Over the years, there have been plenty of huge wins on casino floors all over the world. Whether it’s a professional player who has finally scooped a major coup against a rival casino regular or perhaps it’s a fluky amateur who has just won the top prize on one of Las Vegas’ jackpot machines, there are colossal coups on a regular basis. We have taken a look at some of the biggest casino victories in history. Although the house tends to win in the end, there have been some instances where the punter has defied the odds to come out on top.

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Johanna Heundl

Johanna Heundl, a 74-year-old woman from California, won over $22million when she chanced her arm on a Megabucks machine before heading to breakfast. After staking just $170, she hit the jackpot and was able to afford the biggest continental breakfast on offer. Heundl wasn’t a proficient gambler and this was just one of those ‘right place at the right time’ instances.
David Johnson
Although he isn’t particularly well known, perhaps David Johnson was the greatest professional gambler of them all. He didn’t count cards or do anything too untoward, he simply negotiated ‘special rules’ to gain an edge and ensure that he would grab more winnings the more he played. With tactics including seeking favourable house rules, splitting into separate hands and targeting certain dealers in certain casinos. Some tables even allowed Johnson the opportunity to double his bet, although others restricted this rule. Due to his incredible manipulation of the rules, Johnson won $15million from three casinos in just half-a-year – an astonishing feat.

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Cynthia Jay

Cynthia Jay was a cocktail waitress at the Monte Carlo casino in Vegas when she struck lucky. On January 26th 2000, she took a shot at the Megabucks slot machine, which was a state-wide lottery jackpot that had been rolling for quite some time, and managed to win the entire pot of money on her ninth pull. The total was $34, 959, 458.56 – a figure that was estimated to be the largest Megabucks jackpot in history at the time. Unfortunately, she was involved in a freak accident that killed her sister and left Cynthia paralysed and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life just nine weeks after winning the jackpot. Jay admits that she would give all of her winnings back if it meant that she could walk again or get her sister back.

Sean Connery

The man who made his living as James Bond was a proficient gambler back in the day and regularly travelled to some of the world’s finest casino establishments. Back in 1963, he attended a casino in Italy and caught lucky on roulette. Connery placed a stake on number 17 twice but the wheel missed. However, on the third time it hit. Bizarrely, he left his winnings there and the 35/1 shot came in on the very next hit. Astonishingly, number 17 came up three times in a row and Connery managed to defy the 50,000/1 odds to win over 17 million lire, equivalent to around £165,000 in today’s money. It’s one of the most impressive stories around and Connery went on to emulate the achievement eight years later in Diamonds are Forever.

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Archie Karas

Many people dream about rolling into Vegas with pennies and coming out with thousands – this is more or less exactly what Archie Karas managed to do back in 1992. With $50 in his pocket, he visited Binion’s Horseshoe Casino and, after a friend loaned him $10,000, he played high-stakes Razz – a version of poker that sees the lowest hand win.  if you want to have a first-hand experience of the game. Just three hours later, he had doubled his money and went on to turn $7 million into $17 million inside three years. Not bad, huh?

Patricia Demauro

If you’re walking past a craps table in the casino, you would be forgiven for being a little confused. It’s an incredibly quick game and you can lose lots of money if you’re not sure what you are doing. However, grandmother Patricia Demauro showed that even the most inexperienced craps player can win big with a bit of luck. Playing at the Borgata in Atlantic City, she approached the tables for only the second time in her entire life. Demauro took the dice in her hands and she revealed that she won 154 consecutive throws. While exact figures of her winnings are unknown, she bought into the table for $10 and most betting strategists believe that she would have made more than fifty times her original stake at the very least.

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Charles Deville Wells

Wells managed to ‘break the bank’ in Monte Carlo as he cleaned up way back in 1891, winning an amazing one million francs – equivalent to $500,000 in today’s market – in just one evening of pure and utter luck. Charles was a cheater and took investors for £400 for a future project but ended up taking a trip to Monte Carlo. Ironically, he didn’t cheat once during his time away and remarkably won an extraordinary sum of money during an 11-hour marathon. His exploits earned him worldwide fame and there were even songs written about his personal achievement. Despite his incredible win, Wells’ luck ran out as he lost all of the money and was then arrested for his involvement in a number of confidence schemes. He was jailed for eight years and served a sentence for fraudulent activity.