Today's QoD was originally slated to be on the subject of the odds on multi-line video poker games, but in the light of the big Megabucks news and the arrival of this topical question, we've moved that one forward to May 23 (the first available slot we had).
Here's the story. Connie Thiele is a 58-year-old travel coordinator for the Texas Department of Information Services and fittingly, she likes to travel. She and her husband have been visiting Las Vegas regularly since 1992 and particularly like staying at the Palms for its celebrity-spotting potential.
On Wednesday morning of this week, she was on the casino floor at the Palms with her husband, hoping to earn enough for a free lunch. "There were several Megabucks slot machines grouped together and after playing one, I switched over to another one right next to it. I put in $20 and on the first pull, the jackpot hit. On first glance I thought I won $21,000 but my husband immediately saw that I hit the big one. I enjoy playing Megabucks but never think about hitting the big jackpot, just maybe one of the smaller mini-jackpots. That's why I thought I won $21,000. This is unbelievable," said Thiele.
Shortly after hitting, she called her three children and one son and his wife said they'd jump on a plane from Amarillo right away to celebrate her good fortune. Connie said she plans to to share her winnings with the kids and pay some bills (even with today's utility prices, we figure $21,000,000 should pretty much cover it).
We first heard about the hit from a friend of ours and initial reports indicated that it was the result of a massive Megabucks free-play promotion the Palms has been running for its club members for the past five years. If it had been, it would've been the biggest club benefit, by far, ever awarded. It transpired, however, that Connie Thiele hit the big one at 9:50 am on May 7, just ten minutes before the free pulls commenced.
Previous Nevada Megabucks jackpots at the Palms include a $13.6 million winner and $8 million winner, both in 2004. The highest winning payout ever was the world-record slot jackpot of $39.7 million, won in March, 2003 at the Excalibur.
Photograph appears courtesy of IGT and the Palms.
