The closest I’ve ever got to Counterfeit Coins are those chocolate coins you get at xmas. Well that and what I assumed to be the odd ‘dodgy’ pound coin or fiver in my change. I doubt it’s a dissimilar experience to most other people. Still, while for me this was a passing moment, for some it’s a professional, a livelihood. Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio (what’s in a name!) combined his job as a jeweler with his shady connections in order to counterfit coins and tokens to use in slot machines.
So precise were the coins, that it took an apparent surplus of coins and tokens in casino vualts for them to twig what was going on. Colavecchio was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to six years in prison. This didn’t deter him for long though, as he went back to his old ways once he was let out. So astounding was his run that it was detailed in the History Channel documentary Breaking Vegas.
It’s believed that in Ohio in 2012 there was a mass roulette scam involving as many as 70 people. The scatter gun approach would involve players placing as little as $1 while swiping chips when the dealer was distracted. The chips would then be passed on to another member of the group before being cashed out.
Effective as it was, this clearly wasn’t the most sophisticated of scams and so various members of the group were caught in the act, or later via the viewing of CCTV footage. Authorities believe the gang were actually operating in numerous states and continue to this day. Those that have been caught have received penalties ranging from $2500 fines to a year in prison.
The world may have gone a little quiet on the good news front over the last 6 months, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been any.
Look hard for it and you might just find that the media jam-packed with fantastic tales and inspiring stories adding a little brightness to your day.
Record-breaking Megabucks slots win in Florida
For Laurie (last name withheld), a 60-year-old woman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2020 is sure to be a year that she’ll never forget, for all the right reasons.
Whilst playing the simple $1 slot machine in July, found at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, Laurie had managed to parlay her $5 bet into a jackpot worth nearly $4 million.
The jackpot, totalling a whopping $3,854,682, now holds the record as the largest payout both in the history of Seminole Gaming’s six properties and as the largest slot jackpot ever awarded in Florida on an International Game Technology game.
After claiming the giant jackpot from the IGT Megabucks slots game, Laurie was reported to state that “I am in absolute shock”, following it up with “You like to dream big but that’s really big. That’s not even in the ballpark of what you think you can win. That’s a lottery! It still feels like a dream.”
A giant Golden Nugget slots win in New Jersey
But it’s not just those venturing to a brick-and-mortar casino that is finding themselves with a lifechanging sum, some online players are finding luck too.
In May 2020, a New Jersey player has managed to claim a cool $1 million after just an hour on the Pillars of Asgard slot, developed by SG Digital. The Bridgeton-based player hit the bonus feature, starting off with 23 free spins before hitting the retrigger and boosting the value to 55 free spins and ultimately claiming the multiplier of 25,000.
It’s the biggest win in the history of the Golden Nuggets online casino, something that the CEO and owner, Tilman Fertitta, says that he is” thrilled to hear that one of our loyal online casino patrons has become an instant Million Dollar Winner in one life-changing spin”.