Couple hits €1.5 million slot machine jackpot days before Christmas; A 2023 record
Two visitors at the Holland Casino in Venlo will have much nicer holiday season than they expected. The Barendrecht couple hit a progressive slot machine jackpot of 1,524,671 euros, the highest jackpot of the year handed out at any of the 14 Holland Casino locations.
The couple won the jackpot on the Mega Millions slot machine at 11:40 p.m. on Friday, the casino announced. "Is this true?" said the 51-year-old woman after winning the prize. “I’m dreaming and I hope I don’t wake up.”
The Barendrecht winners won the fourth Mega Millions prize this year that was actually over a million euros. They were the second to win a million euros or more in Venlo this year, with a 1.16 million euro prize awarded there in August. Over 1.37 million euros was won on a spin in Eindhoven in July, and a 1.11 million euro prize was handed out in Enschede in May.
The casino passed out champagne after the couple won the prize, and family members joined them to celebrate. The couple will return to the casino on Saturday, where they will share the Limburg regional pie, vlaai, with others in the building.
It was the 22nd time that a Mega Millions slot machine paid out over 100,000 euros on a spin. The machines are networked across all Holland Casinos, and the jackpot prize increases each time a gambler uses one of the machines until the main prize is awarded. The slot machine jackpot then resets to a predetermined value.
Players can go for the high jackpot with a minimum bet of one euro, and their odds improve when they bet higher amounts. The machine also pays out a second lower jackpot that starts out at 100,000 euros.