the city.
Meanwhile, Mr. John Kelly from Utah won a staggering $426,102.44 on Face Up Pai Gow at Planet Hollywood Resort the following Sunday. The hugely lucrative start to the month didn’t stop there either: on December 3rd, a casual poker player named Robert Weaver played a club Royal Flush at Flamingo Casino during a game of Mississippi Stud, scooping up $153,664 in one fell swoop.
Just a few hours later, an eager slot player by the name of Raymond placed a $4 bet on a Dancing Drums machine into a $100,000 payday. A couple of days later, a couple from California managed to play five aces during a game of Face Up Pai Gow at Paris Casino (in Face Up Pai Gow, a Joker can also be used as an ace), winning an astonishing $161,890.21 in one go. The hand was won at the exact same spot where a novice player won an even more eye-popping $2,330,133.44 on the same game last month.
The spree of massive wins will likely convince countless others to rush to the Strip to try their luck, feeling that something is clearly in the air. One of the key themes with all of the recent wins is that single, massive jackpots were won based on a very small wager.
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The surging popularity in this type of gambling stems partly from the profitability factor, as well as the fact that you don’t need to be an expert gambler to play. It’s the reason why Vegas-inspired websites offering free slot spins and no-deposit bonuses have been inundated with hopeful gamblers recently, no doubt helped along by some hope that this year’s festive magic will rub off on them too.
Las Vegas has a long history of winning streaks, and many gambling fans swear that the city goes through ‘lucky periods’ where the chances of winning a life-changing sum of money are higher than they would normally be. Whether some greater force of nature is at power on the Las Vegas Strip is debatable, but the numbers make it clear that this is a good Christmas to spend in the City of Sin.
Slots player Cynthia Obie was ecstatic when she hit the jackpot at the MGM National Harbour Casino in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The win was worth several thousand dollars, but the casino refused to pay out.
- Woman hit jackpot at MGM National Harbor Casino
- Casino staff recorded her Social Security number incorrectly
- The casino was legally required to confiscate her winnings
- Winner mistakenly identified as owing child support money
In an interview with the local Fox News station, Obie spoke about her excitement with the win, as she needed the cash, but did not want to disclose exactly how much the jackpot was worth. She said she was an occasional casino goer and had been there that night with one of her friends on a night out.
An unfortunate sequence of events
As per the rules and regulations for casinos cashing out winnings, the staff at the casino took down info from the woman’s ID and some other key pieces of information. However, they mistakenly recorded an incorrect Social Security number, accidentally getting one of the digits wrong.
The person who subsequently came up on the casino’s system was an individual who had a large debt in the state. The debt was partly unpaid child support and partly monies owed to the government of Maryland.
The casino therefore refused to pay out any winnings to Obie. Obie began pleading with the staff, pointing out that she had never had to pay child support and knew it must be a misunderstanding.
By the time the casino discovered the error with the Social Security number, it was too late for Obie.
MGM has said its employees were following Maryland law and that the issue was no longer in their hands. The only thing the casino did to offer compensation was to give Obie free play chips worth $200. It also gave her some vouchers for drinks on the night of the incident.
Obie now plans to contact the Gaming Control Agency to discuss the incident.
What happens next?
When Obie left the casino without her money, she was told to get in touch with the Human Services Agency in Maryland to clear up the misunderstanding. The HSA is the body that looks after child support issues.
However, after paying a visit to their offices, Obie had made no progress on the issue. Her main gripe still lies with the casino itself.
She told the casino: “Frustrated, but now I’m at the point this is insane. You guys are a billion dollar corporation, you do the research. I won fair and square. I just want my money.”
MGM told Fox 5: “We are aware of this unfortunate error and have taken the necessary steps to assist Ms. Obie in rectifying this issue. Due to MLGCA rules and Maryland state law, we cannot provide an additional payout for this jackpot.
Las Vegas Slot Machine Jackpot Winners 2019 2020
“However, if she presents the proper identification credentials to the Maryland Gaming Commission, they will provide her with the appropriate payout. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused Ms. Obie.”
Mega Slot Winners Las Vegas
The incident has triggered some community backlash for the casino. Some locals say the fault lies with the MGM National Harbor Casino, and nobody else, as it was casino staff who wrote down the incorrect Social Security number that led to Obie not receiving her winnings.