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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Waipahu woman hits $1.8M Vegas jackpot


By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser West O'ahu Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Jasmine Yamauchi won more than $1.8 million on the $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine at the California Hotel & Casino during a recent trip to Las Vegas. She already had luck on that machine earlier in the day and had played about $40 when she hit the three Wheel of Fortune symbols.

Glenn Group

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A $1.8 million jackpot off a $1 slot machine in Las Vegas is not going to profoundly change Jasmine Asami Yamauchi.

The 26-year-old Hawai'i postal worker and her mother had breakfast the next morning at McDonald's before going shopping at Savers, a discount store.

And for dinner last night? "We're going to go to Tony Roma's for steak and lobster for $12," Yamauchi said by phone from Las Vegas, still dazed from her jackpot at the California Hotel & Casino Saturday evening. "That's a good deal, huh?"

Yamauchi also said she intends to continue working at the Waipahu Post Office, where she's been a carrier the last two years — at least for now — and to keep driving her 12-year-old car.

The win came off of a Wheel of Fortune slot machine, a favorite of Yamauchi, who goes to Las Vegas about twice a year.

On Friday night, the first day of her trip, she put in $100 on a 25-cent Wheel of Fortune machine at the Cal, where she and her mom, Leatrice, are staying.

The Waipi'o resident said she doubled her money there, and then took the $200 to a $1 machine early Saturday where she turned that into $1,000. She returned to that same $1 machine, near the hotel players' card counter, a couple hours later, around 7 p.m., and dropped the $100 back into the machine. She was about $40 into that investment when a $2 maximum pull netted her three Wheel of Fortune symbols.

At first, neither Yamauchi nor her mother playing next to her could comprehend what she had won.

Yamauchi said she didn't even want to go on the trip because she was trying to save money to buy investment property. But her mother enticed her with a free roundtrip, thanks to points from a Hawaiian Miles card. And Yamauchi herself got an offer for a free room thanks to her frequent stays — and wins — at the Cal.

Once there, Yamauchi said, she only intended to risk $100 for the entire trip. A friend taught her a few years ago to go to Las Vegas with a positive, "I will win" attitude that has brought her success on each of her subsequent jaunts there.

"But I never expected to win like this!" she said.

The Air Force veteran said she intends to pay off the mortgage on her home, and then likely will buy another property as an investment. One of the things on the Yamauchis' checklist this trip to Vegas was to look at houses in the region.

"But I can buy in Hawai'i now, obviously, so I'm probably going to end up doing that," she said.

"I'm not going to quit working, that's no fun" she said. "And I'm young, so why not?"

Eventually, she said, she wants to get a master's degreee in business administration and go into finance, possibly accounting.

"Now I don't have to worry about the finances (of going back to school)," she said.

Yamauchi said she got a check for $91,000 and will be getting a similar payment for the next 20 years.

Yamauchi's grandmother joined the pair for the latter part of the trip yesterday and was shocked to learn that her granddaughter had hit a jackpot.

"She goes 'Do you how much taxes are going to take out of that?"

It turns out to be about 25 percent, she said.

"I didn't have that in the first place, so it's not like it's a loss," she said.

Besides investment property, Yamauchi said, she doesn't plan any major purchases for herself. "My car is a '97, but it works great and it runs perfectly," she said. "I mean, there's no point in investing in that — lose money."

Leatrice Yamauchi confirmed that her daughter is down to earth and won't be reckless with her good fortune. "She is not going to squander her money," she said. "She's always been tight."