Community Corner

Murrieta Man Wins $30,000 During Guiness Record Tournament

A Guinness World Records® adjudicator has verified that the World's Largest Slot Machine Tournament happened at Pechanga Resort & Casino Saturday.

A Murrieta man took home $30,000 from the Pechanga Casino in the world's largest slot machine tournament.

A Guinness World Records adjudicator has verified that the World’s Largest Slot Machine Tournament happened at Pechanga Resort & Casino Saturday.

Bally Technologies’ casino-wide network software was used to power about 1,100 slot machines for each frenzied round of the tournament, which resulted in a total of 2,885 players, setting the new world record. Three rounds were played. The record stipulates the most number of unique slot tournament players in one venue in a 24-hour period must play.

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It was a wonderful thing to see 2,885 people take part in a free slot tournament and become a part of a world record,” said  Kimberly Partrick, Guinness World Records® Adjudicator for the event. “The room was electrified during each round and the excitement did not diminish throughout the day."

The event was free and open to everyone over 21 years of age. The top 300 players won $100,000 in cash and EasyPlay. Julio L. from Murrieta won the tournament, to take home $30,000 cash. 

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We are thrilled that 2,885 guests joined us for this history-making experience, and we congratulate Julio for winning this extraordinary event, ” said Joaquin Fletcher, President of the Pechanga Development Corporation.  “Outside of opening day in 2002, I would say that this is the single most exciting thing that has ever happened at the Pechanga Resort & Casino."

More than 1,100 slot machines, from five different manufacturers, on Pechanga’s floor used Bally Technologies’ unique iVIEW Display Manager (DM) with Elite Bonusing Suite to turn them into tournament machines for the event.

This allowed players the excitement of competing head-to-head, each round, with 1,100 other players at the exact time.  Most slot tournaments feature only a few dozen machines dedicated solely for tournament use.

“This event has changed all expectations of what a slot tournament can do,” said Pechanga General Manager Rudy Prieto. “In my 30 years in the casino business, nothing else comes close to 2,885 players in one tournament.  I think this record will stand for quite some time.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here