Gambling Granny Wins Record Jackpot
April 21, 2006 — -- It wasn't just luck that helped Josephine Crawford win the largest jackpot in Atlantic City history. The 84-year-old grandmother also owes a lot to her granddaughter's uncomfortable shoes.
"My feet were killing me and so I made us go back to the room," said Alicia Weeks, Crawford's granddaughter. "I was hobbling a bit, and on the way, we walked past this machine."
That machine yielded a $10,010,113.48 record jackpot when Crawford stopped and put a few nickels into it. The previous Atlantic City record was an $8.54 million jackpot in 1994.
There were no bells, no whistles, no millions of nickels pouring onto the floor to signal the new benchmark -- just a polite representative of the casino who arrived at the slot machine to inform Crawford of her prize.
"I said, 'You're kidding me!'" Crawford said. "It turns out he was the manager of the slots, and then everybody from the casino came up and congratulated me, everyone. They were so nice."
Crawford, a widow, has already received three marriage proposals, but "nothing great."
"They were all as old as me," Crawford said. "One wife said, 'You can take my husband, go on.' I said, 'No thanks, I haven't had a husband in years and I sure don't want another one.' "
Crawford has been a customer at Harrah's casino since it opened in 1980, and said the most she has ever won in the past was $1,000. She opted to take a lump sum that comes out to approximately $5.5 million after taxes rather than accepting a 25-year annuity. She said she plans to spend most of it on her five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
"I'm going to give most of it to my family because I'm 84," Crawford said. "I just want to give them something when I leave this world. I'm going to visit my sister in Florida and ... the whole family is going to fly to Italy for a nice trip, but that's about it."
Crawford says she plans to continue gambling.
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