Portland man wins $934,185 jackpot at Spirit Mountain Casino

By Angela Sears

Advertising supervisor

Donald Stanley of Portland hit a $934,185 jackpot at Spirit Mountain Casino on Saturday, Sept. 26.

Stanley, who recently starting working with the U.S. Postal Service, left work on Saturday morning and headed to Spirit Mountain Casino with his wife, Melissa Major, to celebrate an anniversary.

Stanley said he is a big fan of the “Sons of Anarchy” TV show and saw the slot machines based on the show on the casino’s website. He said he had a good feeling about the game.

He played several other games before finding the “Sons of Anarchy” slot machines on the casino floor. He immediately sat down to play.

First, Stanley put $5 in the slot machine, betting a small amount of credits. He noticed his wife, who also was playing the “Sons of Anarchy” machine next to him, was hitting bonus round after bonus round. Then he said he noticed that the man next to her was hitting bonus rounds as well. He said he thought, “This is my show … this is supposed to be my game.”

So Stanley inserted another $20 in the slot machine and began playing the maximum bet. On his third spin, he entered a bonus round. At that point, Jax, one of Stanley’s favorite characters, appeared on the screen as a choice for the bonus round.

“You shouldn’t have gone out like that, Jax,” Stanley said, referring to the final episode of the TV show.

He tapped Jax on the forehead to initiate the bonus round and at that moment his “good feeling” and the machine paid off with a Wide Area Progressive Jackpot of $934,185.

Stanley and his wife said they were shocked and extremely excited about their big win. They said they didn’t have immediate plans for their fortune, but said they would like to perform repairs on their house, buy a new car and look for investment opportunities.

“We had an amazing weekend celebrating our lifelong relationship,” Stanley said. “But I don’t know how we’re going to top this anniversary.”

Spirit Mountain Casino was the first in the country to install “Sons of Anarchy” slot machines and was one of only two casinos to receive a Bartels’ custom “Sons of Anarchy” motorcycle from Aristocrat Technologies, which was awarded to a lucky winner on Aug. 22.

And now Spirit Mountain Casino is the first in the country to award a life-changing jackpot on the “Sons of Anarchy” slot machines.