Kelowna has a new millionaire.
On a Friday night in July, Joshua Alexander’s life changed forever at the Playtime Casino downtown. He couldn’t believe his eyes when his $5.25 bet on a Powerbucks progression slot machine (Wheel of Fortune) turned into the jackpot worth more than a million dollars.
Gateway Casinos and Entertainment also presented Alexander with a night’s stay at Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby with dinner at Atlas.
In a presentation on Thursday (Aug. 25) morning, Alexander was presented with his winnings by BCLC representatives.
“It feels great, I’m quite happy,” said Alexander.
Alexander was sitting at home playing video games on that Friday night when his Dad asked him if he wanted to go to the casino, so he joined him alongside his girlfriend and cousin. In the first few minutes at the casino, he joked to his girlfriend that it would be nice to win the $16,000 jackpot.
Within 20 minutes, he had became a millionaire.
“I was at home playing my PS5 and [my Dad] showed up randomly and wanted to go to the casino,” said Alexander. “I was like ‘I’ll shut my PS5 off, why not?’ and came here and not even 20 minutes later this happened.”
When he hit the jackpot, he said his girlfriend “started freaking out,” and he was “in disbelief and mind-blown.”
“I feel like the machine was louder than it was before,” said Alexander. “It took me probably 15 minutes to realize what happened.”
The winning machine (Photo - Jordy Cunningham/Capital News)
Alexander didn’t get much sleep the night of the win and he asked himself “Did I do that? Did that really happen?”
The 29-year-old plans to travel to see his dream locations like California, Australia, and Mexico, but also has promised his dad a new truck.
“I’ll probably take a week off, I haven’t been on vacation for awhile,” Alexander said.
He works in construction and his boss also told him to take a week off work.
Four months ago at the same casino, Alexander won $2,300.
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