While we have been fans of online casinos and playing at sites such as the Silver Oak for many years already, there are some players who are still fixated on land based gambling and all of the thrills which it can provide. There is one particular slot machine in Las Vegas, however, which attracts more attention than most – with a loyal following, despite the fact that it has not paid out a main jackpot for nearly two decades. Found in the MGM Grand, the Lion’s Share machine now has a jackpot of $2.3 million waiting to be won, though no one knows if and when it will pay out.
The outdated three reel slot machine has been sitting in the same spot on the casino floor for some time, and the twenty year old device has managed to attract a legion of devotes who line up every day and night in order to try and get the chance to play it, hoping that this might be the time that the jackpot hits. “You see the sharks swimming around, scoping you out,” said Washington state resident Lief Anderson. He is a sixty four year old player who is in fact a second generation player on the machine, having taken over from his late father ten years ago in order to see whether he can be the one to get it to pay out. The etiquette for the machine states that the seat is first come, first served, and the player may stick around until he is falling asleep or out of money. The maximum bet is $3, and without hitting the main jackpot a player can still win up to $10,000 – so this is a game that could keep you going for a long time indeed if you have the stamina.
“It’s become a meeting spot for us,” said fifty one year old Ken Kuefler, a boiler maker who brings up to $5000 per trip for the machine and never plays any other. “We have friends we’ve made just from waiting at the machine.” The machine has become something of a celebrity on the strip – it has its own Facebook page and Twitter account, and every payout is reported as something special, no matter how small it may be. It even has its own fan website, and despite being the oldest slot in the casino it is also the one with the highest level of occupancy. Twenty three year old fan Justin Paulus is hardly any older than the game itself, but he is devoted enough to have taken a six hour overnight session last year which wore him out completely. “Security kept coming over to wake me up, but they didn’t say I had to leave. So I’d wake up, press a button, and then fall asleep again,” said Mr. Paulus, of Chandler, Ariz. “I just have this feeling it’s going to hit soon.” The $10,000 jackpot hits now and then, but the progressive is yet to fall.