Las Vegas Sun

May 19, 2013

Currently: 83° | Complete forecast | Log in

Megabucks winner used ‘free play’ credits to score jackpot

By Ron Sylvester

Click to enlarge photo

ETHAN MILLER / Las Vegas Sun / Sun File Photo

Dan Healy and his wife Margaret Healy try their hand at winning Megabucks at Sunset Station. Megabucks is a progressive dollar slot machine, which means that the more money people put in, the bigger the jackpot gets. Jackpots hit have ranged from $7 million to $39 million.

The newest Megabucks winner is a woman from the Las Vegas Valley who used her "free play" credits to hit the $17.3 million jackpot.

The woman told officials at IGT, which manufacturers the Megabucks slot, that she'd stopped into the M Resort on Friday night in Henderson to use her free play credits and dining vouchers. When jackpot symbols lined up, someone playing the next machine had to tell her she'd claimed the prize of $17,329,817.80. The winner asked to remain anonymous. She told IGT that she plans to use the money to pay off her house and take care of her family.

Friday marked the first Megabucks progressive to hit in Nevada since June 15, 2011, when a gambler won $10.3 million at the Grand Sierra Casino in Reno. Megabucks progressives have hit three times in Las Vegas since 2011, including twice within three months at the Aria.

Since 1986, IGT has awarded Megabucks jackpots of more than $1 billion nationwide and $728 million in Nevada.

After a win, the jackpot resets to $10 million.

Discussion: 2 comments so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.

Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.

  1. By Det__Munch
    Dec. 18, 2012
    4:04 a.m.
    Flag

    "Free play" credits!!! Fantastic!!!

  2. By askmrmark (Mark Anthony)
    Dec. 18, 2012
    9:25 a.m.

    Comment removed by moderator. Off Topic

Post a comment

Commenting requires registration.

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.

If you would like to submit your comment as a letter to the editor, you may submit it here.

Most Popular