People who frequent casinos or gaming parlors to play poker, blackjack, roulette, baccarat or any other game of chance do so in the hope that they will one day win an astonishing, life-changing lot of money. These days, one does not even have to go to Las Vegas, or whichever other ‘gaming city’ is close to them. Casino online games have made it possible to play slot games when seated right at home, provided one has a phone or a computer and an account with any of the many online casinos. Some gamers do it for the pleasure and adrenaline rush but for a large percentage of people, it is about the probability of winning money and possibly transforming their lives. Besides casinos, another popular game of chance is the lottery. People who purchase lottery tickets faithfully and consistently do so because they believe that the day will come when all their dreams will come true. The following three are some of those who have won staggering amounts of money either at the lottery or in casinos and shown the world that it is possible to change one’s life in a flash.

In 2016, the Powerball Lottery announced the winner of its $ 758.6 Million jackpot as a fifty-three-year-old woman named Mavis Wanczyk. At that time, this was the biggest Powerball win of all time by a single ticket. The mother of two adult children lived in Chicopee, Massachusetts at the time. She worked in a medical facility where she had been for thirty-two years. The moment the landslide win came to her attention. she decided all she wanted to do was to kick back and relax for a while so she quit her employment. She had purchased the winning lottery ticket at the Pride Station and Store in Chicopee. When it came to collecting her payout, she decided to collect it as a lump sum instead of annuity payments. She collected a total of $ 480 Million after taxes.

The second person who makes it to this list for winning large is Elmer Sherwin. This world war 2 veteran is known not only for winning huge amounts at the Megabucks jackpot in Las Vegas but also for winning it twice. For this reason, some people have christened him the luckiest man in Las Vegas. The first time he won was in 1989. He walked into the then newly opened Mirage casino, sat at the Megabucks slots machine and walked out with a win of $ 4.6 Million. He reportedly used the money to travel around the world. Sixteen years on, at ninety-two years of age, Elmer Sherwin entered the Cannery Casino & Hotel and won $ 21,147,947 Million at another Megabucks slot machine.

Online Casinos, which have taken advantage of advancing technology to take gaming online have also seen big wins. The largest reported win was that of 13,209, 300 Million Pounds by British citizen Jon Heywood in 2015. The money was won on Betway Casino’s online slots game called Mega Moolah. Interestingly, Jon Heywood, a British soldier had opened his Betway Casino account just twenty-five minutes before he hit the jackpot. He was also watching a documentary when playing but the jackpot still chose him