Casino regular wins big prize
An Ulster Park, New York woman won $1 million at Resorts World Catskills Casino Resort Saturday night. The prize was awarded as part of the Monticello casino’s “Million Winning Moments” promotion that began in June.
“We came up to Resorts World Catskills a lot during the promotion because we love it here,” said Susan Cutrone, the lucky winner. “It is our favorite casino resort, but I never thought it would actually be me who won the million dollars.”
plans to contribute some of the money to autism awareness charities
Cutrone said that she plans to have some fun with her winnings, but also plans to contribute some of the money to autism awareness charities.
Promo rewarded high-volume play
The “Million Winning Moments” promo lasted all summer, from June 1 through September 21.
At 10:00pm on Saturday, September 21, the casino drew five names from all of the entries using its game management system. Those five players then chose from one of five unlabeled boxes. One of those boxes contained the $1 million prize. The rest of the cases contained $10,000 in free play at Resorts World Catskills.
Cutrone will receive her $1 million in $50,000 increments over the next 20 years.
More prizes awarded
The $1 million prize was not the end of the contest. From 11:00pm until midnight, 20 randomly selected players were given $1,000 in free slot play.
The following day at 5:00pm, more prizes were given out. Certain players were invited to participate in a prize wheel spin for a possible $1 million. As it was a prize wheel, no one prize was guaranteed and as it turned out, nobody won another million bucks. All told, 105 people won a total of $364,000.
The big winner, Cutrone, said that the contest clinched Resorts World as her favorite resort, adding:
I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Million-dollar summer in New York
This was not the first million-dollar prize awarded by a regional casino this month.
In early September, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City ran a similar promotion in which customers earned entries for playing slot machines and table games. One catch there was that players not only had to earn their entries through play, but also had to “activate” those entries during a short window on the final day of the promotion.
Many customers were reportedly disappointed at the prize announcement, as they were told that the winner’s name would be drawn live on stage.
Instead, casino president Joe Lupo appeared to already have the name of Joanna T. in an envelope. Some of the 5,000 people in attendance also reported that Joanna seemed to know in advance that she had won the $1 million.