The 10 biggest slot machine jackpots ever won
From the $39.7 million Megabucks hit at Excalibur in 2003 to record online wins on Mega Moolah and Mega Fortune, the largest slot payouts on record.
The biggest slot machine jackpot ever won is $39.7 million, paid on IGT's Megabucks at the Excalibur in Las Vegas on 21 March 2003 to a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest slot machine payout. The biggest online slot jackpot is €19.4 million, won on a Mega Moolah game in Belgium in 2021.
How we ranked the jackpots
The list includes single slot jackpots, land-based and online, whose amount, date and venue we could confirm in contemporary news reports, operator announcements or Guinness World Records. Amounts are shown in the currency in which they were paid. To rank wins in euros and pounds against wins in dollars, we converted them to US dollars at the European Central Bank reference rate on, or just before, the day of the win.
Currency matters at the margins. The €17.8 million Mega Fortune jackpot of January 2013 ranks just above the €19.4 million Mega Moolah win of 2021 in dollar terms, because the euro was worth considerably more in 2013. Advertised totals for US jackpots are usually paid as an annuity over 20 or 25 years, so a winner taking a lump sum receives much less.
Why the biggest jackpots come from networks
Every jackpot on this list is a wide-area progressive. A small part of each bet on every linked machine feeds one shared prize, which keeps growing until someone hits it. Megabucks, which IGT links across Nevada casinos, resets at a base of several million dollars and has historically required a maximum $3 bet to qualify for the top prize. Online, Microgaming's Mega Moolah and NetEnt's Mega Fortune pool stakes from players at many different operators, which is how they grow to eight figures.
The flip side is the odds. The Las Vegas Sun reported that the Excalibur winner beat odds of about one in 16.7 million, and a share of every stake goes to build the prize rather than to more frequent smaller wins. Progressive slots are entertainment with a very long shot attached, not a plan.
- 1
Megabucks at the Excalibur, Las Vegas
$39,713,982.25 | IGT Megabucks | Excalibur, Las Vegas | 21 March 2003
The largest slot machine jackpot on record was won by a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles who was in Las Vegas visiting family and following college basketball's March Madness. He had put about $100 into a Megabucks machine at the Excalibur when the symbols lined up. Guinness World Records lists the payout as $39,713,982.25. More than two decades later, no slot jackpot, land-based or online, has come close. Like several other Megabucks winners on this list, he chose to remain anonymous.
- 2
Megabucks at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas
$34,955,489.56 | IGT Megabucks | Desert Inn, Las Vegas | 26 January 2000
Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a 37-year-old cocktail waitress, went to the Desert Inn after failing to get tickets for a show at another Strip property. She lost $21, fed in some more money and hit the jackpot two spins later, just before 10pm. The official amount was $34,955,489.56, at the time a world record for a slot machine. Her story later became a Las Vegas cautionary tale: weeks after the win, a drunk driver crashed into her car, killing her sister and leaving her paralysed.
- 3
Megabucks at Palace Station, Las Vegas
$27,580,879.60 | IGT Megabucks | Palace Station, Las Vegas | 15 November 1998
A 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Las Vegas meant to put $100 into a Megabucks machine at Palace Station, the locals' casino off the Strip. She ended up feeding in $300 and won $27,580,879.60, the first time the Megabucks jackpot had passed $20 million. According to the Las Vegas Sun, she had already won $680,000 on a Wheel of Fortune slot at the same casino. Her win stood as the world record for slot machines until the Desert Inn jackpot just over a year later.
- 4
Mega Fortune at Paf (online)
about €17.8 million (about $23.7 million) | NetEnt Mega Fortune | Paf.com, online | 20 January 2013
A 40-year-old man from Helsinki won about €17.8 million on NetEnt's Mega Fortune while playing at Paf, the gaming company based in the Åland Islands. NetEnt announced it as the biggest online jackpot in the world at the time, and the second time one of its games had set that record. Mega Fortune's prize was built from stakes pooled across many of Europe's largest online casinos. At the euro's exchange rate in January 2013 the win was worth around $23.7 million, which is why it ranks fourth here.
- 5
Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah at Napoleon (online)
€19,430,723.60 (about $23.5 million) | Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah | Napoleon Sports & Casino, Belgium | 27 April 2021
A Belgian player playing at Napoleon Sports & Casino won €19,430,723.60 on Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah, a game linked to Microgaming's Mega Moolah progressive network. It was announced as the biggest online jackpot ever, and it remains the largest online slot jackpot in euros that we could confirm. The winning stake was €15, and the player said it came on the last spin. Because the euro was weaker in 2021 than in 2013, it ranks just below the Mega Fortune win in dollar terms.
- 6
Megabucks at Bally's, Las Vegas
$22.6 million | IGT Megabucks | Bally's, Las Vegas | 27 March 2002
Johanna Huendl, a 74-year-old from Covina, California, was on her way to breakfast at Bally's when she stopped to play a Megabucks machine. She had put in about $170 when the jackpot hit. The Las Vegas Sun reported that she initially misread the meter and thought she had won $2 million, an amount she said she would have been happy with. The jackpot was worth about $22.6 million, a reminder that the Megabucks top prize could land on any qualifying spin.
- 7
Huff N' Even More Puff at DraftKings (online)
$22,407,248.55 | Huff N' Even More Puff | DraftKings Casino, Michigan | 26 November 2025
A player in Michigan won $22,407,248.55 on the progressive slot Huff N' Even More Puff at DraftKings Casino, from a spin of just 20 cents. It is the largest jackpot in the history of regulated online casinos in the United States, more than double the previous US record of $9.28 million, set earlier in 2025 by another DraftKings player in Michigan on Irish Pot Luck. Online casinos are legal in only a handful of US states, which is why American online jackpots have only recently reached this size.
- 8
Mega Moolah at Grand Mondial (online)
€18,915,872.81 (about $21.9 million) | Microgaming Mega Moolah | Grand Mondial Casino, online | 28 September 2018
An anonymous player won €18,915,872.81 on Microgaming's Mega Moolah at Grand Mondial Casino, playing on an Android smartphone with a 75-cent bet. CasinoBeats reported that the jackpot landed in fewer than 50 spins and was paid as a lump sum. At the time it was the biggest prize Mega Moolah had paid, beating the €17.9 million won by British soldier Jon Heywood in 2015. That 2015 win remains the record certified by Guinness World Records for an online slot jackpot.
- 9
Megabucks at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
$21.3 million | IGT Megabucks | Caesars Palace, Las Vegas | 1 June 1999
A 49-year-old business consultant from Illinois won more than $21.3 million on a Megabucks machine at Caesars Palace. According to the Las Vegas Sun, he had deposited just $10 before the winning spin. The win came during a run of record-breaking Megabucks jackpots in Las Vegas at the end of the 1990s, when the prize regularly climbed past $20 million before being hit. The winner asked not to be named, and the newspaper listed him only as an anonymous Illinois man.
- 10
Megabucks at the Cannery, North Las Vegas
$21.1 million | IGT Megabucks | Cannery Casino, North Las Vegas | 15 September 2005
Elmer Sherwin, then 92, became the first person to win the Megabucks top prize twice when he hit $21.1 million at the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas. His first win, $4.6 million, came at the Mirage in 1989. After that, the Cannery said, winning a second time had become his life's dream. The Megabucks machine required a $3 bet to qualify for the top prize, and the jackpot reset to $7 million after each win. Sherwin said he planned to keep trying for a third.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest slot jackpot ever won?
The biggest is $39,713,982.25, won on IGT's Megabucks at the Excalibur in Las Vegas on 21 March 2003. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest slot machine payout.
What is the biggest online slot win ever?
In euros, the largest confirmed online slot jackpot is €19,430,723.60, won on Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah in Belgium in April 2021. Guinness World Records still lists Jon Heywood's €17.9 million (£13.2 million) Mega Moolah win of 2015 as its official online slot record.
Are big slot jackpots paid all at once?
Not always. Large US progressive jackpots such as Megabucks are traditionally paid in annual instalments over 20 or 25 years, with a reduced lump sum as an alternative. Online progressive jackpots are often paid in one sum: the €18.9 million Mega Moolah winner of 2018 took a lump sum.
What are the odds of winning a Megabucks jackpot?
Very long. The Las Vegas Sun reported odds of about one in 16.7 million for the 2003 Excalibur win, and the newspaper described the chance of the top prize in 2005 as less than one in 10 million.
Sources: Guinness World Records: largest slot machine win, Guinness World Records: largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game, Las Vegas Sun: nine of the biggest Las Vegas jackpots, Las Vegas Sun: record Megabucks jackpot hit at Desert Inn, Las Vegas Sun: jackpot strikes a second time for man, 92, NetEnt via GlobeNewswire: Mega Fortune pays out 17.8 MEUR, European Gaming: Belgian player wins 19,430,723.60 euros, WXYZ Detroit: Michigan player wins record $22.4M jackpot, checked and rewritten by the Casino Courant desk. Spotted an error? Tell us.
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