Biggest Winners in the History of Online Casino
Online casinos have been around since the mid-90s. Games Global lays claim to opening the very first iGaming casino. It didn't take long for others to follow suit after that 1994 launch. Soon enough, the online world became flooded with internet casino sites. Technology has advanced throughout the proceeding years to better these as well. It is also the case that there have been some big winners in those years to now. This is what we want to look at here - the biggest winners in the online gambling world's history.
We're not looking at big winners in any specific game or game category. Instead, we want to highlight some of the instances where an online player won big. And won big enough to make a statement in history.
Mega Moolah Jackpot Winner Leads the Way
As many people will know, Mega Moolah is one of the best casino games online. The progressive jackpot slot, coming from Games Global, has produced many big winners. At its peak, it has paid out a jackpot of $23.6 million. That victory occurred at the Napoleon Sports & Casino site in April of 2021.
The game isn't responsible for a single big win, though. In fact, it has provided more jackpot payouts than all other online casino slots. In 2015, it created a Guinness World Record holder for the largest jackpot winner. A British soldier was the recipient of that payout and record. Having returned from active duty in Afghanistan, Jon Heywood opened a Betway account. Despite not paying much attention to Mega Moolah, he played it. Most of his attention was actually on a World War II documentary. After a 25p wager, he entered the jackpot game round. That took him all the way through to the game's progressive jackpot win. A monumental win it was, too - £13,213,838.68!
Mega Moolah is one of those games that many players return to for their chance at winning big. Yet another one that has produced various winners of this nature is Mega Fortune. That slot game comes from the Netent developer. In 2013, a Finnish man managed to secure a payout of €17 million from it. The player wanted to remain anonymous after his big victory. Yet it shows that it is possible to win by playing progressive jackpot slots.
One of the Earliest Progressive Jackpot Slots Pays Out
Netent is also responsible for creating one of the first progressive jackpot slots. Arabian Nights launched in 2005, and in 2011 it provided a massive payout. A Norwegian gambler at the Betsson Casino opted to spin the slot's reels. During his session, the progressive jackpot of Arabian Nights paid out. His win? £7.3 million in total. That pot had been building up for several weeks before dropping. Usually, the jackpot would drop at about £1.5 million. In this instance, the Norwegian player was very lucky!
Hall of Gods stands as another fantastic jackpot game from Netent, too. This one is also active at many online casinos in Europe and beyond. It came out several years after Arabian Nights but has still created some big winners. A Swedish woman decided to play it in 2014. After several spins of the reels, she managed to receive a fantastic payout of €7.6 million. That stood as the second-largest jackpot to ever have hit in Sweden. She decided to pay off all her loans and travel to Thailand with her family afterwards.
It is always necessary to turn back to the Mega Moolah game, though. It remains at the peak of brilliance when it comes to jackpot payouts. A Canadian player can confirm this after winning $11.6 million on it in November 2016. Playing the game at the Yako Casino online, he became the site's first-ever millionaire. At the time, it went on record as the second-biggest win on Mega Moolah to occur.
It would be true to say that jackpot slots have created many millionaires over the past decade or so. Various games have been responsible for this. Yet the ones mentioned here - Mega Moolah, Mega Fortune etc. - are the primary contributors. The likelihood is that they will continue creating big winners in the following years, too.