People gamble for all sorts of reasons but the main ones are for the entertainment factor and the hope of bagging a substantial cash prize. Admittedly, the majority of small staking slot wins will not make you rich, but since the introduction of jackpot slots, there are those punters who have won life-changing amounts of money from standard staking spins. You do not have to win jackpots to win big on slots, but, as many live streamers have shown, these big wins are mostly reserved for high rollers – view the best online slots today.
However, if you want your name in the history books, then jackpot wins are a sure fire way of getting you there. Jackpot slots are nothing new, but when they were first introduced, they did not carry the substantial prize money that is on offer today. Now you can win millions of pounds from a single slot spin and although this may sound like an impossible task to achieve, it has been done by a select few.
The biggest wins have come on progressive jackpot slots and the prize fund here continues to grow with every punter that plays the slot. The jackpot can be won by a special symbol drop or randomly. Some progressive jackpots are won when a feature such as a jackpot wheel, is randomly triggered during normal base game slot play.
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Online History Makers
Today punters can play for Las Vegas style cash prizes from the comfort of their own homes. The Guinness World Record for the biggest online slot win currently stands at £13.2 million and this huge some of cash was won by Brit Jon Heywood in 2015, when he triggered the jackpot wheel during the base game on the animal themed Mega Moolah slot. This win made front-page news and proved that lottery style wins on slots are literally just a spin away. This win was closely matched by a $10.4 million haul won by an anonymous Australian gambler on the Dark Knight slot that has recently been plagued by licensing issues.
Jackpot Slots Las Vegas Style
The biggest slots jackpot wins have come courtesy of the gambling capital of the western world, Las Vegas. The largest slots wins recorded have been attributed to the state-operated Megabucks slot machines that are exclusive to Las Vegas. There are 700 in operation in Nevada and all are linked to create a jackpot that usually stands at $10 million minimum. In 1998, the Megabucks jackpot reached $20 million for the first time and a retired flight attendant won this. In 1999 a Megabucks slot in Caesars Palace paid out $21 million. You cannot discuss Megabucks payouts without mentioning the king of Megabucks wins and this title goes to Elmer Sherwin. He won $4.9 million in 1989 and then in 2005 at the age of 92 he pocketed a further $21.1 million on the same slot machine network. He used his winnings to secure the financial future of his family and he also gave away a large sum to good causes before he died a couple of years later. The biggest win of all goes to an LA software engineer who won $39.7 million in 2003 on a Megabucks slot.
