Pennies from heaven

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

PAHRUMP - Che McFadden, standing behind the counter at E-Z Cash Super Pawn, across the parking lot from the Pahrump Nugget, could recall only the customer's first name.

"Wayne is his name, don't remember his last name - he's been in here before, pawned a few small things, a saw," McFadden said, pushing buttons on a video and DVD player while consulting his memory.

As of 12:31 p.m. last Wednesday, Wayne probably won't need to ever again pawn a saw, or anything else.

Wayne - he hasn't revealed his last name publicly - won $18,794,414.61 at the casino, apparently entering the Guinness Book of World Records for penny slot jackpots, according to casino General Manager Jeremy Jenson.

A 67-year-old man who likes bowling and a good steak, Wayne has been the news of the week in Pahrump, the town of 35,000 about an hour west of Las Vegas.

Jenson hopes Wayne's win will "put Pahrump on the map." Brothels and anti-illegal immigration laws already have done that, but this is the kind of feel-good news that could get people thinking that the small town is the place to go for a big slot win.

About 30 steps from the casino door, the Megabucks machine where Wayne hit the $18 million has become a local attraction, with a "here's-where-it-happened" glow - and a backdrop for casino stories of the one that got away.

Susan French, who retired in Pahrump six months ago, was at the Nugget "that day."

In fact, she would have been at that machine - at that moment, she insists - if not for a talkative friend who stopped her at the door.

"I came to play and ran into a lady who just gabbed on and on outside, dang it," she said.

French was surprised at such big eight-figure news coming out of the five-figure population town.

"Who would ever think this would happen in Pahrump?" she said.

A few minutes later Steve Ambrosen stood up from the penny slot machine next to the penny slot machine.

He said he plays the lucky slot all the time, even won $120 there once.

His biggest take was $470 at another machine, won with "$3 left over from the buffet."

Ambrosen has lived in Pahrump five years but drives east over the Spring Mountains to Las Vegas each day to a maintenance job at the tony Southern Highlands Golf Club.

There he rubs shoulders with - or at least, cleans up after - some of the valley's wealthiest residents, as the club's members include MGM Mirage chief Terry Lanni, Sun Editor Brian Greenspun and former baseball star Reggie Jackson.

"I think about the difference between them and me every day," said the 55-year-old Ambrosen, a former Navy man with a bushy mustache.

"If I had that kind of money," he said, now lifting a finger toward Wayne's machine, "I wouldn't have to be a working stiff."

At E-Z Cash Super Pawn, employee Mini Kern sees a lot of people trying to change their own lives at the slots or the tables across the parking lot.

Some come by every day, even before doors open at 10 a.m., with jewelry or other items. Like a saw.

"If they win, they come back in an hour. If not, they pawn something else," Kern said matter-of-factly.

"We're kind of connected," she added, nodding toward the casino.

McFadden estimates that 40 percent of his business is linked to the town's casinos.

About a mile down State Route 160, at the Bob Ruud Community Center, a dozen or so locals were donating blood Friday afternoon. Larry Pettit, a 61-year-old part-time security guard at Terrible's Town casino, down the road from the Nugget, said everybody in his casino knew about last week's win within 10 minutes.

Other examples of how small-town news travels fast: Late in the afternoon the day of the win, Pettit stopped for a beer at the Mountain View Casino, where folks already had talked to people at the other Terrible's, on the other side of town, about the jackpot. Then, dropping off some cookies for a bake sale, "I met a guy who said he knows someone who bowls Tuesdays with Wayne."

In fact, Pettit himself caught a glimpse of Wayne while on his way to lunch at the Nugget's $6.99 buffet on Wayne's lucky day.

"I heard him say, 'Does this mean I get comped a steak dinner?' "