Page 8 - August 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

August 2007 Gaming News
Over $1 Million Won on Wheel of Fortune® at Valley View Casino, Fantasy Springs Casino Resort and Morongo Casino Resort Spa on
MFriday the 13th Weekend
ost people think of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day. Not so for three Southern California casino players who won a total of over a $1 million on Wheel of Fortune®
And a San Bernardino man hit a $787,847 top MegaJackpots award at Morongo Casino Resort Spa in Riverside County also on Friday the 13th. e notorious day turned into an especially memorable one for the Inland Empire retiree, who won the jackpot on a Wheel of Fortune Special EditionTM slot at Morongo on the night of Friday the 13th. e winner, who asked to remain anonymous, said he wasn’t superstitious about Friday the 13th and headed to Morongo Casino to play some of his favorite slots. e lucky retiree plans to buy a new home with his MegaJackpots winnings.
Continuing the run of good luck for Southern California casino players, another retiree, this time from Auburn, CA, Geraldine Smith won a $124,939 MegaJackpots top award on a Wheel of Fortune quarter slot machine at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino late Sunday evening on July 15th. Ms. Smith was spending a weekend getaway playing golf in the Southern California desert. After checking into hotel room 313, she made a visit to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and decided to try her luck on a Wheel of Fortune quarter slot machine. She played less than two dollars on the machine, and won the top $124,939 MegaJackpots progressive.
Jerry Yang from Temecula pictured with the $8.25 million top prize in the 38th Annual World Series of Poker®.
...Gaming News Continues on page 16
MegaJackpots® slots at local casinos during the July Friday the 13
th
weekend.
Amanda Senkowski, de ed all odds when she won a $178,016 MegaJackpots® top award on a Wheel of Fortune® quarter slot machine at Valley View Casino on Friday, July 13th. Not only did she contradict the Friday
the 13th stigma, Mrs. Senkowski won the jackpot after only one spin! A product manager from Laguna Niguel, she was visiting Valley View Casino with her husband.
“All the other machines were taken. A young man got up, I sat down and the three symbols came up on the rst spin,” said 47-year-old Senkowski. “I
was shocked!”
“ We’re thrilled to
celebrate Mrs. Senkowski’s win here at Valley View,” said Bruce Howard, general manager for Valley View Casino. “Our casino is consistently voted San Diego’s luckiest casino by the readers of local and national publications, so we’re sure we will see many more huge jackpots before
2007 is over!”
Temecula Social Worker Wins $8.25 Million WJorld Series of Poker® Main Event
Amanda Senkowski won a $178,016 Wheel of Fortune® jackpot at Valley View Casino.
Geraldine Smith won a $124,939 Wheel of Fortune® jackpot at Fantasy Springs Casino.
Page 8
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
August 2007
erry Yang became poker’s newest champion on July 18th by besting a eld of 6,358 players from around the globe to win the No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship at the 38th Annual
® WorldSeriesofPoker .
Yang, a 39-year-old social worker from Temecula, caught an inside straight on the nal card of the nal hand and won the $8.25 million top prize at the Rio
All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas around 4 a.m. e father of six,Yang is originally from Laos and works at A Coming of Age Foster Family agency in Moreno Valley. He won his $10,000 seat at the WSOP after he bought into a May qualifying tournament with $225
at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula.
“ e feeling is just unbelievable,” said Yang. “Words can’t explain it. I’m looking forward to using the money to help as many people as I can. I have promised to split 10 percent of my winnings among three di erent charities—the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House—and
that is the rst thing I am going to do.”
A record 55 events made up the 2007 World Series
of Poker, attracting 54,288 total registrants—the most in its 38-year history. e total prize pool at this year’s
e $10,000 No-LimitTexas Hold’em Championship, commonly referred to as the Main Event, generated a prize pool of nearly $60 million; 621 players nished in the money and received at least $20,320.
Due to its starting size, the Main Event playing eld was spread over four days, beginning July 6. e nal table began July 17 at noon Paci c time, with the remaining nine players nishing in the following order: 2nd place: Tuan Lam, 41, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada won $4,840,981; 3rd place: Raymond Rahme, 62, of Johannesburg, South Africa, won $3,048,025;
4th place: Alex Kravchenko, 36, of Moscow, Russia, won $1,852,72; and 5th place: Jon Kalmar, 34, of Chorley, Lancashire, England won $1,255,069. More information on the 38th Annual World Series of Poker is available at www.worldseriesofpoker.com e WSOP is operated by an a liate of Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., the world’s largest operator of casino-entertainment resorts.
World Series of Poker topped $159 million.
Southern California Casino Gaming News