The legendary Lion Share slot at MGM Grand finally comes to an end. The machine situated at MGM has help a progressive jackpot for many years, which finally paid out Friday night after paying out an impressive $2.4 million. Retirement is finally a reality for the shot machine, which was the last 3 reeled slot available at the resort. While it may be an end of an era for land based jackpots of this magnitude, online casinos still offer substantially sized jackpots, which is evident and as seen at gaming information sites such as PokieCasino.com. They also have an article detailing The Power of a Progressive Jackpot, that is informative, especially in relation to online jackpots.
The resort took possession of 49 slot machines along with the Lion Share machine 15 years ago and had to keep the last one due to the progressive jackpot still not having been won. The machine dates back to the old ticket in, ticket out system and has been quite a mission to keep around as other machines were used to keep the Lion Share machine in top shape.
The machine’s progressive jackpot has apparently been accumulating since 1990 when the new custom machines were introduced, said Justin Andrews, who is the MGM Grand executive director for slot operations.
The machine was left in place as the resort felt its only right to give a lucky player the change to win the jackpot. The resort could have taken the accumulated amount and add it to one of the other machine they had available, but they preferred to keep the machine in place and offer it to players. People lined up by the dozen to play on the machine and possibly win the jackpot, said Andrew.
The machine even gathered a Facebook fan base among other social networks so people could follow the current events conserving the machine. The fans joined the page and followed it long before the jackpot was paid out. The MGM Grand shared links to a map as to where the machine is currently situated as it was moved around quite often.
Wall Street Journal also published an article about the machine in February, which extended the lines at the machine even longer as more fortune hunters decided to try their luck on the machine. The resort saw more and more people joining the line, and according to Andrew not a day went by without people asking about the machine, mostly about the jackpot amount and the uniqueness of the machine.
Walter Misco, who was very familiar with Las Vegas and has been visiting for more than 25 years heard about the slot machine from his wife who read about the Lion Share story online. She encouraged him to go and give it a try and did so one Friday night. He approached the machine with $100.00 and began to play, and not long after he managed to hit the jackpot and win the progressive amount of $2.4 million. The couple was shocked when the reality of the situation had set in. After many years they were lucky enough to set the Lion Share machine to rest.
The resort has given the couple the machine as an additional prize, but the law requirements is firstly being overviewed in New Hampshire to ensure the regulations are met for the machine to go home with them.