Megabucks is a Dollar coin Slot Machine that must have 3 coins ($3.00) played to hit the jackpot. The jackpot is reset to $10,000,000.00 after a jackpot is hit. Current Megajackpot Totals Last Hit History of Jackpots Where to Play The last Megabucks Jackpot was hit on: 04/14/19 at 8:30am. Not all Megabucks slot machine games are the same game, but they all carry the “Megabucks” branding on the machine, along with the now-recognizable logo on the face of the machine. Megabuck isn’t available online, but WildVegasCasino has 100s of slots game to choose from.

• Megabucks Slot Machine Jackpot Winners 2019
• Megabucks Slot Machine Jackpot Winners
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• Megabucks Slot Machine Winners In Las Vegas

Megabucks is a Nevada state-wide slot jackpot network that is owned and run by the slot machine company, International Game Technology (IGT). Considered Nevada’s state lottery, Megabucks is extremely popular and has created quite a few millionaires in its 19-year history.

Thanks to a wonderful marketing strategy, Megabucks continues to ignite a firestorm every time the jackpot reaches ‘megabuck’ status. It is also a slot machine that generates a ridiculous amount of gossip and urban legend circulating on the game and its winners.

However, if you look at the real truth behind IGT’s Megabucks, even with all the myths and legends dispelled, it will become apparent that this progressive slot is a poor place to spend your money.

Megabucks Slot Machine Jackpot Winners 2019

How Does Megabucks Work?

IGT’s Megabucks is a dollar coin slot machine that requires 3 coins or $3.00 to hit the jackpot. The jackpot is reset to a predetermined amount after every mega win. While the present reset amount is $10-million, there is chatter that this will be increasing to $11-million.

Megabucks is part of the company’s MegaJackpot slot system that connects about 750 machines in 136 Nevada casinos to one primary jackpot that builds from the base jackpot amount. International Game Technology owns the Megabucks machines and the casino gets a cut of the money that each machine wins from the players. It is common knowledge that IGT created Megabucks to compete with state lotteries.

Where Can You Play Megabucks?

Nevada is the true home of Megabucks and is found in nearly all of the casinos on the strip. Unlike multi-state lotteries, this game does not cross state lines. IGT runs Megabucks jackpots in the states of California, New Jersey and Mississippi, as well as some Indian reservations.

I’ve had the opportunity to throw a few dollars in the Megabucks ring on a trip to Mississippi. I noticed the jackpot was much lower than I have seen in Las Vegas and while I did feel like, by some magic formula, my odds were better because the stakes were lower I did not win.

However, these don’t include as many venues as the Nevada edition and their jackpots are usually only a fraction of the original. Each state that offers Megabucks has a separate jackpot system with individual meters and winners. If a jackpot is won in one state, it does not affect the progressive jackpot in another.

Each Megabucks machine has its own random number and hence chooses its own outcomes. These outcomes are then reported to a central location. When the jackpot is hit on one machine, the central station sends out a message to the other machines, resetting their respective meters.

How About the Odds of Winning Megabucks?

Statistics about the true odds of winning the Megabucks jackpot remain sketchy at best.

It is certainly understandable why the betting for the Megabucks sometimes reaches chaotic proportions and has people crossing over the state line just to have a shot at winning so many millions.

But do winners really receive what the games advertise? Let’s take the example of a $35-million win. Initially, for that amount of money, winners get a check of $1.4 million. They then have between sixty and ninety days to decide whether they want to take their money in annual installments over twenty-five years or a lump sum of 60% of the money.

For a $35-million win, that would result in $21-million before taxes. Obviously, most winners choose the former and take the lump sum payment.

Whichever option the winner chooses, he or she still needs to take into account the taxes payable to the IRS. They are subject to the maximum tax rate of nearly 40%, with state taxes also needing to be taken into account. When all is said and done, the prize money dwindles somewhat miserably after Uncle Sam takes a bite.

Megabucks Slot Machine Jackpot Winners

Of course, nobody has ever refused the money all together & taken $0. So, I suppose most people wouldn’t scoff at $14 million or so.

Megabucks Curse

No slot machine in the history of the world has had close to as many urban legends, myths and stories surrounding the game of Megabucks.

Typically, these legends center around the unfortunate fate of Megabucks winners, which leads the masses to believe that winning the multi-million dollar jackpot will result in an ultimately unlucky death. While pretty much all of these stories have proven to be fabricated, Megabucks still has the obstinate reputation of being cursed.

Many believe that the genesis of the rumors hanging over Megabucks is based on the truly tragic story of a 37 year-old cocktail waitress named Cynthia Jay-Brennan. In 2000, Jay-Brennan, was the lucky winner of a $34.9-million Megabucks jackpot, played in the Desert Inn Casino in Vegas.

Less than 2 months after her win, Jay-Brennan was surprisingly involved in a car crash. Her sister was killed instantly and poor Cynthia, herself, was left a quadriplegic. The driver of the car that hit the pair was under the influence of alcohol and was eventually tried and sentenced to 28 years; however, this did not stop rumors flying that Megabucks was a cursed game to win.

The fact is that Jay-Brennan’s accident was not the first of these rumors, as they circulated well before the year 2000. However, since this event, stories continuously surface regarding the tragic fate of every winner of the latest Megajackpot win.

When another young man hit the jackpot in 2003, rumors spread like a virus of his untimely ‘death’ through various ends, including a fatal drug overdose in a casino hotel and in a gang fight as far away as Los Angeles. All these stories have, thus far, proven to be false and while the winner chose to remain anonymous, IGT has assured the public time and time again that the lucky young man is alive and well, and enjoying his new found wealth.

To date, none of these stories have come up as anything other than tall tales.

A rumor, which has not yet been dispelled, is one regarding the change in the Megabucks programming system. Some claim that IGT changed the programming of the system to make the jackpot hit less frequently but for more money. While IGT claims that they did not do anything of the sort, there are many experts in the gambling field who feel that some sort of change was made in the past.

Finally, a minor rumor that can be dispelled is one that says that the central station to which each jackpot machine reports chooses the winner. IGT assures its gambling public that each machine has its own RNG and thus every machine chooses its own outcome.

Megabucks Slot Machine Winner

Conclusion

So, while you now understand that most stories flying around the industry regarding the curse of Megabucks are false, I cannot ignore the fact that this is simply a bad slot game to play for 2 reasons.

First is the house “hold”. Megabucks holds between 10% – 15% of every dollar played. Many slot machines in Nevada hold as little as 2% or 3%. The second reason that makes Megabucks a terrible play for the serious gambler is that you only receive 60% of your jackpot. There are many other progressive slots in your casino that pay big jackpots, but give you the whole thing.

When we strip Megabucks from all the pomp and glam that surrounds it, we find a middle of the road progressive slot game that doesn’t give you much for your money. And even if you do get incredibly lucky and win, you don’t exactly get the flashy numbers promised to you. Instead you will have to settle for a sum that is much more modest in nature, paid off to you over a period of 25 years. Final conclusion? Megabucks is not a mega hit. In fact, there are lots more fish in the proverbial gambling sea.

The Megabucks IGT jackpot was the first WAP (wide-area progressive) jackpot game in the world. They launched this series of games in 1986, and since then, dozens of people have won enough money to change their lives.

The Megabucks IGT jackpot resets to $10 million immediately after being won. You can view the most recent size of the jackpot by visiting their online jackpot ticker here.

Not all Megabucks slot machine games are the same game, but they all carry the “Megabucks” branding on the machine, along with the now-recognizable logo on the face of the machine.

Megabuck isn’t available online, but WildVegasCasino has 100s of slots game to choose from. You can play for free or get a 350% deposit bonus when you play for real money. WildVegasCasino.

Where Can You Play Megabucks IGT Slot Machines

Most people who want to play Megabucks IGT slot machines find them in Las Vegas, which used to be the only place offering the game. Now, the games are available throughout the state of Nevada, and that’s not all.

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You can find smaller versions with the same Megabucks branding in other states and even other countries. In fact, you’ll find Megabucks machines in almost every casino in Macau.

I mentioned in the introduction that Megabucks was the first wide-area progressive jackpot in history, but I didn’t explain what that phrase meant.

The first concept to understand is that of a progressive jackpot. Such a jackpot is one that grows over time as players put money into the machine. A progressive jackpot takes a tiny percentage of each bet to “fuel” that jackpot.

The second concept to understand is how many machines share such a jackpot. Some games are standalone progressives, which means that the game only has its own jackpot. Others are local-area networked machines, which are machines within a single casino or even an area of the casino which shares the same jackpot.

A wide-area progressive jackpot has hundreds or thousands of machines sharing a jackpot across a wide geographical area.

This is the kind of jackpot Megabucks is, and it’s also why the jackpot is able to grow so large.

How to Play a Megabucks IGT Jackpot Game

Megabucks slots, as far as I know, are only available in land-based casinos. I don’t know of any online casinos offering games that participate in the jackpot. If I’m wrong about that, please correct me in the comments.

I recommend playing Megabucks in Nevada, which has the biggest jackpots.

Playing isn’t hard. You insert money into the machine, which awards you with credits. You decide how many pay-lines and how many credits to wager per line. Then you push the spin button or pull the lever on the side of the slot machine.

Most Megabucks games are just standard 3-reel slots with a single pay-line, which makes it even easier to play than that. You can find 5-reel versions, but they’re less common.

As far as I know, the big Megabucks jackpot games require you to wager 3 coins per spin, and they’re all $1 machines, so you’re looking at $3 per spin.

The main version of Megabucks is almost boring in its simplicity. Your goal is to get 3 matching symbols to line up across a single pay-line on the machine. The symbols are bars, fruit, and 7s.

The big, important symbol, though, is the Megabucks symbol.

To win the progressive jackpot, you want to line up 3 of these in a row.

There’s no skill to that, though — you’ll just have to get lucky.

Megabucks Jackpot Details

To win the jackpot, you must make the maximum wager of $3. Don’t ever play Megabucks for just 1 or 2 coins; always bet 3 coins.

The Megabucks jackpot always starts at $10 million and grows from there, so you’re always looking at a life-changing jackpot.

How big can the jackpot get?

In 2003, one player won almost $40 million playing at the Excalibur. ($39.7 million to be exact.

Jackpots of $20 million or more are relatively common throughout the history of the game.

What are the odds of winning?

The odds of winning the Megabucks jackpot are terrible by any standard — about 50 million to 1.

Apparently, the odds of getting a Megabucks symbol on each reel on the pay-line are 367 to 1, so you can do the multiplication to see how I came up with that 50 million to 1 number.

Does the Megabucks Jackpot Ever Offer a +EV Situation?

When you’re dealing with a bet where you know what the odds of winning are, you can calculate how good a bet it is.

That’s measured by the expected value of the bet, or EV.

Most casino bets, especially slots bets, are negative EV, or -EV. You expect to lose a certain amount on average over time when making that bet. This phenomenon is what makes professional roulette play impossible.

But when the jackpot for a game gets high enough, the expected value for the bet becomes profitable. This is what makes card counting in blackjack profitable. It’s also what makes professional poker play possible.

Megabucks Slot Machine Winners In Las Vegas

Here’s an example of how that works:

If you’re playing a game where you’re flipping a coin, and you lose a dollar every time you’re wrong, and you win $2 every time you’re right, you can see how that’s a positive expectation bet, right?

With Megabucks, when the jackpot gets over $32.2 million, you’re dealing with a +EV bet.

Should You Try to Become a Professional Megabucks Player?

If you can get an edge at Megabucks, can you just wait for a big enough jackpot and start playing and become a professional gambler?

Michael Bluejay has an excellent post about how expected value is useless when dealing with the lottery.

Megabucks isn’t exactly a lottery, but it’s the same concept.

When the odds get that long, they become essentially meaningless, even when you’re making multiple bets per hour.

Here’s a comparison:

The odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 700,00.

The odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 3.7 million.

The odds of dying in an airplane crash are 1 in 5.3 million.

In other words, you’re 70 times more likely to be struck by lightning than you are to win Megabucks. You’re 14 times more likely to be attacked by a shark than you are to win Megabucks. You’re 10 times more likely to die in a plane crash than you are to win Megabucks.

The only meaningful question about Megabucks is whether it’s worth $3 to play for entertainment value?

If it is, then a single spin on the game makes sense.

Is it worth $180 to try to win that big jackpot?

That’s about what it would cost to play Megabucks for an hour. Remember, you’re going to make 600 spins per hour at $3 per spin, putting $1800 per hour into action.

If you want to play for an hour, it’s probably going to cost you about $180 to play.

Other Games with these Kinds of Massive Jackpots (That Aren’t Megabucks)

You only have 2 options if you want to win over a million dollars:

1. Progressive slots
2. Lottery games

I think you’re better off just playing the state lottery every week if you want to try to win a million dollars. You’ll lose less money that way in the long run.

After all, if you spend $2 on a lottery ticket each week, it’s not going to change much about your lifestyle.

But if you’re putting money into a Megabucks slot machine, you’re going to lose a lot of money (probably) in the quest for that jackpot.

You’d be better off playing another slot machine game.

Or trying to parlay your winnings at a table game into a million dollars.

More about that in this next section:

Winning a Million Dollars Playing Table Games

Michael Bluejay has written the best page about trying to win a million dollars that I’ve read.

He provides an unmatched amount of detail on the odds for various games like the lottery and Megabucks.

But what’s better is the table game strategy he offers for winning a million dollars.

I don’t have the space to cover that strategy in detail here, but here’s the basic idea:

You choose a table game where you have a reasonable probability of winning, and you let your winnings ride in an attempt to work your way up to a total win of a million dollars.

Basically, if you start with a $5 bet and double it 18 times in a row, you have a million dollars. That results in odds of 200,000 to 1, which is still 3 times the odds of being struck by lightning.

But it’s still a way better number than the odds of hitting the Megabucks IGT jackpot.

What’s the big drawback of this strategy?

Most people won’t be able to put their winnings back on the table once they get to a certain point. Bluejay suggests that most people will reach that point somewhere between $2500 and $20,000.

He’s probably right.

In fact, if I get my winnings up to $1000, I’m taking my money and going home.

The other big problem is finding a casino that will allow you to make a $500,000 bet. Good luck with that.

Finally

That’s the best I could do at providing comprehensive coverage of the Megabucks IGT slot machine game. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

Please leave a comment and let me know if I missed anything.