Last weekend it finally happened as one lucky player from Finland scooped an unbelievable €17.8 million and established a new world record as the biggest online casino win in history. The jackpot had been won at Paf Casino and the winner is a middle-aged man from Helsinki, Finland. The win has already been listed on the Paf web page and, according to the most recent information, the most successful jackpot hunter has triggered his multi-million win making 25-cent bets.

For months players had been on the quest to take down the Mega Fortune progressive mega jackpot. Here’s what the big winner had to say in his first interview after unexpectedly becoming a millionaire:

How did you react when you realized you had won this amazing jackpot?

“It was completely unreal, I laughed and cried all at once. Can this really be happening? I wondered. But everything was so out of this world that I can hardly recall any of it. Then I called my girlfriend and told her that a huge win had just come in. She calmed me down and told me to keep both feet on the ground and just sit tight.”

How does it feel now, one day later?

“It’s all still very unreal.”
Have you grasped how much money 18 million euros is?

“It is so much money that it is honestly quite hard to grasp.”

Do you know what you will do with the money yet?

“My first thought was that now I can help my relatives, make their lives easier. Then I might start looking around for a nicer car.”
What kind of experiences have you had with Paf as a gaming company?

“I have been a customer at Paf for two to three years and mostly play with small stakes. I like the games and the payback rate is good.”
Any favourite games?

“I’m really a poker player, but Mega Fortune is now my new favourite at Paf!”
What do you do in your spare time?

“I am going to hire a personal trainer and hopefully get in shape.”

Anders Sims, Head of Press and PR at Paf, had this to say:

This win is completely off the charts for these kinds of games. The whole gaming world has been holding its breath during this fall and winter, while the jackpot has just kept on growing. Since this jackpot was pooled, which means that it is shared by several gaming companies, we are naturally very happy about the fact that the jackpot was again won by one of our customers. Paf players seem to have an incredibly good flow at the moment

Two previous Mega Fortune jackpots had also been won at Paf. If we add the €8.6 million Hall of Gods jackpot, which was won by a Paf customer in November of 2012, it becomes obvious that this is a great casino for jackpot hunters.

The massive Mega Fortune jackpot has been building up for 227 days and the result is definitely worthy of a Guinness World Record as it exceeds the previous record of €11.7 million by more than €6 million.

Paf CEO, Anders Ingves, commented on their policy of dealing with big winners:

Since we want the prize money to be a source of joy for the winner, we strongly recommend that
winners seek economic counseling and that they remain anonymous. We also recommend that big winners take a break from playing.

Paf casino was started back in 1966 by charitable organizations in Aland. At first, they operated land-based and ship casinos. In the late 1990’s they also started operating an online casino, which has proven to be a great success and helped raise more than €170 million for charities such as the Red Cross as well as public health and cultural associations.

We congratulate the lucky winner of this epic jackpot and the casino which is fortunate enough to award the massive winnings to their star player.