(Image: courtesy of The Venetian Resort Las Vegas)

In the photo above, you’re looking at $1,975,769 in casino chips, which was paid out on the day before Thanksgiving at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The salmon-looking ones are $25,000 each. And your eyes aren't fooling you -- they are physically bigger than standard casino chips. From left to right in stacks, you’ve got a nice house, a couple kids’ college educations, a new Tesla Plaid, maybe a Cybertruck or two … the rest is probably tips and taxes, right? 

As I get deeper into this casino beat, I’m starting to pay more attention to casino winners, and am particularly curious about seven-figure paydays. 

We all know over time the casino wins. Yet we still play and gamble (responsibly, of course!). Even when the math says it’s not a smart bet -- usually the case with table-game side bets -- something compels us to put down those extra chips. Is it simply a calculated risk for the chance of a thrill? The allure of a bigger-than-expected score? 

Millionaire Progressive Royal Flushes

On Thanksgiving Thursday, Californian Shane Burk was playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em with a $25 ante and blind, He also put out an extra $5 chip to make him eligible for the Millionaire Progressive. 

Lucky 13? Shane Burk was the 13th person to claim a seven-figure payout in the Venetian’s Millionaire Progressive. (Image: courtesy of The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.)

This jackpot at the The Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas is shared across five poker-derived games – Ultimate Texas Hold'em, Three Card Poker, Let It Ride, Crazy 4 Poker, and Mississippi Stud. It pays out for a variety of high hands at different levels, with a top prize of at least $1 million for a spade royal flush.

(A royal flush in Ultimate Texas Hold’em without the side bet on pays 500:1.)

Burk was the 13th person to hit it since it was introduced in 2018. His payout was $1,012,030. 

The jackpot had been reset just the day prior, when another Ultimate Texas Hold’em player at The Venetian, this one anonymous, flopped the same spade royal flush with the $5 side bet on for a whopping $1.98 million.  

The odds of hitting a royal flush in Texas Hold’em are 0.0032%, or roughly 1-in-31,000. Multiply that by four – 1-in-124,000 – for how often you can expect to see a royal flush of a specific suit, as required for this maximum payout. 

Glorious Aces Cracked

It’s not often that everybody in a poker game comes out a winner. But eight no-limit Texas Hold’em players playing $1/$3 NL at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh all sat at the same table and had a very good night, as they divvied up a bad beat jackpot of $905,622.

It was a win-win situation for Brent Enos (front left), Scott Thompson (front right) and everyone else at the table when a $900k bad beat jackpot hit. (Image: courtesy of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh)

Scott Thompson of Washington, Pennsylvania, held quad Aces only to lose to a royal flush held by Brent Enos of Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania. 

For his pain, the “loser” of the hand, Thompson, received $362,250. The “winner” Enos took down the pot and an additional $271,686. The remaining six players chopped up what was left and each took home $45,281 for the privilege of witnessing it all. 

Rivers Casino Pittsburgh holds the U.S. record for bad beat jackpots – with a $1.2 million jackpot paying out in August 2022.

Slots o’ Fun

And lastly, there’s the story of “bjm7867,” an online casino player in Glasgow, Scotland, who won £565,500 ($709,100) on just a £2 ($2.50) bet. His game of choice was Rainbow Jackpots Power Lines, a Irish-themed slot (leprechaun hats, four-leaf clovers, pots of gold, beer) at Grosvenor’s online casino.

(Image: courtesy of Red Tiger))

Know any big winners we should know about, too? Send Dan an email.