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. While most wins are modest, every now and then, casino someone defies the odds in spectacular fashion, walking away with a fortune that becomes the stuff of legend. Here are some of the most famous and largest casino wins in history.
The Excalibur Jackpot
The stuff of dreams became reality for one man at the Excalibur casino. A 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles decided to play the famous Megabucks slot machine while waiting for a basketball game to start. After feeding about $100 into the machine, he hit the jackpot of a lifetime. The win amounted to an incredible $39.7 million, paid out over 25 years. He wisely opted to keep his identity private, casino becoming a legend in the process.
Beating the House at its Own Game
Some of the most famous wins are a result of skill, strategy, casino; you can try atuttavita.com, and negotiation. Between 2010 and 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. Johnson, a savvy businessman, casino negotiated special rules with the casinos before he even started playing. These included a 20% "loss rebate" (where the casino would refund him 20% of his losses if they reached a certain amount), the ability to bet up to $100,000 per hand, and favorable rules like splitting and doubling down on any four cards. By combining these advantageous rules with perfect basic strategy, he was able to shift the mathematical edge slightly in his favor. After his epic winning streak, casinos became much more cautious about the deals they offered high rollers.
The Double Megabucks Winner
Winning a massive jackpot once is a statistical miracle. Winning it twice is almost unbelievable. This is the incredible story of Elmer Sherwin. He first won $4.6 million on a Megabucks machine in 1989 at the grand opening of The Mirage. He traveled extensively with his winnings but never gave up on his dream of winning again. Incredibly, 16 years later, in 2005, at the age of 92, he did it again. He won a staggering $21.1 million jackpot on another Megabucks machine at the Cannery Casino. Sherwin generously donated much of his second win to charity, including relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina victims.
