I can never resist posting “big check” pictures, even if they come from a slots hit. Of course, this one was for $1.2 million.
Judith Buckridge, 63, of Lake Grove, N.Y. hit a slot jackpot worth $1,263,122.69 at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino on Tuesday, June 29 at 4:30pm. Buckridge was playing a 25 cent Wheel of Fortune machine.
That’s pretty much the whole story, but look how happy she is with her big check.
Ah, bliss.
Changes in some Atlantic City slot rules might make you think twice about playing multi-machine progressive slots that don’t seem to be generating much of a crowd. Under the changes, casinos can remove those “unpopular” slots and pocket the jackpot.
But you would have one last shot at the jackpot it before the casino could move.
According to the Associated Press, the casinos would have to give the public 30 days notice that the slots will be removed. If no one wins by then, the casino can remove those machines and cancel the accrued jackpot.
Formerly, casinos were required to transfer the jackpot to a different progressive, or multi-machine system.
The change applies only to progressive slots within a single casino. Progressive jackpots linked among several casinos would not be affected.
Regulators say the change allows casinos to more quickly get rid of under-performing slot brands and replace them with others, according to the AP.
The changes also permit the casinos to increase the odds of winning progressive jackpots from the current 50 million-to-1 to 100 million-to-1.
We’re not math geniuses, but it sounds like the odds against actually hitting a progressive slots jackpot just doubled.
This past weekend saw Atlantic City crown some big bucks winners as the Caesars Entertainment bad beat jackpot hit for $327,360 and a slot player at the Trump Taj Mahal won $200,000 in a major slot promotion at Trump properties.
First the bad beat.
The jackpot hit at 8:42am Saturday (Feb. 26) at Caesars Atlantic City. Caesars didn’t name the winners, but did say that quad nines went down to a straight flush on the hand. The minimum hand had been set at quad eights.
The hand loser/bad bet winner took home $102,276 and the hand winner received $68,804.
About 88 players at all four Caesars properties — Harrah’s Resort, Caesars, Showboat and Bally’s — got $1,860 a piece. That’s a little better than usual, probably because the jackpot had a breakfast time hit.
The jackpot was reset and now sits at about $183,000. The minimum goes back to four queens.
Meanwhile, The Taj Mahal selected a winner of it “One Million to One Player” month-long slot promotion. Teresa Piotti, 78 of Williamstown, was randomly selected among players at Trump properties this month (including Trump Marina, which is in the process of being sold).
According to Trump, Piotti was playing slots at the Taj Mahal, when her win was announced Sunday.
“I raised my arms and screamed,” exclaimed Piotti when she heard her name announced as the winner. “My husband Dante was shaking like a leaf!”
Piotti won either $1 million in bonus slot dollars or the option of taking a cash option.
Surprise, surprise, she took the cash option.
She was presented with three envelopes, one with $200,000 cash, one with $225,000 cash and one with $250,000 cash.
Piotti selected the envelope with $200,000 cash.
Gee, tough luck.
Here’s Piotti and her big bonus slot dollar check, which she didn’t take, but whatever.
If you’re looking for that big payday at The Borgata this weekend, apparently there’s no reason to come up with the $3,500 for the Borgata Winter Open Championship this Sunday. Or even the couple of hundred bucks for a satellite.
The stuff dreams are made of
Nope, fortune is in that penny jar you keep on the dresser.
Thursday, a player at the Borgata hit a penny slot progressive jackpot for just shy of a $5 million payout.
We’ll let that sink in. … penny slots … $5 million.
The amazing thing is that less than two weeks ago, another player hit a progressive penny slot jackpot at the casino for about $3.5 million.
Which is, you know, ridiculous.
Anyway, here’s the latest penny millionaire’s story from the Borgata:
A customer from Ocean County, NJ was playing a penny The Wizard of Oz™ Ruby Slippers progressive slot machine when five “progressive” symbols appeared on the payout line signaling a jackpot of $4,963,819.15. Earlier in the month, on January 16, another customer from Staten Island, NY was playing a “Wheel of Fortune”® penny progressive slot machine and won $3,491,146.57. Combining both jackpots, that’s $8,454,965.62 or 845,496,572, or nearly a billion pennies! Both winners chose to remain anonymous.
“Lightning struck twice in less than two weeks on our penny slot machines, said Joe Lupo, Borgata’s Senior Vice President of Operations. “And we couldn’t be happier. We’ve always said that Borgata is a lucky place to play. I’m sure that these two customers would readily agree.”
Meanwhile, the Winter Open Championship prize pool is guaranteed for only $2 million, which is way less than a billion pennies.
Go figure.
As the Borgata Poker Open starts up today, the casino seems to be in a giving mood if any poker players want to take a turn on the slots.
Sunday, two players hit slot jackpots worth more than $4 million combined.
And if you think slots suck, consider that one guy won more than $3 million on a penny slot. Yes, a penny slot.
“This is one of those cases where lightening struck twice for two of our customers on the same day and with the same type of machine,” said Joe Lupo, Borgata’s senior vice president of operations. “We couldn’t be happier for our winners. We’ve always said that Borgata is a lucky place to play. I’m sure that these two customers would readily agree.”
According to the casino, both machines were “Wheel of Fortune”® models, manufactured by IGT, and feature progressive jackpots that are linked to multiple properties.
The biggest jackpot came on a one-cent “Wheel of Fortune Special Edition” machine and paid $3,491,146.57 which ranks it among the biggest penny jackpots in Atlantic City. The last time that the one cent Wheel of Fortune progressive jackpot hit in Atlantic City was in May of 2008.
The second jackpot came a bit later on the same day on a 50-cent “Wheel of Fortune” machine and paid $700,161.82.
Both winners are from New York, and each chose to remain anonymous.
So luck is in the air at The Borgata.
Hey, we know this is a poker blog, but people hit jackpots all the time in Atlantic City.
The winning machine
So here’s a little slot news.
A New Jersey man, who wishes to remain anonymous, hit a $7,355,381.94 jackpot at Harrah’s Resort this morning at 9:05 am in the casino’s Diamond Cove slot section. It’s the second largest slot jackpot in the casino’s history.
He hit it on a $5 Wheel of Fortune slot machine, so you nickel slot players will just have to keep grinding.
It’s kind of cool that the guy wants to be anonymous, but Harrah’s interviewed him anyway.
According to Harrah’s: “The Harrah’s Resort customer stated that he was here on the very day the casino opened its doors. He jokingly referred to the casino as his “second home”.
The unassuming, middle-aged man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was first going to buy a 1967 Camaro. “Tom” is not married and plans on sharing his new millionaire status with his extended family and friends.
Unassuming, middle-aged, single Tom will probably look pretty good in that Camaro.
