Two $1 million jackpots -- on same machine -- in a month
After not having a $1 million slot winner in its more than five years of being open, the Hard Rock hit its second $1 million plus jackpot in less than a month -- on the same machine.
It came Saturday night, paying off $1,028,215 to a person who wished to remain anonymous. (Can't blame 'em.) The game was the Megabucks Video MegaJackpot and the woman played 75 cents per spin (the max bet).
If you're searching: the winning machine is in the southeast quadrant of the main casino, near the Council Oak restaurant.
The jackpot costs the Hard Rock almost nothing: That's because the casino is part of a Native American progressive gaming network that includes over 300 casinos nationwide. So each time a coin is played in a linked machine, anywhere in the network, the jackpot accumulates until it is won. The Hard Rock -- and every other casino -- root for the progressives to hit at their casino. It's the best marketing you could want.
The jackpot starts at $1 million, then increases as people play the machines. On Sept. 29 the casino paid the first-ever Florida Megabucks MegaJackpot of $1,110,779. They're catching up: In July 2008, the >Seminole Coconut Creek Casino paid a $2 million on a Wheel of Fortune Special Edition machine, and last November the Tampa Hard Rock hit for $2.5 million.
The Seminole Immokalee Casino got the state record on Aug. 30, with $3.5 million on a Wheel of Fortune $5 progressive game.
Megabucks was developed by IGT. A press release said she came to the casino for an “evening out” and chose the winning machine at random. She has no immediate plans for her winnings beyond “collecting them.” (You know, I was at a wedding early Saturday and gave a woman who liked gambling my card. I told her if she hit a jackpot to call me and give me the exclusive. Hmmm...)
Florida parimutuels have progressive slots approved, as part of new gambling laws, but it's being held up while the state and the Seminoles negotiate a compact -- it's all rolled together.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.