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July 29th, 2023: Remember our post about a lucky traveler at the Harry Reid Airport winning a $1.3 million jackpot from IGT Wheel of Fortune Triple Double Emeralds? Well, the streak continues, as multiple news stories report that there’s another lucky traveler blessed with a jackpot from one of the slot machines at the Harry Reid Airport.
The newest lucky member of the club hit a $1,286,324 jackpot by playing the Wheel of Fortune Triple Hot 777 slot machine. According to a tweet by the airport management, the popular IGT slot machine is located in the airport’s Terminal 3, and the player triggered a progressive jackpot.
Airport management congratulates the new winner
The management of Harry Reid airport was quick to offer their congratulations to the newest millionaire. In a tweet, the management proudly announced its ‘big jackpot win for the second time in a month.’ In the same tweet, the company included an image showing the exact jackpot amount and the three Wheel of Fortune logos lined up on the payline that triggered the progressive jackpot.
The tweet received a few comments, including several congratulatory posts. One poster, named ‘Joe Cal’ commented: “Will you guys save some jackpots for me”. Another Twitter user, Dom P. shared, “I know where I’m staying next trip! But another user has a different take on what happened, saying, “Another missed flight”. We can be sure of that since the lucky player celebrated and first collected the epic win, right?
A series of wins at the airport
This isn’t the first time a traveler has hit the jackpot in the airport. Last month, a lucky Harry Reid’s Terminal 1 traveler hit a $1.3 million jackpot. We also reported this on this site, with the mystery player landing the jackpot combination on the Wheel of Fortune Triple Double Emeralds slot machine at Terminal 1 Esplanade.
At Harry Reid Airport, slot machines are essential to their offerings. According to reports, these mechanical games at the airport have generated over $1 billion in revenue, based on the estimates of Michael Gaughan’s Airport Slot Concession, the operator of these machines. The same report shared that the airport’s slot machines deliver $39.8 in annual gross revenue. There are over 1430 slot machines at the Harry Reid Airport, and these games serve as reliable sources of revenues that help offset the cost of operations.
According to Patricia Ross, the General Manager of Michael Gaughan’s Airport Slot Concession, the slot machines inside the airport offer Las Vegas visitors some leisure entertainment for a few minutes, and the revenues also help in operating the casinos. In her statement, she mentioned that “the revenue generated also helps lower the operating costs for airlines at the airport, and those lower rates trickle down to tourists who plan on visiting Las Vegas”.
A history of exciting payouts at US airports
Players don’t just win in brick-and-mortar casinos, they can also win big in airports.
To verify this claim, we can track back and discover the previous winners at airports. For example, in March 2022, a passenger from California identified only as ‘William J’ won $328,655 on a slot machine at Harry Reid while playing IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slot machine. On Feb. 25, 2021, a player named ‘Megan H.’ from Texas won over $302,000 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine in the B Concourse. Also, a woman from Torrance, California, hit a jackpot with a Wheel of Fortune 4D penny slot.
The largest payout ever in a Las Vegas airport happened in 2005 when the lucky player collected a jackpot worth $3,961,585.14!