This week’s casino news starts off with one of the biggest lottery winners of all-time. We’ve got the latest for you in this week’s recap of the casino headlines.
Single Ticket In Illinois Wins $1.3 Billion Mega Millions
The second-largest prize in the history of multi-state lotteries has finally got a winner. The Mega Millions drawing was able to find one ticket to match all six of the winning numbers. Those being 13, 36, 45, 57 and 67 with the Mega Ball being 14. The single ticket was able to win $1.337 billion out of it, the second-highest total in history. The only other that topped this number was back in 2018 in South Carolina when it rose up to $1.5 billion.
26 other tickets were able to match all five of the white balls to get the second-tier prize in the lottery. Out of those 26, six of them included the Megaplier. Those six were able to each net themselves $2 million for their tickets and the remaining 20 got $1 million.
At the end of it all, there were 14,391,740 winning tickets sold through nine prize tiers. With 400 of those netting five-figure sums themselves.
At this point, we don’t know who the actual winner was and it’s likely that they’ll want to remain anonymous. Of course, even if the winner collects over a billion to start, they’re not going to end up with that amount once Uncle Sam gets his cut. We’re not sure of the exact figures but the United States government was a big winner from this prize as well as they’ll collect hundreds of millions in taxes.
Detroit Lions, Michigan Casino Announce Partnership
Yet another professional sports franchise is dipping their toes into the gambling pool. The NFL’s Detroit Lions just announced a gambling partnership with Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort. The agreement will allow for television specials and weekly Inside the Pride episodes throughout the entire 2022 campaign. There will even be a Power Hour at Ford Field which will be presented by Soaring Eagle on game days.
The multi-year partnership should be helping out both sides. With Soaring Eagle going to be heavily involved with the newly formed Lions TV Network. That aforementioned series titled Inside the Den, will provide coverage on behind-the-scenes stories from the Lions organization.
The Lions are taking advantage of the newly legalized sports betting in the state of Michigan. They first kicked off retail sports betting in the state back in 2020 and have since opened up online versions in 2021.
Troops Lose $100 Million Per Year On U.S. Government Slots
The Department of Defense has found themselves in an interesting situation when it was reported that the U.S military is losing tons of money on slot machines each year. The DOD apparently operates over 3,000 slot machines at their military bases around the world but it appears they have an issue with irresponsible gambling. With those machines, the DOD brings in roughly $100 million each year from their troops as they go for a spin around the reels.
The machines are spread out across 12 countries and while people in the United States have to be 21 or older to play, troops that are as young as 18 are able to partake because these are housed in other countries. One report from NPR mentions that Congress actually banned from domestic military bases back in 1951. They were completely removed about 20 years later but eventually found their way into overseas bases anyways.
Luckily, the number isn’t all that brutal when comparing it to gambling powerhouses in the United States such as the Las Vegas Strip. During the month of June alone, the Strip brought in $380 million from bettors. Which is an incredibly higher amount than the $100 million per year from service members at these bases. Still though, this could be an interesting situation moving forward.
