UK Soldier Wins Record Slots Jackpot of £13.2 million

A British soldier has won the biggest ever slots jackpot in the history of online gaming, after winning £13,213,838, or a little over $20 million, while playing the Mega Moolah progressive slot at Betway.com. On October 6th, around midnight, UK Lance Corporal Jon Heywood, had just deposited £30 on the site, and was gambling at 25p a spin when seven minutes later he struck the huge jackpot.
“I couldn’t believe that I’d won all this money at the time – and it still hasn’t sunk in.. I thought it was a hoax at first. I thought ‘no, this isn’t real. I haven’t slept well since Tuesday and haven’t stopped drinking champagne”, explained the 26 year-old after his life-changing win.
Despite saying he now intends to exchange his Fiat Punto for a yellow Bentley Continental GT, Heywood says his main concern is the healthcare of his father, Douglas, 54, who is currently awaiting a lifesaving heart and lung transplant operation. As Heywood explains:
“It’s amazing. The first thing I will spend it on is the best possible medical treatment for my dad. That’s more important than anything. Family comes first and I’d give all this money back for him to be healthy again.”
The army veteran of nine years says he also wants to send his relatives on a luxury Mediterranean cruise, as well as donate some of the money to the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF).
According to current pound/euro exchange rates, Jon Heywood’s massive payday comes to €17,879,645, which is around €18,000 ($20,000) more than the previous record set by an anonymous Finish player in 2013 of €17,861,813. The biggest slots jackpots ever won, however, occurred in 2003 at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas, where a 25-year-old Los Angeles software engineer won $40 million playing the Megabucks slot. Unlike in the UK, though, non-professionals gambling winnings are still taxed in the US, and so the Fed would have taken a 40% cut of his slots payout.