San Manuel Native American Casino's Newest Millionaire

     I always advise gamblers not to play the mega progressive slot machines because there is so little chance you’ll ever hit the jackpot, and it takes max coin bets to hit the big win. I imagine there’s a happy gamer in Highland, CA this week that is glad he didn’t take that advice! 

     IGT reported this morning that a lucky player at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino won the mega-payout April 29 on a favorite IGT Megabucks game “Double Diamond Deluxe.” The winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, takes home the biggest jackpot won at the casino since 2006, when a guest won $7,329,995.01 on IGT’s “Wheel of Fortune” progressive. His $3,285,849 win is the third largest paid out by San Manuel since the casino opened in 1986.

     Those of you who own my book “Spin to Win: Your Guide to Winning Penny Slots” know that the California Progressive slots are all linked together on a different system than the Nevada ones. The game doesn’t cross state lines, so IGT runs separate Megabucks games with separate independent jackpots in New Jersey, Mississippi, and the California Native American Casinos as well as the big one in Nevada.

    There used to be a website that I referred my readers to where they could see the current  jackpots for all the Nevada progressives at any time. It was a lot of fun to watch the numbers roll up and to dream about maybe winning the Megabucks mega-jackpot someday. 

     Since the site has changed, I have found another link: igtjackpots.com that will give you the same information for the current jackpot figures for the various IGT progressive games. 

     If you readers from Southern California plan to visit San Manuel to see if lightening can strike twice - strike four times actually I guess - I wish you luck. I’ve never been to San Manuel. Maybe I’ll  use this as an excuse to visit and try my luck too. 

     Maybe Shinobiyt and VegasLowRoller will have the Megabucks “Double Diamond Deluxe” challenge for their LV vs. NA competition one of these weeks! I wonder how long their $20 will last if they do!