Gambler in California hits $1.5 million jackpot on $30 wager

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KTLA) - One lucky gambler might have had the best Independence Day ever after placing a $30 bet and winning more than $1.5 million at a Southern California casino.  

The winner, identified only as a “senior Riverside resident,” placed a $25 bet plus a $5 progressive wager on Fortune Pai Gow that hit a jackpot of $1,517,211, according to a press release from Yaamavá Resort and Casino at San Manuel, where the money was won on July 4.  

“The winning hand was a seven card straight flush, with the $5 progressive wager triggering the amazing bonus payout,” the release noted. 

A mashup of the Chinese game Pai Gow and American poker, the goal of the casino table game,(played with a 52-card deck plus a joker), is to arrange seven cards into two hands, a five-card hand and a two-card hand, that rank higher than the dealer’s two hands. 

In Fortune Pai Gow a bonus bet element is added to the game, where “a player that wagers at least a $5 Fortune Bonus Bet qualifies for an Envy Bonus prize,” according to the rules listed by California’s Bureau of Gaming Control.