Resorts World Just Paid Out $12.3 Million in Jackpots Over 18 Days

Resorts World Just Paid Out $12.3 Million in Jackpots Over 18 Days

A California tourist walked into Resorts World Las Vegas on December 14 with $105 to spend on video poker. She walked out with $1.2 million.

The win came on a Double Super Times Pay Poker machine - a triple-play variant where one dealt hand plays across three simultaneous games. What made this particular session remarkable wasn't just the Royal Flush. It was three of them, dealt at once, each boosted by a 20x multiplier.

The odds of that happening? Roughly 1 in 9.75 million.

But here's the thing: this wasn't even the biggest jackpot at Resorts World that month. Just 18 days earlier, another guest hit the property's first-ever Megabucks progressive for $11,143,660.87. Combined, the two wins totaled $12.3 million paid out from a single casino floor in less than three weeks.

How the $1.2 Million Hand Actually Worked

Double Super Times Pay isn't your standard video poker game. Developed by IGT, it adds a multiplier mechanic that can dramatically inflate payouts - but only under specific conditions.

The game works like this: players bet an extra two coins per hand to activate the multiplier feature. When active, there's a 1-in-15 chance of triggering a random multiplier (anywhere from 2x to 10x) on the deal, and another 1-in-15 chance on the draw.

But dealt Royal Flushes play by different rules. When you're dealt all five cards of a Royal Flush without needing to draw - something that happens once in every 649,740 hands - the multiplier automatically locks at 20x. No randomness involved.

On a $5 denomination machine with triple-play, the math breaks down simply. A standard Royal Flush pays 4,000 coins, or $20,000 at the $5 level. Multiply that by 20, and you get $400,000. Now multiply that across three hands from the same dealt Royal, and the total reaches $1.2 million.

The anonymous winner from California placed a $105 bet - that's $35 per hand across three hands, or seven coins each (five base coins plus two for the multiplier feature). Fifteen minutes of play. One perfect deal.

The Megabucks Win That Started the Streak

The video poker jackpot was impressive. The Megabucks hit from November was something else entirely.

On the morning of November 27 - Thanksgiving Day - a guest visiting family in Las Vegas sat down at an IGT Megabucks Mega Vault machine. After about 15 minutes of play and a single $5 bet, the reels aligned just before 6 AM.

The payout: $11,143,660.87.

This wasn't just a big win. It was the first Megabucks jackpot ever hit at Resorts World Las Vegas since the property opened in June 2021. For context, Megabucks is Nevada's most famous progressive slot - a statewide network where every machine across the state feeds the same jackpot pool, which resets at $10 million after each hit.

The odds of winning Megabucks sit at approximately 1 in 50 million. The last time someone hit the progressive before this was February 2024, at a casino in Mesquite.

"Playing alongside their spouse and family on the casino floor, the guest placed a $5 bet and, after about 15 minutes at the machine, watched the reels line up just before 6 a.m.," Resorts World said in a statement. The winner chose to remain anonymous.

Progressive vs. Multiplier: Two Different Kinds of Lucky

These back-to-back jackpots highlight something casual players often miss: not all big wins work the same way.

The Megabucks jackpot is a progressive. Every time someone plays any Megabucks machine in Nevada without winning, a portion of their bet feeds the central jackpot. The prize grows until someone wins, then resets to $10 million. The casino doesn't pay this - IGT does, as the machine manufacturer running the network.

The video poker win operated completely differently. Double Super Times Pay isn't progressive. The $1.2 million payout came from the game's built-in multiplier mechanics applied to a standard pay table. Resorts World paid this one directly from their cage.

For players, the distinction matters. Progressive jackpots like Megabucks offer life-changing sums but come with astronomical odds - 1 in 50 million is roughly equivalent to flipping a coin and getting heads 26 times consecutively. The multiplier-based video poker win, while still extraordinarily rare at 1 in 9.75 million, was "only" about five times more likely.

Neither outcome represents something you should expect to happen to you. But the video poker player had one advantage the Megabucks winner didn't: skill. Video poker involves actual decisions. Holding the right cards matters. A dealt Royal Flush is pure luck, but getting into position to capitalize on one requires knowing what you're doing.

Why Two Jackpots in 18 Days Isn't as Crazy as It Sounds

When Resorts World announced the second major win on December 15, their social media post led with an obvious hook: "Lightning struck twice."

Statistically, though, this isn't quite the anomaly it appears to be. Resorts World operates one of the largest casino floors on the Las Vegas Strip - over 117,000 square feet of gaming space. More machines mean more play, and more play means more chances for outlier events.

The property also skews toward higher-denomination games than many competitors. A $5 video poker machine and $5 Megabucks bets represent serious action. Players willing to bet at those levels generate more theoretical jackpot opportunities per hour than someone feeding quarters into a penny slot.

None of this diminishes the wins. Two guests genuinely walked away with life-changing money. But casinos understand probability better than anyone. Over enough volume, rare events stop being rare - they become inevitable. The question is never if someone will hit, only when and who.

Resorts World has been aggressive about publicizing these wins, which makes business sense. The property has dealt with significant negative press over the past year, including a $10.5 million fine from Nevada gaming regulators in March and an ongoing federal lawsuit filed in December. Stories about happy winners paying for their kids' college funds play better than stories about compliance failures.

A Good Month for Las Vegas Jackpots

The Resorts World wins weren't isolated. December 2024 has been unusually active for major payouts across the Las Vegas Valley.

The Venetian reported three separate million-dollar-plus jackpots in a two-week span, including a $1.14 million Dragon Link hit. The Rio paid out $411,589 on a Kong: Skull Island progressive. Downtown, Binion's celebrated a guest who turned a $7 side bet on Let It Ride into a $13,077 payday after hitting a Royal Flush with a progressive bonus.

Whether this represents statistical noise or genuine clustering is impossible to say. Casinos don't release detailed data on total jackpot volume over time, so there's no baseline for comparison. What's clear is that the holiday season brings more visitors, more play, and consequently more opportunities for headline-worthy wins.

For players planning Vegas trips, the takeaway isn't that December is somehow luckier than other months. It's that casinos remain casinos. The math doesn't change based on the calendar. Someone has to win eventually, and the house edge ensures that over time, the casino always comes out ahead - even when individual players walk away with seven figures.

The Tax Reality

One detail often glossed over in jackpot announcements: the government takes its cut.

Any gambling win over $1,200 triggers automatic tax reporting. For wins this size, the IRS withholds 24% immediately, with additional liability potentially due depending on the winner's overall income.

On the $11.1 million Megabucks hit, federal withholding alone would exceed $2.6 million. If the winner takes a lump sum (as most do rather than accepting annual payments), they'd net approximately $6.6 million after federal taxes - still life-changing, but considerably less than the headline number.

The $1.2 million video poker winner faces similar math. After withholding, the actual take-home drops closer to $900,000. Still enough to pay off a mortgage, fund retirement, or transform someone's financial situation. Just not quite the full $1.2 million the machine displayed.

Nevada has no state income tax, which helps. Winners from states like California face additional deductions when they file their returns. The anonymous guest from California who hit the Royal Flush will likely see another chunk disappear come April.