Vegas Luck 2024 Roundup: Winners Edition 

It’s been a crazy year of gambling winners across the world, that’s for sure. As much as the house always wins in the end, the allure of gambling is that some lucky few will also win some (or a lot, possibly) along the way.

And there were certainly some big hits this year. U.S. lottery jackpots continue to get crazier, with another $1 billion plus winner hitting in Oregon in April. Another $1.2 billion winner in New Jersey is yet unclaimed. 

Elsewhere, pro and amateur poker players bet and won millions at high stakes tables and tournaments across the world, and thousands of lucky punters turned small bets into big wins with multimillion slot or table game jackpots. 

On the celebrity side, Dana White playing baccarat, Dave Portnoy sports betting, soccer star Neymar playing poker, and a French trader who made a huge winning bet on Donald Trump’s presidential election victory were among 2024’s most high- profile winners. 

Highest Profile Winners 

Our most-viewed winners story of the year was that of April’s $1.36 billion Oregon Lottery winner. Although he took a few weeks to claim it, Cheng “Charlie” Saephan cashed in the $1.36 billion win in mid-May. 

The Portland resident, 46, had cancer for the past eight years. He said he slept with the eventual winning lottery numbers on a piece of paper under his pillow for several months before hitting the big win. 

Interestingly, as well as being our most-viewed article, Saephan’s win was also the biggest single gambling win of the year. Which shows that size does matter, at least in this case, apparently. 

Other big winners our readers seemingly enjoyed included the controversial $95 million Texas Lottery win from a consortium that bought basically all the tickets, two Dutch gamblers who were awarded a refund of $479,000 in losses by courts in the Netherlands, and UFC owner Dana White’s tale of a $23 million baccarat win streak at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Biggest Winners 

Outside of the Oregon and Texas Lottery wins, the biggest single gambling win of the year was probably the French trader who made $85 million betting on Donald Trump’s presidential election victory over Kamala Harris. 

The bets were placed on cryptocurrency prediction trading market Polymarket. In response to a French government investigation into the story, users from France have since been blocked from the site

The second- and third-biggest gambling wins of 2024 we reported on were in poker. 

The second was a World Series of Poker and Triton Poker collaboration event, with $12 million on the line for the top prize. Amazingly, it was won by an Argentinian semi-pro poker player and full-time battle rapper, Alejandro Lococo.

The third was Jonathan Tamayo’s $10 million triumph at the World Series of Poker 2024 Main Event in Las Vegas. The quiet and studious Tamayo, from Humble, Texas, remained cool throughout the tournament, at one point folding pocket queens pre flop.

However, the win was somewhat marred by controversy over his supporters using laptop poker programs to discuss tactics with the eventual winner in-between breaks in play. The fallout led to a recent rule change from WSOP for its future events. 

Laptops will now be banned from the spectators rail and any electronic devices completely banned from the final tables of tournaments. 

Also in the world of poker, the winning streak of the previously unknown Vladimir Korzonin was a story that captured a lot of interest. The Estonian’s first documented cash-in at an official poker tournament was in October 2024. By the end of November, he had hit $7.9 million in career winnings.

He finished second in the $200,000 Triton Poker Invitational in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and then a week later, he won the $150,000 Super High Roller event at the same series. 

What’s more, Korzonin didn’t just have an air of mystery and high stakes wins to cause interest. His older age, combined with his unorthodox style of play, quiet demeanor and long-haired and white-bearded appearance led poker fans to nickname him “Gambledore” after the wizard Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise. 

Speaking of competitors on the side of U.S. sports, the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark was undeniably the most high-profile winner of the year. The Indiana Fever’s star point guard hit Rookie of the Year in her first pro season, and single-handedly boosted viewer — and also bettor — interest in the WNBA. 

Back to the pure chance of gambling, and another big winner who proved popular with readers was the $1.5 million Wheel of Fortune slot machine jackpot winner in New Jersey who had never previously visited a casino.

Online casino-wise, the biggest winner of the year was a BetMGM player, also in New Jersey. The record U.S. online casino jackpot winner hit for $6.45 million playing the Fruit Blaster slot on the Nevada-based BetMGM platform.