Reluctant casino-goer from Staten Island hits for record $600K jackpot in Atlantic City in 1982
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Grace Colonnello didn’t want to go to Atlantic City that day.
But she was sure glad she did. She hit the jackpot for a record $600,000.
It was Oct. 27, 1982.
A self-employed businesswoman, Colonnello, 52, of Silver Lake, hit the jackpot playing a dollar slot machine at the Golden Nugget Casino, the Advance reported in a front-page story at the time.
Colonnello had been playing for about 15 minutes and had spent around $40 when five golden nuggets lit up on the machine, “setting bells ringing and making her an instant celebrity,” the paper said.
“The bells started to ring and everybody gathers around you – you just don’t believe what’s happening, it all happens so quickly,” she told the Advance at the time. “It’s just a really nice feeling.”
Colonnello said she had been walking along the aisle at the casino and just stopped at the machine that ended up giving her the jackpot.
“After a few times, the nuggets popped up, and that was it, that’s the way it happened,” she told the Advance.
Colonnello had initially resisted making the trip to Atlantic City, but said her husband, Dan, talked her into it.
“He said, ‘Oh, come on,’” she said. “It turned out very nice.”
Casino officials confirmed that it was the largest jackpot in the casino’s history at the time, eclipsing the previous high of $390,000.
One of the first things Colonnello did after the shock of winning wore off was to call her daughter, her mother-in-law and some close friends.
“My mother-in-law said she knew that [Dan] would be a millionaire someday,” Colonnello told the Advance.
Colonnello said she didn’t have any immediate plans for the money.
“I often wondered what I would do if I won a lot of money,” she said at the time, “but I haven’t really given it a thought. Though it will make things easier all around.”
The Colonnellos’ daughter and their grandchildren drove to Atlantic City later that day to join in the celebration.
“It’s an empty feeling until you have someone to enjoy it with you,” Colonnello said.
The Colonnellos spent that night at the Golden Nugget as guests of the hotel and returned to the Island the next day.
Colonnello told the Advance that she’d had lots of practice at playing slots. She had once won $500 on a quarter slot machine, but the $600,000 jackpot had been her first big win on the dollar machine.
