Woman, 84, wins $10 mln on slot machine
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – An 84-year-old New Jersey woman won $10 million on a nickel slot machine in an Atlantic City casino in what the operator said Thursday was the largest prize in the city’s gambling history.
Great-grandmother Josephine Crawford of nearby Galloway Township was playing the nickel slots in Harrah’s casino in the game where each play costs 5 cents, or a nickel.
When she was down to her last $5 credit, the Megabucks machine suddenly flashed the news she had won the jackpot of $10,010,113.48, casino spokesman Christopher Jonic said.
“There were a whole lot of bells and whistles, and she had no idea really what had happened,” Jonic said.
The win Tuesday evening was confirmed by Harrah’s staff and by International Gaming Technology, the owner of the machine, and Crawford was presented with a check, Jonic said.
She has the option of taking the money as a lump sum of around $5.5 million after taxes, or accepting a 25-year annuity.
“Somehow, I’ll spend it. I’m just happy I won it, for my family, although they don’t need it,” Crawford told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The jackpot was accumulated by Megabucks, which operates hundreds of slots in Atlantic City’s 12 casinos, and takes a small portion of every play. The jackpot had not been won for about three years.
Crawford’s win beats the previous Atlantic City record of $8.54 million in August 1994. She had been a customer at the casino since 1980.
[Reuters]
Going to prove once again that a number of these winners don’t need to win. Either they don’t really need the money, which it sounds like in this case. Or they win the money and it ruins their life, which we’ve all heard many times.
I’d always found myself shaking my head when they announce who the winner of things like these are. A number of times it’s an older person, retired and when it comes down to it they really didn’t need the money. The ones that would need the money can’t afford to try winning, I mean the odds are so bad why waste something that may pay for some food or medicine.
Tags: Interesting, Irony, News
