As most casino gamblers know, the odds of winning one of winning a jackpot with six, even, or eight figures is almost infinitesimal. Those eye-popping payouts may make plenty of headlines, but like the lottery the odds are extremely long.
And winning on those major progressive machines comes with even longer odds and can cost players even higher amounts to wager. The house has an edge in most games, but even more so when it comes to slot play in a live casino.
“Each game you play at a casino has a statistical probability against you winning,” Investopedia notes. “Slot machine odds are some of the worst, ranging from a one-in-5,000 to one-in-about-34-million chance of winning the top prize when using the maximum coin play.”
But people do win – and some actually have the good fortune of winning a jackpot more than once. Elmer Sherwin may be one of the best examples of completing a double jackpot. In 2005, the 92-year-old World War II veteran chalked up his second mega jackpot after winning $21.1 million on a Megabucks at Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas.
In 1989, Sherwin also scored a $4.6 million payday on a Megabucks machine at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Winning that second jackpot had fulfilled a lifetime goal.
“I'm glad I finally hit,” Sherwin said. “I've been trying to do it again.”
Some slot players recently at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, have ramped up the jackpot winning as well. Over the last year, several players have recorded multiple jackpots, some cashing in for even more than two. Here’s a look at some of these players who have really cashed in.
Slot-Playing ‘Caesars’
Caesars Palace was unveiled in 1966 with plenty of fanfare. The property offered the best of the best for casino visitors from dining to shows to suites and more. The property has hosted some huge events over the years, including an attempt by daredevil Evel Knievel to jump his motorcycle 141 feet over the casino’s signature fountains. That didn’t end well.
Caesars has also been known for matches featuring some legendary boxers, including Muhammed Ali, Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard. The property has also hosted tennis matches with players like Jimmy Connors as well as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix.
The name Caesars Palace was meant not only to showcase the Roman theme, but also meant to allow players to live and feel like caesars themselves. And some recent slot machine players were probably feeling like Roman royalty after hitting multiple jackpots over the last year.
On March 26, one lucky player recorded a $125,000 jackpot at 9:30 p.m. Less than two hours at around 11 p.m., this same gambler chalked up another jackpot of $383,500. At about 12:30 a.m., Lady Luck smiled on the slot player again for another $159,250. The three- hour winning streak saw the slot fan walk away with $667,750.
Even More Multiple Jackpot Winners
A winning run like that couldn’t possibly happen again, right? Wrong. Recent history has seen even more players cash in several times on trips to Caesars Palace, an unlikely run of paydays at the property.
In August, another Caesars visitor recorded a staggering number of jackpots – a total of 10 over two days for a haul of $2.1 million. The winning began on Aug. 18 with five jackpots totaling $1 million. The lucrative vacation continued the next day with five more jackpots for another $1.1 million. Most players would be pretty excited about seeing double-digit payouts for a total of $2.1 million. The experience made for quite a Las Vegas getaway.
These two fortunate reel spinners no doubt had some wide smiles on their faces, but weren’t the only Caesars multi-winners over the last year.
In July, a player took down three slot jackpots in a single day between slots and video poker. Over a Friday and Saturday, this player’s slot play brought a $100,000 payday. If that weren’t enough, this winner also played some video poker and grabbed two more payouts of $200,000 and $100,000 for a smooth total of $300,000.
In March of this year, Caesars saw yet another double-jackpot winner – scoring $165,000 on the first win and an even better $545,000 at a different machine just a few hours later. This was quite a day, with winning to the tune of $710,000.
Cashing In
Most gamblers would be envious of these kinds of trips to the casino. But these winning streaks are highly unlikely, especially considering it’s already highly unlikely to win these types of major scores.
Slot manufacturers are a bit secretive when it comes to the odds of cashing in on some of the game’s biggest jackpots, but the chances get up to one in millions.
“Progressive slots are a good example of high variance games,” Untamed Science reports. “The cumulative jackpots available can regularly exceed a million dollars, but winners only ever crop up every few months or even years.”
Some of those odds are as high as one in 100 million, according to some reports. This makes these types of multiple payouts at Caesars even more unlikely – the odds are just so stacked against a player finding these kinds of winnings. But a game’s random number generator keeps payouts at random.
While one game can see long periods of time between major payouts, others may pay out several jackpots over a shorter length of time. These slot winners just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
