Late in the evening on October 6, 2015, 26-year-old British soldier Jon Heywood, from Crewe, Cheshire, opened an online casino account, deposited £30 and started playing the Mega Moolah online slot game at £0.25 a spin. It is one of those online slots (with high winning percentage) that are popular among British gamblers. Shortly afterwards, Heywood became a multi-millionaire, winning the largest progressive ‘Mega Jackpot’ prize, which, at the time, was worth an eye-watering £13,209,300, or €17,879,645 at the prevailing exchange rate. Indeed, in so doing, Heywood broke the world record for the ‘largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game’ and was subsequently presented with an official certificate to that effect by a Guinness World Records adjudicator.
Until the official prize presentation, Heywood could only share the news of his windfall with his nearest and dearest, so went to work as usual the following day. He said, ‘No one thought it was real. They might do once they see my picture in the paper!’ On a more serious note, he said that the first thing he would spend the money on was the best possible medical treatment for his father, who is awaiting a heart and lung transplant. Heywood did, however, confess that trading in his Fiat Punto for a yellow Bentley Continental GT was close to the top of his wish-list. He said, ‘I never even dreamed of driving a Bentley, let alone owning one.’
Alan Alger, Head of Corporate Communications and PR for the casino site, said, ‘We couldn’t be happier for Jon. He’s an incredibly nice guy and his family will benefit immensely from his huge win. He added, ‘It just shows that the biggest prizes can be won from the smallest stakes. Mega Moolah has really lived up to its name.’
Microgaming slots are among the most popular in the iGaming Industry and in particular their Progressive Jackpot Slots.
In April 2021 Microgaming’s WowPot jackpot was hit for a massive €17,529, 047.11 making it the first Mega win Progressive Jackpot. This massive jackpot was won by a punter in the UK playing online when he placed a 0.80 bet on Book of Atem WowPot. This is one of the top games offered by selected online casinos in the UK, according to this site.
He is one of 93 Euro millionaires created on Microgaming’s progressive Jackpot network and like all of Microgaming’s progressive jackpots the player received a lump sum payout. After each progressive Jackpot win the WowPot returns to its starting seed of €2 million.
And there’s more
This win is not only the largest eight-figure WowPot payout of all time eclipsing a major win triggered on another one of Microgaming’s progressive jackpot slots Sisters of Oz WowPot in March 2021. It’s also the third-largest payout in the history of Microgaming’s progressive network.
Book of Atem WowPot is a relatively new addition to Microgaming’s collection of progressive jackpot slots. It was launched globally in September 2020 and this Egyptian-themed game was created exclusively for Microgaming by All41 Studios with a total of €23 million being paid out by this game across all jackpot tiers with one player winning the Major jackpot totalling €998,876.35 in March 2021.
Microgaming’s Progressive jackpot network continues to grow in leaps and bounds offering players astronomical wins Recent game additions to their WowPot series include Absolootly Mad Mega Moolah by Triple Edge Studios which plays the Mega Moolah progressive jackpot and Neon Valley Studios Atlantean Treasures Mega Moolah. Their WowPot series features six diverse games from independent studios and include Neon Valleys Queen of Alexandria WowPot and Sherlock and Moriarty WoWpot by Just For The Win.
Above is another look at some of the beautiful art that graces the Wynn, Las Vegas. (Inlcuding Balloon Tulipcs by Jeff Koons and shots of the atrium)
How’s this for an entrance! And until late 2019 this standout Popeye sculpture took pride of place in Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas until 2019 (at which time it was moved to Encore Boston Harbor). This iconic stainless steal Popeye sculpture is the creation of renowned pop culture artist Jeff Koons. The sculpture was bought by former Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn in 2014 for a cool $28 million . Koons has made multiple Popeye sculptures and said he was misprinted by the iconic cartoon characters representation of strength.
