In our series of spreading fun stories from the world of gaming through generations, we have reached our second episode. Stories about double jackpots, a Chinese powerhouse, The Devil’s Wheel, a badass woman and crabs are all on display for you to read. Take out your notebook and pen as you’re going to want to remember these.

A World War II Vet Won More Than $25 Million Playing Slots

Most people think the big money at casinos is made at the tables, but there are plenty of exceptions in which the slot machines spits out the big bucks. Las Vegas-based World War II veteran Elmer Sherman won a shocking $4.6 million from a slot machine at the Mirage in 1989, but he wasn’t content to stop there. Elmer made it his “life’s dream” to win another big jackpot.

His dream came true in 2005 when he won a whopping $21.1 million at the Cannery – talk about a bank busting payday.

Las Vegas Is Not the Gambling Capital of the World

The city of Macau is the only Chinese territory where it is legal to gamble in a casino. It also happens to be the world’s largest gambling city. Forget Vegas, Macau’s casino revenues are much higher, and have been for a long time.

It might seem that Macau is at a disadvantage since its surface area is three times smaller than that of Las Vegas. However, the population of both cities is pretty much the same. Even though Macau is a much smaller city and has less space to fit gigantic casino resorts, it still has a gambling revenue that is three times higher than that of Las Vegas, which is quite impressive.

The GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue) of Las Vegas is $6.4 billion, 34% of which comes from playing casino games. The rest comes from hotel rooms and restaurants. On the other hand, Macau has a GGR of $28.04 billion. Of this amount, the city will get around $12 billion, which is twice as much as Las Vegas earns in total.

Unlike Vegas, which makes most of its money in penny slots, most of the money generated in Macau (75 percent!) comes from high rollers making huge bets at table games in V.I.P. rooms.

The Numbers on a Roulette Wheel Add Up to 666

Gaming and superstition go hand-in-hand, so it’s not surprising that some mystical properties have been assigned to some casino games. The biblical “Number of the Beast” makes an appearance in every casino with a roulette wheel. How so, you may ask? If you add up all the numbers on the wheel, you get 666!

This is the simple story behind how the roulette wheel earning its nickname “The Devil’s Wheel.”

The First Casino License in Las Vegas Was Issued to a Woman

The pioneers of the Las Vegas casino industry weren’t all male mobsters, like we’ve seen in the movies. The first legal casino license was actually issued to a bad ass woman named Mayme Stocker in 1920 for the Northern Club. Stocker was a respectable wife and mother who was frequently written about in the local newspaper society pages.

As her husband Harold didn’t want to be associated with the casino at first, she opened the casino under her name and offered the only five games legal in Vegas at the time: stud poker, draw poker, lowball poker, 500, and bridge.

We applaud the power move, Mrs Stocker!

“Craps” Comes From “Crabs”

“Lacta alea est”, to quote the big man, Julius Caesar. We’ve all heard how he uttered the famous Latin words meaning “the dice have been cast”. What has this has to do with casino and gaming? Well, have you ever wondered why the popular casino dice game Craps is called Craps?

It’s a simple equation: language + time = bonkers. Historians think it all started with an old British dice game called Hazard (such a better name). In Hazard, rolling “snake eyes” was called rolling “crabs” (for some reason).

French settlers in New Orleans in the mid-1700s kept Hazard alive, but over time, the combination of French and English-speaking players and changes to the game’s rules slowly turned “crabs” into “craps” (for some reason) and a whole new game was born, eventually leaving Hazard nothing but a distant memory. Viva le Craps!

At BitStarz, there are plenty of opportunities to create new success stories of this kind that includes yourself. Be sure to visit our lobby to find all the latest slots and other games – let’s make history!