Wheel of Fortune proves fortuitous for casino patron

Somebody’s ship came in to port with a record jackpot at the Clearwater River Casino Saturday night.

Daniel Kane, spokesman for the casino, said a man, whom he declined to name, won $679,120.40 on the Wheel of Fortune game. The maximum bet on those machines is $5, and the man bet $3.

“Those machines are classified as wide-area progressive, meaning they are in other casinos, and they’re tracked by the company,” Kane said Monday.

After the jackpot was reported, the International Gaming Technology unit from Spokane was summoned to the casino to verify the win.

“They said it was legit, and that worked out great for the customer,” Kane said.

Kane said he was in Moscow when the jackpot was won, so he didn’t witness the scene but met the man later that night and congratulated him.

“I think he was a little bit overwhelmed and surprised,” Kane said. “He made a statement that it couldn’t have come at a better time. So I think we have possibly a patron that hopefully needed the money.”

Although this is the biggest win ever at the Nez Perce Tribe’s casino, there have been several other substantial payouts.

“Before we had the permanent building and were still in the tent, there was a $230,000 jackpot,” Kane said. “And three or four years ago there was a $67,000 jackpot, and there was a $44,000 jackpot last year. A few months ago there was a $23,000 jackpot, but this one is by far the biggest that we’ve ever seen.”

Kane said he has been working at the casino only 1 1/2 years and can’t attest to whether big payouts such as the one Saturday draw in more customers hoping to get lucky.

“We hope that it would, but I don’t know that for a fact,” he said. “Right now we move on until the next one.”

As for the man who won the big enchilada Saturday: “He’s everybody’s best friend right now,” Kane said.

Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.

Editor's note (Feb. 5):The maximum bet on Wheel of Fortune is $5. A previous version of this article listed an incorrect amount due to wrong information provided to the Tribune.