Blast from the Past: History of Mega Moolah

Mega Moolah origins

In the last edition of ‘Blast from the Past’, I threw it back to the first-ever online progressive jackpot slot, Cash Splash, which was released in 1998.

Cash Splash was created by the famous software provider Microgaming and was a huge success.

It wasn’t until 8 years later that Microgaming released the most famous progressive jackpot of all time; Mega Moolah.

In this blog post, I won’t be explaining how to play Mega Moolah because I’ve already got a post covering all my tips and tricks to crack this video slot.

Instead, for me, the best way to describe the monumental history of this legendary game is by looking at the most interesting winner story milestones.

The first-ever Mega Moolah jackpot winner

The earliest record of a Mega Moolah player accessing that renowned jackpot wheel and winning the grand prize was in 2007.

The player won R4,308,741.01 in South African Rand.

It wasn’t considered a huge amount because of the strength of the currency was low and was only about 27 lakhs. Ok, I say only – I know, that’s a lot of cash. But this is peanuts in comparison to other wins on this slot.

Nonetheless, this is the first-ever win so it feels fitting to include it when talking about Mega Moolah History.

The first considerably large win

Let’s be real here, 27 lakhs is nothing to turn your nose up at. We’d all jump at that in a heartbeat.

It’s only when you compare it to the possibility of winning a couple of crores you feel hard done by.

And this is where the first considerably large win comes into play.

In April 2008, a Finnish player named Klaus E. won  $5,556,753.68 which is about 40 crores.

At the time it was one of the largest wins in online casino history and the win received lots of attention from the media.

The lucky player even flew to Australia to claim his prize in person (imagine that afterparty!).

The first player to win using a mobile device

For you and I, mobile phones have become a part of our everyday life – to the extent that we couldn’t imagine not always having wifi or data.

Flashback to 2012, the hottest mobile phones on the market were Apple iPhone 4S Nokia Lumia 900 and Galaxy Nexus from Samsung.

If you don’t remember them, they were considered smartphones but they didn’t work even close to the level of popular phones in 2020.

Now, imagine seeing a couple of crores pop up on your phone back then?

One lucky player made this milestone as the ‘first mobile millionaire’ winning about $1.07 million(roughly 74.7075INR) in 2012 while playing Mega Moolah. He decided to remain anonymous which is common with many players.

Since then, the majority of Mega Moolah winners have been through a mobile device. But there always has to be a first.

The Guinness World Record win

In 2015, John H, a lucky UK soldier landed himself over £13.2 million (93.0969 INR) with a 25p( 23.33 Indian Rupees spin.

This win was monumental and the amount won had never been seen before in the online gaming world.

So much so, that it even made it as a Guinness World Record.

The young soldier was playing at Betway’s online casino when the life-changing spin happened.

The largest win to date

Looking at the records of Mega Moolah wins, you might think that the lucky player who won

$20,057,734(about 1,104,053,787.94INR)  in Canadian Dollars in 2019 was the largest win yet.

However, an important thing to consider here is that the Mega Moolah slot pays out according to the currency that your account is set up with. So for example, if you play with Rupees, you receive the money won in Rupees.

The largest amount ever recorded was in actual fact €18,915,721(roughly 133,002,807,823.29

INR) prize awards in September 2018 at Grand Mondial online casino.

The first Mega Moolah winner from India?

Although there are no official records of an Indian player winning Mega Moolah, there have been numerous wins from the UK and one winner in particular that we believe to be from a small town not far from Hyderabad.

Of course, the player decided to remain anonymous, so it can’t be confirmed but we have good this on good sources (my local Auntie – and she’s never wrong!).

Present-day Mega Moolah

In the past 12 years, the game hasn’t changed much, apart from adding a few new games, with 2 news being added recently, to the prize pool.

The classic safari team have had a few updates of graphics over time but the gameplay remains the same.

What has changed is the availability of the game.

Mega Moolah has gone from being featured exclusively on Microgaming to now being available on every Indian online casino worth playing at.

It’s now easier than ever become an instant crorepati with all that choice.

With that said, what are you waiting for?

Become part of Mega Moolah history today!

List of my favourite Mega Moolah online casinos