Jackpot wins can be incredibly thrilling for many players. This year turned out to be a memorable one for slots enthusiasts from the United Kingdom from the young man from Newcastle who won £5.4 million on a simple Tuesday to someone getting a jackpot on Christmas Eve. Let’s take a closer look at three of the biggest slot wins that caught everyone’s attention in the UK.
1. £5.4 Million — Michael Clark on King Kong Cashpots
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Michael Clark is one of the prize winners of 2023 who was born on August 8, 1991 but was living in Newcastle as a care worker. He was wagering £1.40 a spin on Betfred’s version of King Kong progressive jackpot slot Blueprint Gaming Cashpots. When he won, Clark thought that the slot was showing him £5,000. This wasn’t the case.
The final amount was £5,413,505 this was the biggest win in Betfred’s 56-year history. Wins of this size are also a good reminder why the operator matters: legal casinos on casinoguiden.biz are subject to licensing requirements rather than leaving major payouts entirely to the casino’s discretion.
“I thought it must have been a mistake at first, and then we started hugging each other when we realized it was real,” Michael Clark explained about the win to Betfred.
Since then, Clark and his partner Sherelle have bought a five-bedroom house, got married at St James’ Park (their favourite football club Newcastle United plays there), and traveled overseas — including Amsterdam and Tenerife.
2. ~£11.6 Million — Anonymous Player on Book of Mega Moolah
On Christmas Eve 2023, a casino betting player won €13,528,145 (roughly £11.6 million at the time) on the Book of Mega Moolah slot from Games Global. The stake was just €20.
The winner preferred to stay anonymous, as many people do when it comes to such a high reward. The most unusual thing about this win is the fact that it was won on the newest title in the Mega Moolah jackpot network, which has been running since 2006.
Betway is no stranger to Mega Moolah wins in 2015, Jon Heywood a British soldier from Cheshire won what at that time was a Guinness World Record jackpot of £13.2 million in the same network. The same progressive pool can appear across different licensed operators, from Betway to sites positioned as Denmark’s largest online casino, rather than belonging to one casino alone. The Christmas Eve 2023 win may not be able to beat that in pounds (because of the euro/pound exchange rate), but it still ranks among the biggest Mega Moolah payouts all over the world.
In 2023 as a whole, there were four winners of the Mega Moolah Mega Jackpot across the network — quite an active year for a progressive jackpot network that is already one of the most prolific ones ever created.
3. ~£33 Million — Anonymous Player on Wheel of Wishes/WowPot
This win can be considered to be in a league of its own. In late December 2023, an anonymous player (who was using cryptocurrency) triggered the WowPot progressive jackpot on the Wheel of Wishes, earning the equivalent of approximately $42 million (£33 million at the time). This is the biggest online slot jackpot ever awarded in recorded history.
Though the nationality of the winner hasn’t been revealed yet, the win took place in the WowPot progressive jackpot network, which is open for UK players through licensed online casinos from the UKGC.
The previous record for this progressive network was half of this amount, and WowPot has already awarded over $230 million since its inception.
The WowPot jackpot is connected across several Games Global slots, including Wheel of Wishes, Book of Atem WowPot, and Cash ‘N Riches WowPot Megaways. The jackpot seeds at £2 million, guaranteeing a win of at least 8 figures for any of its winners.
For comparison, the previous record of WowPot — £15,183,085 — was claimed in April 2021 by a UK player called “Mr M” at 32Red, who triggered the jackpot on an 80p bet.
Common Features of the Wins
Certain patterns among the three biggest wins are worth paying attention to:
- All three are progressive jackpots. All three progressive jackpot games are progressive jackpot slots, which means that they accumulate over time thanks to the contributions of the players. This is the reason why the amounts become so big. No regular (fixed) slots can reach such figures.
- The stake doesn’t matter. Clark had to make a bet of £1.40 to win £5.4 million. The anonymous winner from Betway needed €20 to earn €13.5 million. Progressive jackpots trigger randomly (sometimes after the completion of bonus features), so there is no direct connection between how much you are betting and whether you are going to win.
- The biggest networks keep on winning. Two out of three of the wins mentioned above occurred in the networks created by Games Global. These are well-established progressive jackpots with years of contributions from players, which is exactly the secret of their success.
A Word about Playing Progressive Jackpot Slots
It is necessary to know how progressive jackpots work. Mega Moolah’s base RTP is approximately 88% with a lot lower than what you can get in video slots (around 95%+). The difference is made up for with a contribution to the jackpot. If you’re playing for the enjoyment, and you winn you win, jazz bride Michael Clark, right? But there is quite a bit to know about Progressive Jackpots before you begin tossing the reels. Every player who decides to play should find out how the individual game and the jackpot operate, see if the moneygame operator is licensed in their jurisdiction and consider gambling as entertainment, not as earning money.
