Fremont Casino Slot Payout Provides Over $1.1M to Hawaiian Visitor to Las Vegas

Posted on: January 26, 2022, 08:19h. 

Last updated on: January 26, 2022, 09:33h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A player from Hawaii won over $1.1 million last week at the Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Hotel and Casino. The big payout came from an IGT Wheel of Fortune slot.

Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Casino Winner
Salinda Conklin, Fremont Casino’s director of casino operations, left, and Jennifer Nichols, Fremont assistant general manager, pictured above. Hiding behind the over $1 million check is the lucky winner at the Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Casino. (Image: Boyd Gaming)

The guest was playing a Super Times Pay 2x 3x 4x 5x slot on Friday. Following 10 minutes on the machine, the player attempted a $5 spin.

It hit a $1,100,986 jackpot. The winner accepted the check. But the Hawaiian visitor asked to remain anonymous.

The Fremont is a Boyd Gaming property. The player was staying at a nearby Boyd property during the Vegas visit: the California Hotel and Casino.

“Jackpots are great news for the winner, but we get pretty excited about them as well,” Boyd spokesman David Strow told Casino.org on Tuesday.

A big jackpot like this will usually get significant attention from the media and players, and helps draw more people than ever to your property,” he said. News of the win was widely reported in the Hawaiian media in recent days. Strow added Boyd is “especially excited” the visitor is from Hawaii.

“Hawaii is our single largest market downtown, so we’re thrilled whenever we can share news of a Hawaiian hitting it big at one of our Las Vegas properties,” Strow said.

The Ninth Island

Travel to Sin City is so popular, some have dubbed the city “The ninth island.”

In fact, Nevada has the largest population of Native Hawaiians outside of Hawaii, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. And more than 300,000 passengers flew from Hawaii to Las Vegas in each of the last five years, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority.

Part of that reason is because gambling is illegal in Hawaii. This includes a prohibition of gambling in any form, including slot machines, table games, lotteries, sports betting, and even bingo.

There have been some attempts to legalize sports betting and create a lottery in the state. However, in past years, these proposals failed to gain traction. There have been some rumors of renewed interest in those laws this year. But analysts believe any gambling measure is unlikely to pass the legislature.

Recent $1M Payouts

Last November, another Hawaiian hit a million-dollar jackpot at Main Street Station Casino Brewery Hotel in Las Vegas. It was on a $2 wager. The machine was a Wheel of Fortune Double Diamond. Main Street Station is also a Boyd property.

In an earlier jackpot, a local won $1,024,065.45 at Cannery Casino Hotel in North Las Vegas. It was on a $3.75 wager in September. That is another Boyd Gaming property.

Last Nov. 14, two lucky gamblers each hit a jackpot north of $1 million. Quoclong Pham, a resident of Vancouver, Wash., had just sat down at a Face Up Pai Gow table game at Harrah’s Las Vegas on the Strip. Moments later, he was a millionaire.

Pham hit a seven-card straight flush with a joker, Harrah’s parent company, Caesars Entertainment, said in a statement regarding the win. The progressive jackpot that Pham hit was worth $1,393,273.

That same day, Nikki, who resides in Southern California, got lucky at Circa Resort & Casino. She hit a $1,075,234 jackpot while playing a Wheel of Fortune progressive. She asked the property not to release her last name.

Birthday Jackpot

Last weekend, a woman won over $1 million at Louisiana’s L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, according to KBMT, a Texas TV station.

She was celebrating a birthday on Saturday, so her present from the Penn National gaming property totaled $1,064,679.04. She was playing a Pai Gow Progressive game.