Page 14 - December 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

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Regina Woods won $573,361.28 on a 50¢ Wheel of Fortune® slot at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.
Connie Grissom won $1,215,898.09 on a $1 Wheel of Fortune® slot at Pechanga Resort & Casino.
Gloria Purifoy won $219,479.90 on a 25¢ Elvis® Slot at Soboba Casino.
Immanuel Abair, Jr. won $119,692.69 on a 25¢ Elvis® slot at Soboba Casino.
While jackpots come in all sizes, a big jackpot can be a relative term, so we de ne a big jackpot as any single jackpot win over $100,000. And most of those are won on progressive slot machines.
e majority of the winners shown on this month’s cover and on these pages won IGT MegaJackpotsTM Awards on reel- spinning Wheel of Fortune® slots, followed by Elvis® plus several The Twilight Zone® wins. ere were also big jackpot winners on WMS’ thrilling Monopoly MoneyTM progressive,
Atronic’s California MagicTM, and Bally Gaming’s Cartoon JackpotsTM and Millionaire 777s® games.
MegaJackpots® Revolutionized Slots
What is a progressive slot and how did it get created? In the 1980s IGT had developed software for the Nebraska Lottery that allowed multiple video lottery terminals to be linked to a central computer. Following the demise of that video lottery system, IGT found itself with a technology it wasn’t sure how to apply. To bring larger jackpots to casinos, in 1986 IGT created a wide-area progressive or MegaJackpots® system in Nevada, which debuted with a slot machine called Megabucks®. e system connects gaming machines in casinos throughout the state to a single large jackpot that grows as machines on the system are played. When the jackpot is won, the progressive meter resets to a predetermined base amount — and the process begins again. e initial success of Megabucks®, a dollar slot game, led IGT to adapt the MegaJackpots® concept to numerous other systems in a wide range of denominations, from pennies (The Twilight Zone® and Star WarsTM) to $5 (Wheel of Fortune®). IGT administers the MegaJackpots® fund, so casinos don’t have to keep large cash reserves to pay winners.
Sandra Garcia won $473,672.69 on a 1¢ The Twilight Zone® slot at Golden Acorn Casino.
JAC The thrill of it all
Over 30 very lucky casino players won over California casinos during this year! If you’re our Winners page each month, and envision
just how wonderful you would feel if you hit “the big o
IGT MegaJackpots® have produced more than 900 millionaires and have awarded more than $3.3 billion in major jackpots. MegaJackpots® have also produced two million- dollar-plus jackpots on the same day on numerous occasions!
Megabucks®
Megabucks® made slot-payo history when Terry Williams of Los Gatos, California, hit the rst MegaJackpots® prize for $4,988,842 on February 1, 1987 at Harrah’s Reno. After several subsequent record-setting jackpots, Megabucks® set a new standard for slot payouts on March 21, 2003 when a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles won $39,713,982 at the Excalibur Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.
After every primary jackpot, the MegaJackpots® meter is reset to the system’s base amount, which varies according to jurisdiction. All IGT MegaJackpots® are paid in annual installments upon veri cation, except MegaJackpots Instant
WinnersTM and Rapid Riches MegaJackpotsTM games, which are paid in their entirety upon veri cation.
IGT has separate MegaJackpots® systems in Atlantic City, Detroit, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, and in Native American casinos nationwide. IGT’s Native American systems connect participating
tribal gaming facilities in a number of states, with the exception of Arizona, where participating tribal facilities are connected to an intrastate MegaJackpots® system. A separate Megabucks® system links Native American casinos throughout California.
In April 2005, one very lucky Southern California player nabbed a $4 million plus Megabucks® jackpot at Pala Casino Resort & Spa — one
of the largest progressive slot payouts in a Southern California casino! Gail Habash
from San Juan Capistrano won a $4,919,019 Megabucks® MegaJackpotsTM Award.
The Twilight Zone® Video Slots One fortunate Viejas Casino player who wished to remain anonymous, won a $2,065,685 The Twilight Zone jackpot last January, which is so far the world record for the largest payout on a penny slot. e exciting Twilight Zone has quickly become
a very popular game that lines
Page 14 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
December 2005