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by Warren Tennyson
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — October was a lucrative month for patrons at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, where a total of $2,876,946 in jackpots was awarded across slots, bingo, and video poker.
Slot jackpots led the way with $2,392,577 in winnings, while bingo players collected $484,369 at the two Golden Entertainment casinos.
The month began with significant wins at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder. On Oct. 7, a guest hit an $18,800 jackpot playing 25-cent video keno.
A week later, on Oct. 14, another player won $19,753 on a Hi Score machine.
The largest win of the month occurred at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur when a player named Jerry landed the Charlie’s Double Progressive, taking home $109,672.
Additional notable wins included a $21,185 jackpot on a Carnival machine on Oct. 13 and a $25,820 jackpot on a Werewolf Strike machine on Oct. 18.
2025 Sinclair, Inc.

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To quote Justin Timberlake’s character in “The Social Network,” David Fincher’s modern masterpiece about the founding of Facebook: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” Founding a social networking company that worms its way into every aspect of modern life is one way to get a billion dollars, but there’s an easier route you can take right now: play the Mega Millions lottery, where the jackpot currently sits at $1.02 billion.
Winning that kind of cold, hard cash may seem like a dream, but there are plenty of stories out there about how quickly it can become a nightmare due to taxes, mishandling of money and a general lack of financial know-how among lottery winners. If you are lucky enough to win the lottery — as unlikely as that may be — there are a series of tips you can follow to make sure your lottery win results in a lifetime of lounging by the pool rather than fodder for a cautionary Lifetime movie.
Whether you’ve won the lottery and or just want to live like you did, a financial advisor can help you make the most of what’s in your bank account. Find one to work with using SmartAsset’s free financial advisor matching service.

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The first choice you’ll have to make when you win the lottery is whether or not to take your money in an upfront lump sum or as an annuity over a period of time. With a lump sum, your actual take home payment will typically end up being less than it would be overall with an annuity because of tax considerations.
That said, conventional wisdom generally tells lottery winners to take the lump sum. Why? Because due to compounding interest, you can invest a big portion of the money and let it grow, potentially leaving you with more money than you’d have had if you’d taken the annuity. Just make sure you make smart, safe investments — this is where having the help of a competent financial advisor is a big help.
There is one major reason you might consider taking the annuity — you simply don’t trust yourself. If you just know that you’re the type to spend all of your lottery winnings on cars, vacations and other temptations of the modern world, having it parceled out by the government over the years may be an attractive option.
No one is going to feel bad for someone who wins the lottery — whether it’s the current billion dollar jackpot or “just” a normal jackpot of several hundred million dollars. The closest anyone would come to sympathy, though, would probably if they could take a look at how the tax man comes for you once you’ve won the big prize.
To start off, 25% will be taken by the IRS. Much more could end up being taken off as well, both federally and at the state level. The exact level will depend on where you live, but just face it: you could end up listing close to half of your winnings to the government. Yes, if you win the current lottery jackpot, you’ll actually have to make do with only around $500 million.
This is a bit of a catchall tip, as there isn’t just one thing you need to be careful of if you become an instant multimillionaire because someone draws the right six ping pong balls out of a machine.
You’ll need to be careful regarding your family and friends. People will come out of the woodwork looking for something from you, whether its a loan, a gift or a can’t-miss investment opportunity in a new app offering social networking through smart refrigerators. Even if you’re the most kindhearted person in the world, it’s important to keep your wits about you and not get taken advantage of.
You also need to be careful of who you trust to take care of your money. Interview potential financial advisors and make sure you find one with experience managing money for ultra-high-net-worth investors. Also, make sure you pay attention to how they get paid; if an advisor gets paid commissions for selling insurance products or securities, they have a conflict of interest.
Finally, be careful with yourself. Don’t let yourself get swept up and end up burning through your money faster than a yuppie at a farmers market.
Just like Matthew Broderick in WarGames, sometimes the only way to win is not to play. No matter how many tickets you buy, you are beyond extremely unlikely to actually win. The lottery is considered by many to be a “tax on the poor” — a chance at riches dangled by the state in front of poor and working people, causing them to give money to the government that perhaps should instead come from higher earners.
If you want to play the lottery, no one can stop you. But please keep your expectations in check and don’t spend more than you can afford on a chance at a payday that is in all likelihood not going to come.
The lottery has reached more than $1 billion dollars. For whoever eventually wins the jackpot, life will never be the same in any way. Lottery winners need to consider how they’ll get their money, what the tax implications will be and how they’ll go about protecting themselves after the big win.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/JodiJacobson, ©iStock.com/isayildiz, ©iStock.com/PeopleImages
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Mega Millions jackpot soars to $980 million  Yahoo
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NDGF: Pronghorn lottery, PLOTS guide, and youth festival  KX News
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8th-largest Mega Millions jackpot up to $980M  WAVY.com
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Don’t slam the brakes on an a pastime loved by millions with a gambling tax hike, warns Rank boss JOHN O’REILLY  This is Money
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We also reveal the numbers that YOU should be picking and whether picking birthday numbers ever works
WINNING the lottery is everyone’s fantasy – but what are the tactics behind picking the winning numbers?
Lottery Guy, a top expert and blogger, has exclusively revealed his top tips to boost your chances of winning, which can help you scoop the entire giant £157million jackpot tonight.
He chooses to remain anonymous but has been running his blog, Lottery Guy, since 2004, where he dishes out lottery tips to help players win big.
Millions of us buy a Euromillions ticket each week with the hope of scooping a huge windfall – so you’ll need as much help picking the winning numbers while battling it out against other players.
You pick five numbers from 1-50 and two lucky stars from 1-12, or you can choose a lucky dip – which is when the numbers are randomly selected for you.
There have been some mega lottery prizes up for grabs recently, including the whopping £208 million EuroMillions jackpot that was won by one lucky Irish ticket holder.
The lucky player now has a bank balance bigger than superstars Adele and Dua Lipa.
Meanwhile, tonight’s jackpot is set at £157million.
Of course, the only real way of boosting your chances of winning is to buy more tickets, but make sure you gamble responsibly.
It may be tempting to pick yours and your loved one’s birthday dates as your main numbers with the hope they bring you luck.
But the Lottery Guy said it’s best to avoid this tactic.
That’s because there will be a greater number of people picking numbers 1-31.
“Avoiding these numbers doesn’t increase your chance of winning, but if you do win, you’re much less likely to split the prize with other winners.”
Three of the five winning main numbers for the whopping £208million EuroMillions winning ticket were birthday date numbers.
They were: 13, 22 and 23.
Statistically, each number has an equal chance of winning, which means there are no “lucky” numbers you can pick to boost your chances.
But Lottery Guy said a good idea would be to pick “unpopular” numbers in your ticket.
Unpopular numbers are those which run from 32-50, because they fall outside of the birthday date numbers.
It makes sense to choose these numbers, because fewer players will be picking them.
That means that if you win a share of the winnings, there will be fewer people with the same unpopular numbers on their ticket.
“If you do win, you’re much less likely to split the prize with other winners,” he said.
Two of the numbers on the winning £208million EuroMillions ticket were “unpopular” numbers.
These were 44 and 49.
A lottery syndicate is when a group of people club together and put money into a pot for lottery tickets.
One person will be in charge of buying the tickets and sharing out winnings. They are called the syndicate manager.
Joining one could be a good idea, said Lottery Guy.
“A syndicate does increase your chance of winning something because you’re usually buying a lot more tickets,” he said.
“But obviously your share of any prize is smaller – although it’s still great for a big rollover jackpot.”
The syndicate manager will need to register the group and list themselves as the person in charge with The National Lottery.
It’s really important to write all the terms and conditions of your syndicate agreement down.
Get each person to sign it, so that if there is any confusion or squabbles over splitting the money, you can refer back to the agreement.
For example, if you were in a syndicate of 10 people and you bagged the £157million jackpot tonight, then each person would walk away with £15.7million.
That’s obviously a lot less than what you would get if you were the only winner – but it’s still a jackpot not to be sniffed at.
WINNING the EuroMillions was a dream come true for Frances and Patrick Connolly.
The couple, from Moira, Northern Ireland, were gobsmacked when they scooped £115million back in 2019.
But it wasn’t a luxury supercar or a mansion that they splurged on first – they shared nearly £58million between 50 friends and family.
Frances said last year that she and husband Patrick have donated £60million since their life-changing win.
“That’s £60million-worth of love,” she said.
“And the thing that makes me even happier is that every single person we gave money to has passed some of it on to other people. I can’t think of a day since winning the Lottery that I haven’t smiled.”
They’ve also made some splurges of their own.
Patrick has swapped his old Renault Laguna for a new £30,000 Alfa Romeo Giulia.
He also gifted Frances with her dream car – although it came with a much more modest price tag – a £2,000 X-Type Jaguar.
“If I had any advice for a winner, I’d say money liberates you to be the person that you want to be.”
You have to be in it to win it, so if you want the chance of scooping a jackpot, you must buy a ticket.
But certain days are better than others to buy a ticket.
Lottery Guy said Tuesday is actually the best day to buy a ticket over Friday.
He said: “With EuroMillions, Friday is the much more popular day, so you’ve got more competition on a Friday.
“Consider focusing on the Tuesday draw if you want to keep more of that jackpot for yourself.”

And remember, only gamble with money you can afford to lose, and set a spending limit before you play.
Visit gamcare.org.uk or GambleAware.org if you need help.
BETWEEN them all, the top 10 richest lottery winners have bagged a combined £1.6billion.
But who are the lucky winners? Here’s the top 10 richest players who bagged the jackpot:
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