Slot machine pays college student $3.5 million

Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Before last weekend, Shana Kelley was your average student at Bunker Hill Community College. Now she's a millionaire.

The 21-year-old Somerville resident pushed a button on a "Wheel of Fortune" themed slot machine Sunday at Mohegan Sun and won $3.5 million. The game is a penny slot machine, but players like Kelley can place bigger bets for bigger wins.

"I asked the guy next to me if it said thousands or millions and he said 'Hon, that's millions,'" she said today by phone. "And I screamed. I had probably about 20 people around me, clapping and screaming. I just can't even believe it."

Kelley had gotten lucky at the same machine at the Connecticut casino before, winning $500. On Sunday, she plunked a total of $100 in and won big. While Kelley hasn't received a check from the casino, she has enlisted a lawyer and financial planner.

"I want to do the right thing and save it all, and not blow it all," Kelley said.

Still, she already has two big splurges in mind: a baby blue Cadillac Escalade and a house. "I want everything: big windows, a garage, a picket fence, everything."

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