Back to Back Jackpots

29 September 2019

By John Grochowski

Over the years, I’ve relayed a number of reports readers have sent me about back-to-back jackpots. They’re not common experiences; they’re rare and precious, but they happen.

A few more close encounters of the winning kind have accumulated in my email box. Let’s let two of the winners tell their stories.

RAYMOND: Does it count as two jackpots in a row if they’re on different machines and different games entirely?

My first was on the penny video slot Black Orchid. I got a bonus round for 15 free spins, and I got the bonus symbols for 10 more free spins twice. So I had 35 free spins in all.

I was doing pretty well on the free spins. The wild symbols came up a lot, so lots of winning combinations. When I was at about 3,700 credits for the round, I told myself this was a really nice round. On a penny machine, a $37 win is nothing to sneeze at.

That’s when I got my jackpot. I lined up a couple of wilds with three of the blonde lady symbols, and got the second highest jackpot. There are five progressives. The one at the top was in the thousands. I didn’t get that, but I did get $124 for the second jackpot.

There were still free spins left, and I wound up with $41 in free spins and $124 for the jackpot. Sweet stuff for a penny player.

My wife had wandered over and watched my last few spins. She said she was ready to change games. I said, “I’ll take a walk with you and let this jackpot be a happy memory. It’s not like I’m going to win another one right away.”

We walked for a few minutes and didn’t find seats together at anything we like, so she went off on her own and I took a video poker game. It was 8-5 Double Bonus Poker with a progressive jackpot, for quarters. I took $20 from my winnings and gave it a go.

On my first hand, I was dealt 10-King-Ace of spades and a couple of low cards. The draw brought the Queen and the Jack, and I had another progressive! This one was for $1,129. I texted my wife right away. Celebration time!

So my last bet on one game and my first bet on another both brought progressives. I don’t know if you count that as consecutive, but I sure do.

MARY: I’m old-fashioned, but I’m 87 and think I have the right to be. I started playing reel slots something like 40 years ago in Atlantic City, and when I can find quarter reel slots, those are still what I like to play.

My granddaughter is in her 30s now, and she and her husband took me for a day out. It was nice. They bought me a nice lunch and we played slots. She indulged me and even played reel slots with me, even though I know she really likes the video slots better.

It only took a few minutes until I got the three Double Diamonds! My granddaughter yelled, “Grandma! You hit the jackpot!” For a three-quarter bet, I won 2,500 quarters -- $625!

On my next play, I got Double Diamond, Double Diamond, and there was just enough time while the last reel was spinning for my granddaughter to yell “Do it again!” When the last reel game up Double Diamond, we had big hugs and I promise her dinner was on grandma.

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