For most people, a trip to the casino is a form of entertainment where the dream of a life-changing win is part of the thrill. Though large wins are rare, some lucky individuals have hit jackpots so massive they've gone down in history. These are the stories of ordinary people and high rollers who experienced a once-in-a-lifetime win.
The Excalibur Jackpot
The largest slot machine jackpot in history was won in March 2003 at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. A young programmer from L.A. put some money into a Megabucks machine to kill time before a game. After feeding about $100 into the machine, he hit the jackpot of a lifetime. The life-altering sum was so huge that it was structured as an annuity, paying him $1.5 million a year for 25 years. The winner chose to remain anonymous, and his story remains the ultimate testament to the incredible, albeit minuscule, chance of hitting it big on a slot machine.
The Blackjack King
Sometimes, a big win is about more than just a lucky spin. Between 2010 and casino 2011, a man named Don Johnson went on an unprecedented winning streak, taking three Atlantic City casinos for a combined total of over $15 million playing blackjack.
How did he do it? It wasn't by counting cards. As a known high roller, he was able to negotiate extremely favorable playing conditions for himself. These negotiated perks, including a generous loss rebate, casino effectively tilted the odds in his favor. With these conditions, he played with a positive expectation, a rare feat in casino gaming. He won so much that he is no longer welcome to play at many of the world's top casinos.
Winning the Jackpot... Again
Winning a massive jackpot once is a statistical miracle. Winning it twice is almost unbelievable. Yet, that is precisely the story of Elmer Sherwin, a veteran of the Second World War. In 1989, at the age of 76, he won a $4.6 million Megabucks jackpot at The Mirage in Las Vegas, just 10 hours after the casino opened. He didn't stop playing, hoping for a second miracle. Sixteen years later, at 92 years old, lightning struck again, and he won a second Megabucks jackpot, this time for $21.1 million. Sherwin generously donated much of his second win to charity, including relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina victims.