Tropicana Atlantic City Gambler Wins $1.1M, Tips Casino Staff $50,000

Tropicana Atlantic City Gambler Wins $1.1M, Tips Casino Staff $50,000

Tropicana Atlantic City was the site last weekend of an unprecedented $1.1 million progressive poker jackpot.

Lucky gambler Frank Nagy is seen here with his ceremonial check after winning a more than $1.1 million progressive jackpot at Tropicana Atlantic City. Nagy s good fortune came while playing Four Card Poker. (Image: Tropicana Atlantic City)

Caesars Entertainment says a New Jersey man won $1,105,757.10 on a $5 wager at its Tropicana casino resort.

Steve Callender, regional president for Caesars three casinos in Atlantic City, said the more than $1.1 million hits is the largest progressive poker win in the history of Caesars Entertainment in New Jersey.

The lucky individual is Frank Nagy, who lives in Monmouth County. A longtime Tropicana regular, Nagy shared the wealth by tipping the casino staff members $50,000.

The progressive jackpot is built by six games: Four Card Poker, Let It Ride, Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold em, Mississippi Stud Poker, and Texas Hold em Poker. With each play, a small portion of the bet is directed to the collective jackpot.

The prize pool is generated by the games located in the company s three Atlantic City casinos, Caesars, Harrah s, and Tropicana.

Not All Lucky Gamblers Tip 

While tipping is common in a casino and expected by dealers, big jackpot winners don t always take care of their gaming floor staff.

On Christmas Eve last year, a man only identified as Kevin, hit what is believed to be Nevada s biggest jackpot in eight years. After betting about $40 on a Megabucks progressive slot machine at Suncoast Hotel and Casino, Kevin hit the jackpot worth $15,491,103.27.

But according to various accounts from servers and onlookers, Kevin didn t take the Frank Nagy way. Instead, he left the casino without tipping even a dollar.

Reported to be a part-time resident in Las Vegas who splits his time with Alaska, Kevin is said to be in his 30s.

Kevin does not tip, said one Twitter user replying to a post from Las Vegas blogger Scott Roeben. I have the inside info. He ate his food, didn t give a dollar. Good luck to Kevin the Grinch!

Fortunes Won During Pandemic

COVID-19 has been cited for nearly half a million deaths in the United States.

As life is beginning to show signs of returning to some sense of normal, albeit a new normal, recent life-changing jackpots have delivered some welcome news to many tired of reading about all the bad in the world.

Last month, a Powerball ticket worth $731.1 million was sold in Maryland.

Hard-luck Maryland town gets a $731.1 million Powerball win, is how the Associated Press covered the win. The ticket was sold by a local convenience store in Lonaconing in the northwestern part of the state.

The town was built around an iron furnace that closed in 1855. A glassworks factory shuttered in the early 1990s, and coal mining jobs disappeared following World War II. Today, Lonaconing has a poverty rate of 22 percent, more than double the US national average rate of 10.5 percent.