This week’s casino news starts off with a big jackpot out of Nevada. That’s not the story, though, as it was more of a matter of who won it rather than how or how much. We’ll start there with our weekly recap of the news.
Comedian’s Wife Hits $1.4 Million Jackpot
The wife of known comedian Justin Rupple hit a huge jackpot this past week and while some read the headline and thought it was some kind of joke, it wasn’t.
Kathryn J. became the winner of a monster $1.4 million slot jackpot at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Nevada. She had been traveling with her husband, who is on tour, which is how she found herself in the casino playing, to begin with.
Kathryn was able to get this huge win while playing the Wheel of Fortune Triple Red Hot 7s machine. For this specific machine, the chances of striking the jackpot are unbelievably low, but she was able to overcome the odds. It seems like almost every big slots jackpot we’ve heard about this year has come from the Wheel of Fortune game.
When she was asked about what the couple might do with the winnings, she said, “We are looking forward to paying down our debts and traveling.” If you are unfamiliar with Rupple, he has How To Train Your Dragon and America’s Got Talent on his resume.
Michigan Brings In $2.5 Billion In Revenue From Gambling
The state of Michigan has been performing incredibly well in terms of revenues coming from legalized gambling. The Michigan Gaming Control Board just made the announcement that the state has been able to haul in approximately $2.5 billion in tax revenue over the last 25 years. If you happen to be wondering where all of this money has been going in Michigan, most of it is directed toward the School Aid Fund.
There are currently more than 20 legal casinos in Michigan that are tribally regulated. On top of that, the state was able to legalize online gambling not long ago, with the market kicking off in January of 2021. That means that their expectations for gaming revenues are going to at least double over the next 25 years.
Slots and retail table games have been bringing in the majority of the revenue throughout this time span. They are attributing to $2.43 billion in total. Retail sports betting is the second highest at $1.7 million then there is internet gaming at $87.2 million to round out the top three.
Macau Man Sentenced To Five Months In Jail After Walking Without Face Mask
One resident in Macau is paying the price for not following their intense COVID-19 regulations and restrictions. A Macau man has just been hit with a five-month prison sentence for not wearing a face mask outside. This directly violates the emergency health directive that they have. The report states that the man was caught smoking public outdoors, though his identification wasn’t released to the public just yet.
Luckily for him, he does have a path to stay out of prison if he can avoid getting into more trouble over the next two years. However, he could be used as a warning to everybody not to take their regulations seriously moving forward.
COVID-19 has been ravaging the Las Vegas of the East and casinos even had to shut down for a full week recently. Last month, Macau saw yet another outbreak of COVID-19 plague their society. Since then, they have picked up a whopping 1,644 positive tests. Plus, Macau will likely have to shoot those numbers down to zero if they have any hopes of lifting these restrictions. After all, Macau has a zero COVID policy in place at the moment. As a result, many businesses and jobs have been impacted, so when somebody puts that in jeopardy, the local officials are going to be taking them very seriously.