A visitor from Atlanta turned a $5 slot machine bet into a life-changing fortune Tuesday morning at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, walking away with a Megabucks jackpot worth $10,292,912.32 — one of the largest slot wins the off-Strip property has ever recorded.
According to casino officials, the unidentified Georgia resident had been sitting at an IGT Megabucks Wolf Run Eclipse machine for roughly three minutes when a single $5 wager triggered the grand prize. The winner opted to remain anonymous and did not pose for a photograph, though the resort confirmed the payout and said the winner celebrated with fellow guests and casino staff on the floor.
“Las Vegas is built on unforgettable moments, and it doesn’t get much more memorable than turning a $5 bet into more than $10 million,” said Cami Christensen, president and general manager of Westgate Las Vegas. “We’re thrilled for our guest from Atlanta and love seeing these legendary stories happen at Westgate.”
The Megabucks progressive is operated by International Game Technology, or IGT, and links machines across hundreds of Nevada casinos through a wide-area network. Each eligible spin contributes a small percentage of the wager toward the shared jackpot, which climbs until one player hits the winning combination. When a jackpot is hit, IGT’s central system resets the progressive meter to $10 million across all connected machines in the network.
While the payout is extraordinary, it falls well short of Nevada’s all-time record. The largest Megabucks jackpot in history was claimed in March 2003, when a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles collected $39.7 million at the Excalibur hotel-casino. Three years before that, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress named Cynthia Jay-Brennan won $34.9 million at the Desert Inn, and in November 1998, an anonymous Las Vegas local took home $27.6 million at Palace Station. The largest previous jackpot at the Westgate itself was $10.7 million, won by Trinidad Torres, a 78-year-old woman from Magna, Utah, in March 2015.
Because Megabucks jackpots are funded by IGT, not the individual casino, winners typically choose between a lump-sum cash payment or an annuity distributed over 25 years. Federal taxes will substantially reduce the take-home amount under either option; winners are advised to consult a tax professional before deciding.
The Westgate, located along Paradise Road just off the Las Vegas Strip, has operated for 57 years and houses the SuperBook, billed as the largest race and sportsbook in Las Vegas.
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