We all love hearing stories that warm the heart, especially around this time of year, and today’s is just about as warm as it gets. A local man from Las Vegas won an enormous $14 million jackpot while playing the slots over the weekend. When asked about his plans for the money, he said he intends to donate most of it to charity, including his local congregation that is currently without a church to call home.
The lucky winner, who has chosen to maintain his anonymity in the matter, was playing at the Rampart Casino, located in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. Despite living in such close proximity to the gambling capital of America, he does not consider himself much of a gambler at all. According to his own statement, the only reason he was at the casino in the first place was to entertain a good friend who was visiting from out of town.
The amazing jackpot win took only minutes to unleash. Reports indicate the Vegas man [pictured below] inserted just $20 into the popular Megabucks slot machine, spinning the reels for only 5 minutes before the epic win occurred. All of the symbols aligned in perfect order just before the bells and whistles sounded, flashing the $14,282,5414.21 win across the top of the slots.
Vegas Local wins $14M Megabucks jackpot at @RampartCasino, says he’ll donate it to charity! http://t.co/q1ayaweM97 pic.twitter.com/Ib4bfEkLYx
— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) December 1, 2014
Jenifer Smith, a spokeswoman for Rampart Casino, extolled the anonymous winner’s victory to the press. “It’s just a great story this time of year,” she said. Smith went on to say that the winner isn’t a regular at the casino or the Megabucks progressive. “He just put $20 in the machine, and it hit.”
Michael Gaughan Jr., the general manager of the casino, was excited to be in the building at the time that the enormous jackpot was struck. He told reporters that he came out to personally congratulate the lucky man. “We pay large jackpots all the time,” said Gaughan Jr., “and just today we are paying $14 million to a lucky local. We are thrilled to be a part of this exciting jackpot. It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The jackpot winner doesn’t plan on keeping much of the money. He said a portion of it will go towards the erection of a new church. His local parish is currently making due without a traditional structure, instead having to hold their congregations in the gymnasium of an area high school. Once that is paid for, he will donate most of the remaining funds to other charitable organizations.
It’s not certain what possessed the fortuitous Nevadan to be so incredibly generous. Perhaps he feels he already has enough wealth, or maybe the giving spirit of Christmas genuinely struck his heart as surely as the reels struck the extravagant jackpot win last weekend. Whatever the case may be, we should all consider his story a shining example of all that is good in the world.