Officials spend weeks hunting man who didn’t know he won $229,000 jackpot in Las Vegas

A visitor to Las Vegas returned home to Arizona never realizing he’d hit a $229,368 jackpot on a progressive slot machine, Nevada gaming officials reported.

The machine failed to notify the man he’d hit the progressive jackpot Jan. 8 at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino because of a “communication error,” the Nevada Gaming Control Board said in a news release.

By the time casino officials discovered the mistake, the man had returned home to Arizona and could not be found.

Nevada Gaming Control Board tracked the visitor down by reviewing security videos, interviewing witnesses, checking electronic purchase records and analyzing rideshare records, the release said.

They identified the man and informed him of his winnings, which he planned to collect on a return visit to Las Vegas this weekend, officials said.

The agency commended enforcement agents for “spending countless hours over two weeks to ensure that a patron is awarded winnings owed to him.”

Progressive slot machines add a portion of the bets placed to the grand jackpot, which continues to grow until it hits a cap or is won. In many casinos, a number of slot machines feed into a single progressive jackpot.

This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 8:34 AM with the headline "Officials spend weeks hunting man who didn’t know he won $229,000 jackpot in Las Vegas."