Page 15 - April 2002 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SAN DIEGO GAMING GUIDE
by Mitzi Chenowith
Since January 2001, forty very lucky players at San Diego County’s eight casinos have won huge jackpots. They made life-changing slot spins, netting them anywhere between $200,000 and $1.2 million! And,
oh my! Could that ever be YOU??
These wins were on wide-area progressive slot machines. Most of them were
on IGT’s MegaJackpotsTM 5¢-25¢-$1 denomination slots including Megabucks®, Wheel of Fortune®, $1,000,000 PyramidTM, Elvis®, The Addams FamilyTM, Jeopardy!®, Quartermania®;
and the new Diamond CinemaTM. And recently, on Bally Gaming’s 5¢-25¢-$1 denomination Blondie® andBettyBoopTMslots.Infact,SanDiegoCountycasinoplayerswonastaggering38%oflastyears’ total of IGT wide-area progressive wins. And the majority of them won in East County casinos!
features a jackpot meter that is constantly incrementing. The jackpot increases every time someone plays. There are three types of progressives: an individual slot machine progressive, a casino-linked progressive, and a wide-area progressive.
An individual slot machine progressive starts at a base amount and accrues progressively to a large payout. An example is the ever-popular Bally Gaming $1 Blazing SevensTM and $1 Blazing Sevens Double PayTM. But, as in all progressives, you must play the maximum bet to win any of the small or progressive jackpots.
Casino-linked progressives feature large jackpots for one or several banks of slot machines. An example of this kind of progressive is the 5¢-slot machine. These casino progressives can add up to a tidy jackpot. Lucky local winners played maximum bets on 5¢ slots and went home with grand jackpots of well over $200,000!
IGT (International Game Technology) introduced the rst wide-area progressive that included slots in many casinos linked together across the county in March 1986 with Megabucks. Designed to compete with state lotteries, Megabucks rst jackpot of almost $5 million dollars was won in Reno, Nevada.
Wide-area progressives have increased in popularity in the last few years, and the jackpots have increased as well. The biggest wide-area progressive win ever was for $35 million in January 2002 at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.
Here in San Diego County casinos, most wide area
progressive slots are linked to the Native American Pro- gressiveSystems(NAPS),availableexclusivelytoIndian 7sTM.OnJanuary23rd,avery
casinos nationwide by Sodak Gaming (a division of IGT). The rst California MegaJackpots win was on
July 17, 2000 when a very lucky player won
$249,943.37 on Quartermania at Barona
Casino.
Using IGT’s famous slot machines, NAPS
have created 111 millionaires in 14 states across the nation. All IGT MegaJackpots are paid in annual installments upon veri cation. (IGT also has “Instant MegaJackpots”
which are paid in a lump sum upon veri cation.) Two of
those millionaires won
their fortunes in the
last three months. The
largest NAPS jackpot
ever ($1,005,905.62) was
won at Sycuan Casino & Resort on February 24, 2002
lucky Viejas Casino player from National City won $418,882. on a Betty Boop
Big HitTM. She put one ve-dollar bill into the slot
and hit the jack- pot on the rst spin! Bally
“...a lucky player from National City won $418,882 on a Betty Boop Big Hit. She put one five- dollar bill into the slot and hit the jackpot on the first spin!”
Wide-area progressives are linked together by a network. A percentage of money played on each machine is added to the big jackpot.
The new Diamond Cinema video slots from IGT feature images of Hum- phrey Bogart and Ingrid
on the Quartermania progressive (see Gaming News on page 13). And at Rincon Casino on January 2, 2002 a $1 million Instant Megajackpot was won on the
$1,000,000 Pyramid.
You can view the Megajackpot meters for all IGT
games on the IGT web site at www.megajackpot.com. And check out some big recent winners on our Winners feature on page 18.
What is a Progressive?
Thrillions® is Bally Gaming’s Multi-Area Progressive System available on Blondie, Betty Boop, Popeye® and Millionaire
Gaming’s national Native Ameri- can link includes California and Connecticut, allowing slot players across the country to compete for the same large
jackpots.
But what is a pro-
gressive? And how does it work? A progressive slot
Bergman in different aspects of their lm careers, and include voice-overs and music reminiscent of their time and lms. This is a 5¢ slot machine with 15 lines of play, and the maximum bet is $3.00 each spin. This slot is currently available at Rincon Casino, and had a $765,816.92 payout in February. Another Diamond
Since January 2002, additional San Diego County casino MegaJackpots wins include:
Barona Casino
March 16th
Wheel of Fortune $1
$642,937.67
Casino Pauma
March 2nd
Wheel of Fortune 25¢
$217,284.29
Rincon Casino
Feb. 13th
Diamond Cinema
$765,816.92
Viejas Casino
Feb. 2nd
Wheel of Fortune 25¢
$237,641.92
Sycuan Casino
Jan. 1st
Wheel of Fortune 25¢
$335,525.53
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April 2002 Page 15