The received wisdom is that you cannot win against a casino. You might get the occasional pay out (big or small) but in the long term, you’ll lose more than you win. And there is some truth to that – for the most part, you will get out much less than you put in because if you didn’t, casinos wouldn’t exist; they are there to make money not for you, but for them. It’s why playing for fun is much more important than playing for profit.
Yet sometimes, very rarely, something amazing happens. Sometimes, very rarely, there will be a huge jackpot win. These are extremely exciting not just for the person who wins, but for anyone around who might happen to witness that win. And when you think about it, although the casino may appear to have lost out big time, this huge win can bring more people to their physical or virtual doors – others will want to play for the same chance of winning the same big prize as the last person did. Casinos win no matter what.
Speaking of these exciting Diamond Jackpots wins, let’s take a look at what they were and who the lucky winners happen to be.
Kerry Packer - $20-40 Million
Kerry Packer was an Australian billionaire businessman who won somewhere between $20 and $40 million in just one evening in Las Vegas. The exact figure is hard to compute since he had a winning streak and came out on top on a variety of different games in a variety of different casinos. But suffice it to say, he did well (although with a fortune of around $6.5 billion, the extra cash was nice but not life changing). Packer celebrated his win by being very generous and tipping everyone in sight – one waiter received around $1 million. Later, in 1999, Packer’s winning streak was definitely over since he went on to lose $28 million in one night.
The Young Engineer - $39.7 Million
Known only as the ‘Young Engineer’, a 25 year old from Los Angeles came to have some fun in Las Vegas. He was really there to watch his favourite basketball team play, but with some time to kill he wandered in the Excalibur and tried his hand at the slots. After paying in around $100 – over a period of time – the jackpot signal went off and he found that he had won just over $39.7 million. Interestingly, the Young Engineer chose not to have all his winnings at once, but asked the casino to pay him $1.5 million a year.
Elmer Sherwin - $4.6 million and $21 million
When Elmer Sherwin was 76 years old, he won a staggering $4.6 million on a slot machine at the very newly opened Mirage in Las Vegas (it had, in fact, only been open for 10 hours). Despite his win, Elmer just couldn’t give up his regular routine, and he kept visiting casinos twice a week. Perhaps it was inevitable that he would win again… but it took 16 years. This time he won an even more impressive $21 million! The kind man gave most of this win to a charity helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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