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Every so often, you’ll hear about someone who’s won a massive, life-changing sum of money from online casino games. While people win all the time, huge prizes worth six, seven or even eight figures come around rarely. There are many stories online about people winning significant sums of money. While they’re pretty inspirational, some in particular are actually quite remarkable thanks to the unusual circumstances surrounding their win.
The biggest online casino wins come from progressive jackpots, slot games where the top prize grows whenever someone places a bet. It keeps growing until it’s won. Some of them start at very high amounts, guaranteeing the winner a significant payout. Progressive jackpots are one of the most popular types of online casino games. Live dealer games are too, and the good thing is that nearly every casino with live dealers has progressive jackpot slots as well. So what are some of the biggest online casino wins that have incredible stories to them?
Usually, if you’re trying to win big, you place a big bet. The way online casino games work, the higher your wager is, the more money you stand to win. Having said that, it’s still possible to score huge payouts even if your bet is on the smaller side.
Back in 2013, a Finnish player ended up becoming exceptionally rich despite not really trying to. A Finnish man in his 40s decided to play Mega Moolah (a progressive jackpot slot from Games Global that’s the highest-paying in the world). He played the slot at the Finnish online casino PAF. Despite placing a bet worth just 25 cents, he ended up winning the game’s top prize, worth a staggering €17,861,800 (approximately $24.3 million).
Sometimes people spend years playing at online casinos and never land any big wins. Neil from Aberdeen is an exception to this as he was new to the world of online casinos when he won a life-changing sum of money. He saw an advert for a casino site and, thinking it looked fun, decided to sign up. He deposited £30 (roughly $53) and had only spent £4 ($7) when he won the Hall of Gods progressive jackpot, worth £6.3 million ($11.3 million).
What makes this story unbelievable is that Neil hadn’t gambled at an online casino before. He was very much a first-timer and ended up with a massive win after a small number of spins. Right after his win, he was in disbelief and actually got in touch with some family and friends thinking they were playing a prank on him. Fortunately, the win was real.
Jon Heywood from Crewe, UK, was 26 years old when he scored a progressive jackpot win that would change his life. The Afghanistan veteran soldier deposited £30 (roughly $53) at an online casino and played Mega Moolah, placing bets of just 25p ($0.45). Around seven minutes after he started, he won the slot’s top progressive jackpot prize, becoming £13.2 million ($23.6 million) richer in the process.
The fact that he had won such a large amount of money didn’t hit Jon right away. In fact, it took three days for it to sink in. Once he’d accepted that he had actually won the payout, he told his friends and family.
A lot of the time when people gamble online, they’ve set aside time for it. Many people try their luck at casino games in their free time when they’re not working. Sometimes though, the most unexpected of things can happen when you break free from routine and do something impulsive, as a young man from Norway found out.
In September 2011, the Norwegian student was struggling to sleep at night. He decided on a whim to play some casino games and chose Mega Fortune. Apparently, he was using free spins from the casino’s welcome bonus when he won the Mega Fortune progressive jackpot, worth roughly $11 million.
The stories mentioned above go to show that even the most unlikely of players can win the biggest prizes. You wouldn’t think first-time depositors, players placing small bets and people impulsively logging in at a random time of night would end up winning big. These stories are proof that every single spin has a chance of winning and that it’s not just the keen gamblers with large budgets that win the biggest payouts.
