Slots Jackpots...4-5 digit winners...how common is this in Vegas?

How many have either hit these themselves, or have witnessed and how common is it? What were the common variables? Max bets? Fancy machines? I'm curious--not a slot player myself, or video poker, ewtc... just curious

 

It seems to me if I spend 8 hours in a casino gambling in a day, I am going to see at least one hand payout on slots or VP during that time. I think the low 4 digit ones are happen quite a bit. Sometimes even by accident but I have to have beer in me to tell that story, lol.

 

4, 5 and 6 figure wins happens every day in Vegas! that's why it's such a great city.

 

http://www.bellagio.com/casino/slot-jackpots.aspx

 

The game of choice definitely matters.

Some games could have max prizes of $1,000 - $2000 instead of the $50,000-$100,000 or higher.

Some games require an extra coin to activate the larger payout and others don't.

 

Not sure what is "common". But these happen often. On a 3 day trip I will probably hit 2-3 in the $1200-$3,000 range.

 

It depends where you are.

First, with penny machines a lot of them can't even reach the $1200 hand pay limit, even on max bet. When the machine says "max prize of 80,000 credits with max bet" thats only $800 on a penny machine.

Now if you go to a place like Harrah's they have a dollar slots area, but its mostly empty - just not the crowd they generally attract.

But if you go to Bellagio you are likely to see more people playing the 25c and $1 video slots where they are betting $20-200 per spin - there you are more likely to see people having 4 and 5 digit wins.

And also a lot of casinos do have $1, $5, $10, $25, $100 and up three reel slots out on the casino floor... but those are more to pique peoples' interest and get them to maybe take a shot at the big one. The people that actually play machines at those levels generally don't do it on the open casino floor and will instead go to the high limit slot room which is more private and they can play without an audience, better drink service and more security.

 

I have a folder full of handpay W2-Gs from penny machines. Few in the $3k-$4k range, though most are between $1,200 and $1,600

 

I guess I am one of those conspiracy theorist types who questions how the system is rigged. I'm curious if these big winners are only on weekends and at prime time where everyone can see its a possibility. I would find some comfort that supports these big prizes being on a very randomized basis as far as location, time, etc. I've always wondered that.

 

Most of the time the big wins are on the weekend and at prime time...

But its not a conspiracy: a typical Las Vegas big resort casino is going to have around 2,500 slot machines and just on the weekends, especially during prime time, they are going to be a lot busier than they are on something like a Tuesday at 11AM.

It just breaks down as: the more people playing the more likely a jackpot is going to be hit.

 

Exactly. It is all in the numbers.