The strangest, funniest and most jaw-dropping progressive jackpot tales from around the world — including the spin that cost a casino a fortune and the one that only cost a steak dinner.
British soldier Jon Heywood was casually playing on his laptop when a 25-pence spin on Mega Moolah landed him roughly £13.2 million. The win earned a Guinness World Record for the largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game — all from a stake worth less than a chocolate bar.
Katrina Bookman put 40 cents into a slot at a New York casino and the screen lit up with $42,949,672 — she even took a selfie with it. The casino then told her the machine had malfunctioned and offered her a complimentary steak dinner instead. The eye-watering figure wasn't random: it's almost exactly 2³² (4,294,967,296) with a decimal point — a classic computer overflow error, not a real prize.
A 20-year-old Norwegian student, unable to sleep, spun Mega Fortune for a 20-cent stake to pass the time — and woke up the rest of his life with €11,735,446. Proof that the smallest bets can hit the biggest prizes.
A 25-year-old software engineer fed $100 into a Megabucks machine at the Excalibur in Las Vegas and walked away with $39.7 million — still the largest verified slot machine win in history. He took it as an annuity paid out over 25 years.
The first time WowPot's Mega tier ever paid out, it did so in style: an £0.80 spin on Book of Atem returned £15,183,085 — the biggest online jackpot in the world at that moment. See the full list on our WowPot wins page.
The biggest verified online jackpot ever is WowPot's €38,461,200.95, won on Wheel of Wishes in December 2023.
Across all its tiers, the WowPot network was reported to drop a prize roughly every 15 seconds on average during 2023.
Cash Splash, launched in the late 1990s, is widely credited as the world's first online progressive jackpot slot.
Since launch, the WowPot network has paid out more than €225 million in total to over 5.3 million players.
WowPot and Mega Moolah both use four tiers — Mini, Minor, Major and Mega — usually decided by a spin of a bonus wheel.
NetEnt's Mega Fortune once set its own Guinness World Record, with a top win reported at around €18 million.
No jackpot is ever "due." Every spin is independent, decided by a certified random number generator.
Many record wins came from bets under €1 — the prize pool is shared, so your stake size doesn't size your jackpot.
WowPot.org is an independent informational affiliate website. It is not owned by, operated by, or officially connected with the WowPot brand, Microgaming, Games Global, or any associated game studio. All trademarks, logos, and game names belong to their respective owners. The stories on this page are drawn from publicly reported news coverage and are shared for entertainment and informational purposes; figures are as reported at the time.
18+ only. These are exceptional, widely reported outcomes — they are not typical. Progressive jackpots are won at random and most players never win one. Please play responsibly; see our responsible gambling page for support resources.