One of the most appealing aspects of gambling is that it provides the opportunity to win big. You can earn millions of dollars through certain games.

Igt game king 6.0 poker machine with lcd (coinless) (ticket printer) $ 2,441.20 video poker keno machine IGT 96419500 Summit SDBT19C-C $ 680.00 Cherry Master POKER / Video Slot MACHINE 8 LINER VIDEO ARCADE GAME lot of 3 $ 945.20. Megabucks are slots with progressive jackpots, combined into a single network that covers casinos in several American states. The owner and operator of this network is International Game Technology, better known by its abbreviated name IGT. Megabucks slot is considered as an alternative to state lotteries and enjoys incredible popularity among Americans.

Of course, you have to choose the right forms of gambling to play for fortunes. The following seven games give you the strongest chance of getting rich.

1 – Lottery

No type of gambling has created more millionaires than the lottery. Mega Millions, Powerball, EuroMillions, and SuperEnalotto are particularly notable for how many people they’ve made wealthy.

Powerball has paid out the two biggest jackpots in lottery history. It delivered a $1.57 billion payout in January 2013 and a $758.7 million prize in August 2017.

Mega Millions has also paid some notable windfalls, too. It delivered a $656 million payout in March 2012 and a $648 million prize in December 2013.

One reason why lotteries are able to build such massive prizes is their user-friendly nature. You need only pay for a ticket(s) and pick your numbers to play.

Actually, you don’t even need to choose your numbers. Instead, you can opt for the quick-pick option and have the machine generate numbers for you.

The lottery requires no skill to play and features life-changing payouts. The only drawback is that lottery payout percentages are awful.

Slot Mega Wins

On average, you’ll only win back $0.50 for every dollar wagered. As long as you’re fine with this, though, then you can still look forward to some excitement through lotteries.

Mega Millions Slot Jackpot

2 – Slot Machines

Slots are similar to lotteries in that they’ve created plenty of millionaires. In particular, Las Vegas’ Megabucks, Microgaming’s Mega Moolah (online), and NetEnt’s Mega Fortune (online) have made lots of people rich.

Megabucks holds the record for the largest slots jackpot ever. In 2003, an anonymous software engineer won $39.7 million through this game at Las Vegas’ Excalibur casino.

Slot machines require you to insert money and spin the reels for prizes. You can increase your bet size in hopes of winning larger payouts.

Much like the lottery, slots don’t require any true strategy. The main strategy is to look for games with high return to player (RTP) and properly manage your bankroll.

Most online slots offer around 96% RTP. Slot machines in land-based casinos only pay between 90% and 95% on average.

3 – Poker

Poker is one of only two games on this list that can offer long-term profits. By improving your skills, you subsequently boost your chances of winning over the long haul.

But as much skill as this game involves, it also features a ticket to riches in poker tournaments. Some tourneys have multimillion-dollar prize pools and offer seven-figure payouts at the top.

The World Series of Poker Main Event is a perfect example of such a tournament. It has offered a $1 million prize or larger to the champion every year since 2019.

Pros have dominated the Main Event in recent years. But amateurs sometimes get lucky and take down this prestigious tourney.

Chris Moneymaker is the most famous example. After winning his $10k Main Event seat online, the accountant and amateur player won the 2003 WSOP ME and $2.5 million.

Jamie Gold is another example of the dozen-plus amateurs who’ve triumphed in this tournament. The Hollywood talent agent won the 2006 WSOP ME and $12 million.

High-stakes cash games offer another route towards winning big in poker. However, you must be quite skilled to grind your way up the ladder and into these games.

4 – Daily Fantasy Sports

Although not as popular as it was several years ago, daily fantasy sports (DFS) still delivers some big prizes.

Case in point, DraftKings holds a $10m NFL Millionaire Maker contest that pays the winner $2 million. Not far behind, FanDuel offers a $6m NFL Sunday Million that delivers $1 million to the champ.

Aside from the huge events, DFS is a skill-based game. It’s also similar to poker tournaments in terms of structure and prize money.

Your knowledge of professional athletes’ values will help you maximize your lineups. You can also submit multiple entries into guaranteed prize pool tournaments to increase your chances of winning.

The only problem is that DFS pros do most of the winning. However, you can still take a shot at the huge tourneys even if you’re not the most skilled at daily fantasy.

5 – Bingo

Bingo is the most underrated gambling game that can make you rich. One reason for this is the typical setting, which, in America, often involves a church basement.

In reality, commercial bingo is big business. Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Casino has been so successful with the game that they’ve built a 3,600-seat bingo hall.

The largest bingo operations are able to offer massive prizes that might shock you. In some cases, players can even become millionaires with the right games.

John Orchard is the biggest bingo winner of all time. The Brit scooped a £5.9 million payout at an online bingo site in December 2012.

Orchard was a 60-year-old job center worker prior to his massive jackpot. After winning a multimillion-pound prize on a 30p bet, he was finally able to retire.

Most bingo prizes aren’t quite as large as Orchard’s windfall. However, his story shows what’s possible with the biggest games.

6 – Progressive Blackjack

Blackjack is one of the more strategic games in the casino. It gives you a solid chance to beat the house with correct strategy.

However, blackjack can also offer progressive jackpots. Such games deliver the progressive prize if you get the right combination of cards.

You can also look forward to smaller side payouts. Here’s a common setup for progressive blackjack payouts:

• Four suited aces – Jackpot
• Three suited aces – 5,000x the side bet
• Four aces (mixed suits) – 2,500x
• Three aces – 250x
• Two suited aces – 100x
• Two aces – 50x
• One ace – 5x

You must make a $1 side bet to qualify for the jackpot in most cases. This is a small price to pay when considering that certain prizes can be worth more than $250,000.

As for the jackpot, you need to be dealt four suited aces in consecutive order. If your first two cards are suited aces, then you’d want to keep hitting in pursuit of the top prize.

7 – Caribbean Stud

Caribbean Stud Poker is another card game that can offer large jackpots. In fact, this game is well-known for its progressive payouts.

Beginning with the basics, Caribbean Stud involves trying to get a better poker hand than the dealer. Assuming you make the separate $1 side bet, you’re also hoping to qualify for the jackpot.

Each round begins with you receiving five face-down cards. The dealer also receives five cards, including four face down and one up card.

You can fold and surrender your ante bet at this point, or you can double your ante wager. From here, a series of things can happen based on your hand and the dealer’s hand.

What’s more important to our discussion is what happens with the side bet. You win 100% of the jackpot with a royal flush. Meanwhile, you collect 10% of the jackpot with a straight flush.

Some progressive jackpots are worth over $200,000. That said, you’ll find the $1 side wager worth making.

Conclusion

You may not enter every gambling session with dreams of being a millionaire. But you’ll certainly appreciate having the opportunity to get rich when the mood strikes.

Several games offer payouts worth six or seven figures. The lottery trumps everything else in terms of pure windfalls.

One Powerball payout broke the $1.5 billion barrier. Several other lottery prizes have been worth well over $500 million.

Real money slot games also offer impressive payouts. Megabucks once paid nearly $40 million, while Mega Moolah delivered a $21.5 million prize.

Poker features huge payouts through tournaments. The WSOP Main Event commonly delivers prizes worth millions of dollars every year.

DFS is somewhat similar to poker in terms of its skill and tourney formats. Daily fantasy features plenty of multimillion-dollar payouts during the NFL season.

Bingo is the most-surprising inclusion on this list. It too can drum up seven-figure payouts, including the £5.9 million prize that John Orchard collected in 2012.

Blackjack and Caribbean stud don’t feature $1 million jackpots. However, their top prizes can reach six figures.

As you can see, the gambling world offers plenty of variety when it comes to chasing jackpots. Therefore, you can pick and choose your favorite games when trying to win big.

The motto for most gamblers who come to Las Vegas on a lark is rather simple – go big or go home.

If you’re going to wager real American dollars on games of chance and skill, there’s no reason to take the conservative route. Bankroll management notwithstanding, the goal for any gambler in Sin City is to hit it big, win the jackpot, and walk away with more money than you know what to do with.

Of course, the vast majority of us who take these shots don’t mint themselves instant millionaires. Instead, the house’s inexorable edge and every gambling game’s inherent odds against the player combine to pour our money straight into the casino’s coffers.

For this reason, what happened at the Excalibur casino on March 21^st of 2003 when a random tourist from Los Angeles decided to hit the slots has become the stuff of Las Vegas legend.

On that day, an anonymous 25-year old gambler arrived in town to visit his family. With the annual “March Madness” college basketball tournament in full swing, the player figured they might as well get some action down on Duke, Arizona, and the rest of the sport’s heavyweights.

The young man’s uncle heard about the trip to Excalibur Hotel & Casino and offered his nephew a little sage advice from a Las Vegas local – play the Megabucks slot machine and see what happens.

And with a $10 million starting seed* – not to mention millions of tourists plunking down the requisite $3 per spin to give themselves a chance – the Megabucks jackpot had swelled to an astounding $39.7 million.

*Megabucks initially offered a $1 million starting seed, before increasing to $7 million in 1997, and $10 million in 2005

Thus, the visitor from L.A. found a Megabucks machine and took a seat with $100 in hand.

What happened next made history…

How Does the Megabucks Slot Machine Work?

First things first though… in case you’re unfamiliar with the Megabucks slot, here’s a quick crash course on the greatest progressive jackpot game of them all.

Casino game manufacturer International Game Technology (IGT) introduced its Megabucks slot way back in 1986. At the time, slot machine jackpots were static in nature, meaning each individual machine offered its own kitty based on how many coins had been previously deposited in between major payouts.

IGT had a revolutionary idea, however, so the company linked its various Megabucks machines all over the Silver State together. In other words, whenever a player in Reno, Mesquite, or anywhere in Nevada for that matter played one Megabucks machine, their coins contributed to the same jackpot total.

This wide area progressive jackpot concept proved to be an immediate hit with players, who loved to watch the meter continuously climb into the seven-figures.

And those meters did climb on a daily basis too, thanks to the Megabucks game’s enormous odds against on the topline jackpot.

Megabucks is a deceptively simple game, one which eschews the multiple paylines and expanded reels that make up the bulk of a casino’s slot inventory nowadays. For a maximum bet of $3, players send three reels spinning, each featuring traditional symbols like 7s, cherries, and BARs. To form winning combinations, players hope to hit three matching symbols along a single payline.

The game’s jackpot symbol is a golden “Megabucks Eagle” which depicts the slot’s distinctive logo. The only thing is, landing even one of these crucial symbols along the payline requires the player to beat odds of 1 in 368. Knowing this, the odds against spiking all three at once come to an astronomical 1 in 49,836,032 – or (1/368)³.

For this reason, the Megabucks progressive jackpot often goes unclaimed for extended stretches, many of which lasting more than a year. With so much time in between big winners, and so many players statewide tossing $3 per spin into the kitty, Megabucks jackpots soon became notorious for reaching epic proportions.

Before that fateful day in 2003, Megabucks players enjoyed an incredible run which saw the jackpot rise to a then record $27.5 million in 1998. That life-changing sum was won by a lucky slot spinner at Palace Station in November of 1998, but the record was eventually broken with a $34.9 million payout awarded to a cocktail waitress playing at the Desert Inn in January of 2000.

A little more than three years later, a new record was waiting to be set at the Excalibur.

$100 Flier Turns Into Life-Changing Record Jackpot Win

Starting out with only $100, the player from L.A. had just 33 spins to work with given the $3* price of play.

*Megabucks can be played for $1 or $2 spins, but the progressive jackpot is only awarded to players who opt for the max-bet of $3

Even so, as a press release issued by IGT later revealed, the player with a birthdate featuring three 7s seemed to have Lady Luck on his arm from the very start. Within the span of those 33 spins, the man watched as not one, not two, but three of the “Megabucks Eagle” symbols slowly spun and came to a rest alongside one another.

Just like that, the player had beaten odds of nearly 1 in 50 million to put nearly $40 million in his pocket.

Well, not all at once anyway. The winner elected to take $1.5 million installments over the course of 26 years – which means he’s still receiving seven-figure payouts annually to this day. In fact, the winner has another 10 years and $15 million remaining on his record-setting payment plan.

Although he chose to remain anonymous, the winner provided the following statement to IGT:

“I’m still stunned; it doesn’t seem real yet. But both of my parents are still working, so some of this money will be used to fund their retirement.”

Largest Megabucks Jackpot Ever – And By a Long Shot

John Sears – who served as vice president of IGT’s MegaJackpots program at the time – confirmed that the $39,713,982.25 payout smashed the previous record for largest slot machine jackpot ever awarded:

“This MegaJackpot is nearly $5 million more than the previous world record slot jackpot amount of $34.9 million – this one goes into The Guinness Book of Records.”

Check out the table below – featuring 10 real megabucks jackpot wins – to get a better sense of just how ridiculous the record-setting jackpot really is:

Megabucks Jackpot History (Wins of $10 Million or More)

Competing Jackpot Hunters Lament Loss of Record-Setting Total

Within the slot machine gaming enthusiast community, learning that Megabucks’ massive jackpot had been won proved to be bittersweet indeed.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun conducted shortly after the news broke, Kim Wong from Kailua, Hawaii told the newspaper how she felt watching the meter reset back to $10 million:

“I was here at lunchtime around 12:30 and it was still around $39.7 million. Then I came back around quarter after one and it was resetting. It was such a drag. It was a little more enticing with the $39 million up there, but I’m still playing.”

Judy Selasky from Lavonia, Michigan provided a similar story, telling the paper that even though a record payout was off the table, she and her husband would still play in hopes of a “lightning strikes twice” type of moment:

“I said, ‘Hurry up and get up to the room, so I can get downstairs. I figure if he won, there might be some magic here. I’m not a hog.”

Conclusion

In a city like Las Vegas which was founded on excess, setting the world record for slot machine jackpot winnings really is something special. And while we don’t know much about the software engineer from L.A. who did the deed, learning that a 25-year old tourist took the honors should give hope to every gambler who makes the sojourn to Sin City.

More than 16 years have passed since the record-setting spin, and nobody has even come close to claiming such an incredible Megabucks jackpot over that span – which shows just how astonishing that memorable moment in March of 2003 really was.