Many of us enjoy a night out at the casino with our friends. And, occasionally, we might walk away with a few extra quid in our pocket at the end of it.
But, of course, with the house edge in all casino games, the emphasis should be on having fun… anything else is a bonus.
Speaking of bonuses, one punter on a night out in Liverpool with his chums enjoyed the mother of all wins… scooping £48,000 from his first £1 bet of the evening!
The Ace and The King
The jackpot was won at the Leo Casino in Liverpool. Photo © Tiger (cc-by-sa/2.0)
The anonymous 46-year-old had travelled to Liverpool with his mates from North Wales, and they would later find themselves in the city’s Grosvenor Casino, the Liverpool Leo.
Our protagonist found himself seated at the blackjack table, and a specific table at which side games were available to be wagered on alongside the main action.
He decided to place a £1 flutter on the Ace King Progressive side bet, which offers the opportunity to play for one of three different jackpots: Minor, Major and Mega. Those three bounties are linked to Grosvenor’s progressive jackpot network, in which a percentage of all stakes – no matter which town or city they’re wagered in – are fed into the prize fund.
To land one of those progressive prizes, both the player and the dealer have to draw a specific hand: ace-king of the same suit. The probability chance of that happening in a single deck of cards? Just 0.3%.
Our player was absolutely stunned when that exact same eventuality played out, and at the time he would have been totally unaware that he’d just turned £1 into the £48,429 Mega jackpot prize.
When news spread as to what had happened, a crowd gathered on the blackjack floor of the Liverpool Leo; presumably, they followed the winner to the champagne bar, too!
The general manager of the Grosvenor Casino branch, Ross Haslehurst, said:
“Massive congratulations to our lucky winner from all of us at the casino, and what a great way to end a night out in the city.
“The casino was buzzing with excitement which created a thrilling experience for everyone to celebrate in the moment together. We wish the winner all the best with enjoying his jackpot prize this Christmas.”
A Life Changing Evening
Although £48,000 isn’t the biggest jackpot landed in a UK casino, it’s still a life-changing amount of money if used wisely.
Megah Moolah £13.2m Jackpot
The largest payout in UK casino gaming found its way to Jon Heywood, who landed a £13.2 million jackpot (no, that’s not a typo) playing Mega Moolah online.
And, if you want to really feel green with envy, he did so from a stake of just £0.25p!
Legend has it that Heywood carried on with his normal business, keeping his mammoth win a secret for three whole days. Eventually, he revealed his win to friends and family, and used a chunk of the cash to pay for medical treatment for his stricken father, who was awaiting both a heart and lung transplant, as well as splashing out on a Bentley Continental convertible.
Hall of Gods £6.3m Payout
A punter known just as ‘Neil from Aberdeen’ had a day to remember back in 2017. He signed up for a new account with casino site Casumo, deposited £40 and thought he’d give the progressive jackpot slot Hall of Gods a try.
And so he spun the reels… and immediately landed the mega jackpot prize, which totalled a rather handsome £6.3 million. When your luck’s in, your luck is in.
Red for Revell
Very occasionally, there’s more on the line than just pure money. Take Ashley Revell, who decided – don’t try this at home – to sell everything he owned, head to Las Vegas and gamble the proceeds on a single spin of the roulette wheel.
Revell collected around £77,000, and with TV documentary crew in tow, he headed to the Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Vegas. He decided to place his loot on red, taking a deep breath as the ball landed on… red number seven.
With his £150,000 haul, Revell set up his own online poker company, however that was unfortunately and unwittingly caught up in the frozen accounts scandal of 2012.
Kerry Packer’s $40m Blackjack Haul
As for the greatest casino win of all time, there’s reports that Kerry Packer – the controversial media tycoon – once won $40 million (£32 million) from a single blackjack session, reportedly playing six hands at a time for $200,000 apiece!
Excalibur Punter Lands $38.7m Megabucks Bonanza
But as far as verified wins are concerned, the $38.7 million landed by an anonymous software developer in the United States back in 2003 cannot be beaten. He played the Megabucks slot at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas, and scooped the jackpot from a stake of just $100.