Wall Street Journal – Forget Britney Spears and Cirque du Soleil. For many gamblers, the hottest attraction in Sin City is an outdated three-reel slot machine that hasn’t produced a jackpot in nearly two decades.
It is called the Lion’s Share, and in this city with no shortage of losing bets, the 20-year-old slot has attracted a legion of ever-hopeful devotees on the floor of the MGM Grand, the Strip’s second-biggest casino.
The machine’s miserly track record may, paradoxically, make it the rarest of all Vegas treats: A decent bet. A generation of players has already lost money on it, helping more than double the progressive jackpot to an improbable $2.3 million.
“You see the sharks swimming around, scoping you out,” said Washington state resident Lief Anderson. The 64-year-old is a second-generation Lion’s Share player: He took over the family quest from his late father 10 years ago.
According to long-established slot etiquette, the seat is first-come, first-serve, and the player can stick around until he is exhausted or out of money—or both. On a $3 maximum bet (the machine takes $1 and $2 bets, too) a player can earn up to $10,000 without hitting the jackpot, and small hits can keep someone in his vinyl seat for many hours.
At 23, Justin Paulus is barely older than the machine is, but the engineer is so committed to taking his shot that he fell asleep at it repeatedly during a six-hour overnight session last spring.
“Security kept coming over to wake me up, but they didn’t say I had to leave. So I’d wake up, press a button, and then fall asleep again,” said Mr. Paulus, of Chandler, Ariz. “I just have this feeling it’s going to hit soon.”
