Megabucks Slot Machine

"Deposit, click, pull, spin, bells, lights, wait, patience, one, two, three?repeat? again?"

The humming song of the one-arm bandit ? the slot machine. How far gambling has come (and not!) Some things have changed dramatically with on-line gambling and even virtual slot machines, now almost as comfortable, accessible and acceptable as watching television, flooding search engines and alive and well through pop-ups and other electronic marketing media ? other gambling icons have stayed hauntingly the same, or at least so it appears, including the presence of slot machines on the traditional gambling scene.

But are slot machines the same enablers of the games of chance and fate as they have always been? Devices delivering on the need for entertainment, leisure, fun and pleasure, indulgence and the ever-popular promise of spending a little (or a lot) to win it BIG! Promises of easy money. The buzz, glitter, lights, spinning, celebratory, cheerful sounds of the timeless slot machine. Alluring, elusive, insistent and ? still very popular. To the point then, modern-day slot machines are distinctly different ? most, like the Megabucks and other slot machines, are now networked and digital, so appearances may be "deceiving" as complex programming and algorithms now throws the dice of change and smiles on lady luck so to speak in the background. The Megabucks Slot Machine as stated is no exception here. This one-armed bandit-like showpiece is not just suddenly ambidextrous; it is a multitasking, multiple-games-in-one gambling machine. The new technologies have changed the way people win and lose on slot machines and have led to the networking that produces huge jackpots. Technological advances are here to stay. They are part of the march from mechanical to electro-mechanical, then to circuit boards and high-speed microprocessors ? setting the machine up so that people will play often enough because of frequent/regular payouts while still making lots of money for the casinos and gaming industry!

Before the computer era, slot machines featured spinning reels, usually three, seen through a window. A player would insert a coin, pull the machine's handle to start the reels spinning and hope that when they stopped, the symbols painted on the reels would line up in a winning combination. If they did, the player received some or all of the coins that had been placed into the machine. The odds of winning were determined by the number of reels in the machine and the number of symbols on each reel. This is now al done by computer chip and regulated and regularly inspected for programming irregularities and/or tampering. The Megabucks slot machines, for example, are wired on closed networks like private Internets (riverboat-based versions of the game can use wireless network connections) so they can communicate with other slot machines offering the same game. In Nevada, for instance, Megabucks is played statewide on a network of about 700 linked slot machines in 133 locations. Every time a player in Nevada drops a dollar into a Megabucks slot machine, about six cents of that dollar is added to a special running jackpot figure posted simultaneously at the casinos where slot machine players can see it. In effect making MEGA-WINNINGS come to life.

IGT has clearly sought to up the ante by launching several versions of the Wheel of Fortune one-armed bandits. The new video slot featuring actual clips of TV show hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White guide players through the action of the game promise hours of fun for the adventurous and/or die-hard fan.

Find out more about slot machines, especially online progressives, at Major Millions Jackpot Guide

In The News:

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President-elect Barack Obama listens to a question at a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin.



Auto executives, from left, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger,  Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, and Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP - Desperate U.S. automakers ran into fresh obstacles from skeptical lawmakers Thursday as they appealed with rising urgency — and a new dose of humility — for a $34 billion bailout. Without help, said one senator, "we're looking at a death sentence."



Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard during heightened security checks at Chennai International airport in Chennai, India, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Indian airports were put on high alert after the government received warnings of possible airborne attacks. (AP Photo)AP - A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.



In this March 31, 2004 file photo, the entrance to the Blackwater Security Consulting Firearms Training Center is seen in Moyock, N.C. Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008.  (AP Photo/Yoon S. Byun, File)AP - Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said.



Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and her husband Michael Schumacher, 34, appear in a Stockton, Calif., courtroom on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Both are charged  with kidnapping and torturing a 17-year-old boy authorities say was sometimes kept shackled inside their home.  (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - A husband and wife were charged Thursday with kidnapping and torturing a 17-year-old boy authorities say was sometimes kept shackled inside their home. The boy's one-time guardian also was charged with similar abuse allegations.



AP - A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea. Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question at a place that got its name from couples ready to marry. Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005.

This May 2008 photo provided by attorney Ezra B. Glaser shows his client, Doreen Giuliano, AKA Dee Quinn, and juror Jason Allo at a Brooklyn, New York bar, during  one of their last meetings in Giuliano's sting operation against Allo. What Allo, 33, thought was an innocent friendship with Giuliano, 47, in reality was an amateur sting operation by a desperate mother obsessed with saving her son from life behind bars. What Allo didn't know: Giuliano had undergone an extreme makeover - blonde dye job, fake tan, sexy wardrobe, phony name - to conceal her real identity and lure him into a trap that would expose his hidden misdeeds as a juror at her son's murder trial. The saga has become the basis for a defense motion filed this week demanding the verdict be set aside. (AP Photo/Ezra B. Glaser, Esq.)AP - Doreen Giuliano was obsessed with saving her son from a life behind bars after he was convicted of murder. She gave herself an extreme makeover — blonde dye job, fake tan, sexy wardrobe, phony name — and began spying on jurors. She befriended one juror to root out any possible misdeeds at the trial, and for nearly eight months, they drank at bars, smoked marijuana and shared meals in her tiny Brooklyn hideaway.



In this April 19, 2007 file photo, Erik Estrada poses on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)AP - Erik Estrada has returned to Muncie to take part in overnight police patrols in the city where he starred in the short-lived reality series "Armed & Famous." The former star of the 1970s motorcycle cop drama "CHiPs" is a reserve officer on the Muncie Police Department.



AP - A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery leaves a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008  in New York. The NHL suspended  Avery indefinitely on Tuesday, Dec. 2 for making a crude reference to former girlfriends while talking with reporters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)AP - Sean Avery surged past camera crews and reporters Thursday, choosing to save his comments this time for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during a three-hour disciplinary hearing. The Dallas Stars forward was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday just hours after he used a crude expression to describe former girlfriends now dating others while speaking to reporters.



Richard Wagoner, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, testifies during the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the financial assistance package for the big Detroit automakers on Capitol Hill, December 4, 2008. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)Reuters - The CEOs of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC said they would consider restarting talks about a merger during a nearly six-hour congressional grilling on the industry's pleas for $34 billion in government aid.



The AT and T logo in an undated photo. AT and T said on Thursday it would eliminate 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its workforce, as it joins a raft of corporations trying to slash costs in the face of the economic downturn. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.



European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet (L) and Belgium's National Bank Governor Guy Quaden arrive for a news conference at the end of an ECB Governors Council meeting in Brussels, December 4, 2008. (Eric Vidal/Reuters)Reuters - Central banks in Europe slashed their benchmark interest rates by record amounts on Thursday to fight the global economic crisis, while U.S. automakers pleaded for a bailout to avoid collapse.



Closed circuit television footage released on December 3, 2008 shows gunmen walking across a parking lot after a shooting spree at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. (Investigating Team Video via Reuters TV/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Pakistan had given assurances of its commitment to root out terrorism and round up anyone connected to last week's attack in the Indian city of Mumbai.



U.S. soldiers of 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division stands guard outside a mosque in the Hurriya district northwest of Baghdad December 3, 2008. (Erik de Castro/Reuters)Reuters - Iraq's Presidency Council has approved a security pact with the United States that paves the way for a complete U.S. troop pullout by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the council said on Thursday.



A shopkeeper is seen at an electronics shop in Moscow during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's annual question-and-answer session with the Russian people, December 4, 2008. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)Reuters - The United States will quickly feel a change in attitude from Moscow if President-elect Barack Obama transforms Washington's policies toward Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.



Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej attends the annual Trooping of the Colour, an annual military parade, in Bangkok's Royal Plaza, December 2, 2008. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)Reuters - Thailand's revered and influential king missed his traditional birthday eve address due to illness on Thursday, a speech many Thais had hoped would provide short-term relief to the country's intractable political crisis.



A still from a 2002 advertising campaign launched by the U.S. government to persuade Muslims around the world that U.S. Muslims are free to live and worship as they wish. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Hate crimes against Arab Americans have decreased steadily since the September 11 attacks but are still more common than they were before the hijackings, a civil rights group said on Thursday.



European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet gives a press conference after a meeting of ECB governors in Brussels. Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.(AFP/BELGA/Dirk Waem)AFP - Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.



A map locating the western Iraqi city of Fallujah. Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.(AFP/Graphic)AFP - Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.




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