Casino Jackpot History
Casino jackpots are the major prizes awarded by casino games, which include slot machines, poker, video poker, keno, blackjack and roulette. A jackpot is the highest possible prize in any game and can range from thousands to millions of dollars. Sometimes casinos are linked together to create a single super jackpot that can be won by players at any one of the participating casinos.
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History
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The term jackpot comes from the game of poker. In a 19th-century variation of the game, the first player to get a pair of jacks won the pot, the name given to the pool of winnings that builds up from players' bets. By the 1940s, casino gamblers were "hitting the jackpot" in Las Vegas. "Hit," in this case, is another way of saying "win." Players can hit various winning combinations in a card game or on a slot machine.
Winning the Jackpot
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Different combinations earn different prizes. In table games, the jackpot is the ultimate prize regardless of the rank of the winning hand. A player can win a poker tournament with a pair of 2s if no other player has any kind of winning combination. On slot machines, the jackpot is more clearly defined. The reels must show a specific, rare combination of symbols. and a player must also have bet the maximum amount for that particular machine.
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Progressive Jackpots
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Progressive jackpots involve multiple, "progressive" machines and are shared by groups of casinos. With a progressive slot machine, a small percentage of each individual wager goes toward a common pot shared by all the machines. Most prizes are regular payouts and are paid to individual players based on the usual winning combinations. Players win the jackpot by hitting the highest possible combination on any one of the progressive machines.
Creating the Pot
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Progressive jackpots start over again once someone wins them, with the amount in the new opening pot depending on the standard bet for that machine. A penny machine, for example, might have a opening jackpot of only $1,000. The higher the denomination, the faster the jackpot increases. A player on the 25-cent Wheel of Fortune game in Las Vegas hit the jackpot recently and won about $462,000. It is now worth over $431,000. The Megabucks, Las Vegas' richest game, hit for more than $12 million about a month ago and is now worth more than $10 million.
Big Wins
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The largest slot jackpot ever was the $39,710,826.36 a man won on Megabucks at the Excalibur casino in Las Vegas on March 21, 2003. Other big wins include almost $14 million on the 25-cent Jeopardy slots and more than $11 million on the $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine.
Card players can also take home vast sums of money. In one three day period in 2006, poker champion Phil Ivey won more than $16 million from his fellow players. Thw World Poker Tour and other card tournaments do not award winnings directly. Players play with tournament funds and compete for set prizes based on the amounts they win at the tables.
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References
- Photo Credit Wikimedia.org
