Megabucks Casino Machine
The Megabucks machine is seen Thursday, June 4, 2020, at Palace Station in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal) For those of you tired of 2020, this flashback to 2008 is offered. Megabucks are slots with progressive jackpots, combined into a single network that covers casinos in several American states. The owner and operator of this network is International Game Technology, better known by its abbreviated name IGT.
Megabucks are slots with progressive jackpots, combined into a single network that covers casinos in several American states. The owner and operator of this network is International Game Technology, better known by its abbreviated name IGT.
Megabucks slot is considered as an alternative to state lotteries and enjoys incredible popularity among Americans. Actually, there is an opinion that IGT specifically released it to create a lottery competition. Since the beginning of the eighties in the twentieth century, when the slot was launched for the first time, this slot made dozens of players millionaires.
Thanks to the skillfully organized advertising company, every Megabucks jackpot, when it reaches a considerable size, causes a real excitement among the gambling public. And every hit of the progressive jackpot is widely covered in the media, attracting even more casino visitors to the slot. No other slot in the world is overgrown with so many incredible myths, rumors, and legends. But with all this, there are a lot of gambling experts and just experienced players who consider Megabucks a hideous slot that absolutely does not deserve so much attention. So, who is right: fans or opponents of this slot?
Where to Play the Megabucks Slot
- Secure
- Fast Withdrawals
Rank | Casino/Hotel | Details | Booking |
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New York New York | $80-160Avg. Room Rates | View Deals | |
2 | Arizona Charlie's Boulder | $30-60Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
3 | Circus Circus | $30-60Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
4 | Four Queens | $50-100Avg. Room Rates | View Deals |
How to Play Megabucks
The classic version of the Megabucks slot from IGT is a 3-reel slot machine with the only one payline. In order to qualify for a progressive jackpot, the player must definitely bet three dollars. There are a lot of stories (both true and fictitious) about casino customers, who had the jackpot combination, but they did not receive any jackpot because of a bet less than three dollars.
The progressive jackpot is not completely nullified when a lucky winner gets it but starts to grow from a certain amount. In recent years, this fixed amount is $10,000,000. There are persistent rumors that soon this initial sum of the jackpot should increase by one million.
Megabucks Slot Odds
Strange as it may seem, there is no official information about the probability of winning the Megabucks jackpot. Some casinos say that the player has one chance out of 50 million, while others claim that this is one chance of 17 million. Whatever it was, when the sum of the jackpot is large enough, fans of this slot are ready to fly thousands of kilometers to try their luck.
What do Lady Luck’s favorites have from this slot? Do they get all that huge amount of money that is advertised? When you win a jackpot, events can unfold as follows. First of all, the lucky guy will receive a check for $1,400,000. Then the winner is given two or three months to decide how he wants to get his winnings. There are two options: the amount is divided into annual payments, which will be transferred to the player within twenty-five years, or he can get the winnings immediately at a time, but at a rate of 60% of the jackpot.
That is, having won ten million, the winner can receive in the second variant only six million, but at once and with one payment. After receiving the win, he still has to pay taxes. Unsurprisingly, almost all holders of Megabucks jackpots prefer to receive their winnings in the form of annual payments.
However, in this case, they also have to pay taxes, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States (IRS) very strictly follows this. Subtract from the total amount of the jackpot another 40%, because such winnings are taxed at the maximum rate. So, the next time you hear that someone has won ten million in Megabucks and immediately took all the money, you know that the lucky guy got a little over three and a half million at his disposal.
The Curse of the Megabucks Jackpot
As already mentioned above, there are a lot of urban legends about the Megabucks slot and its jackpot, mostly of a gloomy nature. For the most part, they describe the tragic fate of players who managed to win a huge jackpot. It is believed that almost all the lucky people either perish or suffer numerous woes. The cause of their numerous misfortunes is the so-called Curse of the Megabucks slot.
Of course, in these stories, there is much more fiction than the truth. However, there is no smoke without fire — some winners, really, seriously suffered after they won the jackpot. In particular, the further life of the waitress Cynthia J. Brennan, who won $34.9 million in 2000, was sad. A month and a half after the win, Cynthia and her sister were hit by a drunk driver. The sister died on the spot, and Cynthia was forever paralyzed. The guy who drove the car in a state of intoxication was imprisoned for twenty-eight years.
But the rumors about the curse of Megabucks spread even before the year 2000. Simply, this accident was widely covered in the press and made people remember about other similar events, which at that time did not become so resonant. In 2003, many media published a story about a 25-year-old player who became the owner of the Megabucks jackpot and either died from a drug overdose in a casino hotel or was killed in a street shootout. IGT companies had to work hard to convince the public of the falsity of these statements.
There are also a lot of rumors about underage players and employees of different casinos who won the Megabucks jackpot but could not get it due to existing rules. But none of these rumors received documentary evidence.
Many experts in the field of gambling suggest that ITG recently made relevant changes to the Megabucks system, which makes the jackpot play less often, but with larger amounts. Although officially the company claims that nothing of the sort has happened, this opinion remains very popular.
Megabucks Progressive Slots
Where Could You Play Megabucks?
Megabucks Slot Machine Payouts
Most fans of slot machines and large jackpots are not afraid of the curse of Megabucks and are willing to play in this slot. You can find this slot in almost all real casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as in other establishments in Nevada, California, New Jersey, Mississippi, and some Indian reservations. Each state has its own separate network of Megabucks slots, but the biggest progressive jackpots are expected in Nevada. In other states, jackpots are much smaller.
Why do Experts Consider Megabucks a Bad Slot?
Experts do not believe in the curse of the Megabucks slot, but this does not stop them from considering this gambling machine not worthy of attention. The fact is that this slot is very unprofitable for the player. Firstly, it has an extremely high percentage of the casino advantage, which reaches 10-15% (for comparison, many slots in the Las Vegas casino are limited to 2-3%). Secondly, the procedure for paying a jackpot is extremely inconvenient. The winner either loses 40% of the amount or gets it in parts for 25 years. But the progressive jackpots of most other slots are paid immediately and in full.
All this suggests that Megabucks is a mediocre slot, which gained its popularity only thanks to record payments and a masterly organized PR campaign.
See Also
Las Vegas Progressive Jackpots
The Megabucks slot has a legendary status among players who frequent land-based casinos. It was not only the first game to introduce the “progressive jackpot” network system, but also the first slot to have paid out more than a billion dollars in winnings since it was first put on a land-based casino floor in 1986! The company behind the Mega Bucks slot – IGT (International Gaming Technologies) is a developer known for introducing titles that stand out with their exceptional gameplay features. Today, the Mega Bucks slot machine is one of the most played ones in the brick and mortar casinos of Las Vegas and the surrounding areas.
Theme and Story – a Classic Megabucks Slot Vibe
When it comes to visual variety, we can’t say that Megabucks shines with impressive artwork. In the spirit of all Vegas slots, the visual style of Mega Bucks is definitely reminiscent of the first slots that were ever made. It is interesting to note that while there are many other variations of the game that have been introduced throughout the years, the original Mega Bucks slot continues to look exactly as it did when it was first released.
Game Features – What to Expect
The first and most known Mega Bucks game features three reels and a single row. This “rolling reels” slot has a single pay line; however, a player can bet using up to 3 coins. Depending on the machine type, one coin can have a value of a dime ($0.10), a quarter ($0.25), and a dollar (1 coin = $1). The minimum coin bet that can be placed for a single spin is one coin’; the maximum – 3 coins. Here is the paytable with the prize amounts:
Symbol Combinations | One Coin Payout | Two Coins Payout | Three Coins Payout |
---|---|---|---|
Any single “Cherry” | $2 | $4 | $6 |
Any double “Cherry” | $5 | $10 | $15 |
Any triple “Bar” | $5 | $10 | $15 |
Triple “Cherry” | $10 | $20 | $30 |
Triple “Single Bar” | $10 | $20 | $30 |
Triple “Double Bar” | $25 | $50 | $75 |
Triple “Triple Bar” | $40 | $80 | $120 |
Triple “Seven” | $80 | $160 | $240 |
Any Triple Combination of “Megabucks” and “Special” symbols | $2,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
Triple “Megabucks” | $5,000 | $10,000 | The Megabucks Jackpot Amount |
The amounts listed above are regarding a Megabucks slot machine that has a coin value of $1. It should also be noted that a wager of three coins is required in order for a player to qualify for the chance of grabbing the largest payout amount. Although this slot exists only in a “land-based” version and there is no way to try it out for free, there are other online progressive jackpot slots that you can try in demo mode.
The Jackpot – Only in Nevada
The “progressive jackpot” is a type of a prize pool that is accumulated through all Megabucks slot machines positioned in various casinos throughout the state. A small percentage of every bet is gathered into a mutual pool, which makes up the jackpot. An interesting fact is that if the jackpot is won, the amount is reset at $10 million! The largest amount ever that was paid out by a Megabucks slots machine was approximately $40 million, back in 2003!
How to Play Megabucks Slot Machine?
Megabucks is one of the easiest slots to play – all you have to do is put money in the machine and press on the “spin” button. Because the slot itself doesn’t have additional gameplay features (such as free spins or symbols with multiple functions) and only a single pay line, the Mega Bucks slot machine is preferred by many players for its simplicity. Although the slot doesn’t have an officially announced RTP rate, both industry critics and players speculate that it is within the 90% mark, with the chance of hitting a “triple Megabucks” combination having a probability of approximately 1 to 50,000,000.
Conclusion – Worth It for the Chance of a Massive Win
Megabucks Slot Machine Current Jackpot
The thing is that the Megabucks slot machine isn’t famous only for the fact that it pays out huge amounts of money, but because that happens quite often (regardless of the near-to-impossible odd statistics). Although there is no indication of how frequent that happens, it must be quite often since this particular slot has remained active on casino floors for more than three decades. Due to the fact that this is a physical slot machine, there is no opportunity to play Megabucks for free; however, if you find yourself in the state of Nevada in the United States of America, we wholeheartedly recommend that you try and play the game. After all, all Megabucks slots machines are present only in Nevada!