The biggest win during a terrible year, $5.1 million, came on on August 9. That’s when a lucky player on the online Unibet casino hit a life-changing jackpot on the Divine Fortune slot game. Unibet is partnered with Hard Rock Atlantic City.
With Atlantic City’s nine casinos forced to close from mid-March until July 4 weekend, due to the government’s COVID-19 restrictions, the online casinos saved helped save the city. In fact, the casinos are still limited to 25% capacity for both the casino floors and restaurants, which obviously reduces revenue.
The runner-up for big, online casino wins, was $3.3 million on July 27 on the “The Big One Colossal Cash: Luck’O’Jackpot” slot game played on Borgata’s mobile partner, PlayMGM.
But one lucky winner actually ventured inside the Bally’s Park Place Casino in Atlantic City on January 19, winning $2.6 million on a Wheel of Fortune penny slots machine.
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Unibet isn’t the Only Winner
Two of the biggest brick-and-mortar wins happened at the Atlantic City Tropicana. On July 13, shortly after the casinos were allowed to reopen, a Monopoly 3RM game paid one lucky winner $902,000, while a Wheel of Fortune slot machine paid $899,000 out on December 12.
A million-dollar jackpot was also awarded to a Pillars of Asgard player on May 20 on the Golden Nugget online casino.
The seventh and 10th-largest payouts happened on the Borgata online casino; on February 1, one lucky player cashed out $800,000 on Game King Double Double Bonus Poker and another player won $500,00 on a Double Diamond game.
DraftKings’ new online casino had a $612,000 winner playing roulette on December 11, for the eighth biggest win of the year.
At the Golden Nugget’s partner, PlaySugarhouse, a Slingo Reel Extreme player cashed out $503,000 on January 19.
What Qualifies as a Big Jackpot?
Gaming officials in New Jersey say that $50,000 is the threshold for a big jackpot.
That number was hit a total of 770 times at the Atlantic City brick-and-mortar, online and mobile casinos in 2020. In 2019, that number was 611, and in 2018, only 384 big jackpots were won.
The very first million-dollar online casino jackpot was hit in 2015 on Valentine’s Day; that’s when a $500 wager on the Let It Ride game, played on the Betfair Casino, turned into $1.5 million.
That was followed up by two million dollar wins at Atlantic City’s brick-and-mortar casinos in 2016. That’s when one lucky patron of the Trump Taj Mahal won $3.1 million on a penny Wheel of Fortune slot machine, and a player at Harrah’s won $1.5 million on a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine.
In 2017, two more million-dollar jackpots were won at Atlantic City casinos; Harrah’s had a $2.6 million winner playing a Wheel of Fortune 25-cent Pink Diamond game, and Bally’s had a $1.2 million winner playing 25-cent Reel Adventures-Elvis game.
In 2019, there was only one million dollar win; a Golden Nugget patron took home $1.1 million playing a Wheel of Fortune machine.
2020 Was a Bumper Year for Big Jackpots
In 2020, there were 44 jackpots of at least $200,000 in Atlantic City.
Ten jackpots were 10 worth at least a half-million dollars, one jackpot was worth more than $400,000, and six ranged between $300,000 to $400,000.
October 24 and October 25 were very lucky days for players in New Jersey. On October 24, seven players won $50,000 and one player won $60,000. Amazingly, all of those wins happened on the Betfair Casino and all were playing Blackjack Classic Touch.
Also on October 24, the Borgata online casino had two six-figure winners, a $104,000 winner playing Panda Power and a $200,000 winner playing Game King: Triple Double Bonus Poker.
The following day, seven people won between $50,000 to $60,000 playing Blackjack Classic Touch. Resorts online casino also had a $127,000 winner on October 25.
The Betfair Casino was also on fire October 25, when one lucky player raked in $87,000 on Multi-hand Blackjack Perfect Pairs + 21+3. The winning streak continued at Resorts online on October 25, when a Blue Ribbon game paid out $127,000. The Tropicana was also on a winning streak, as a player took home $98,000 playing Triple Play Poker Link.
