Megabucks hits again; Wheel of Fortune takes winning spin

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

A pair of multimillion-dollar slot jackpots made Valentine's Day a lot sweeter for two men -- one is a Las Vegan and the other is a tourist, who returned to the town where he was married last year to celebrate his wedding anniversary.

A 38-year-old Las Vegas computer consultant, who declined to release his name, hit Megabucks late Monday, collecting $7,783,158 at the Bellagio hotel-casino -- marking the third time in less than a month that the statewide progressive dollar reel slots have been hit.

Carlos Delgadillo, a 42-year-old employee of a California rental car company, hit a Wheel of Fortune dollar slot machine Sunday night for $4,221,710 at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. Wheel of Fortune is a progressive slot machine that is modeled after the popular syndicated TV game show and, like Megabucks, manufactured by International Game Technology.

He called the win "an early Valentine's present," said Connie Fox, a spokeswoman for IGT.

The Megabucks winner is considering making his name public and a news conference is expected later today, according to Fox.

The Megabucks winner has been presented with his first annual check for $313,333.

The man told IGT officials that he will probably continue to work with computers, but now he has the luxury of pursuing what really interests him rather than having to work to pay the bills.

On Jan. 26 a world record slot jackpot of $34,955,489 was hit on a Megabucks machine at the Desert Inn by Las Vegas cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay.

The progressive jackpot was restarted at $7 million and nine days later a 60-year-old Asian woman, in town for the Chinese New Year, hit Megabucks for $7,671,788 at the MGM Grand.