Life-changing sums of cash have been won throughout 2018, here are four of the luckiest casino players' so far:

Microgaming's Mega Moolah crowns Canadian millionaire
AMOUNT WON: CA$3.6m
GAME: Mega Moolah
WHEN: January 2018

Let's start with Mega Moolah - one of Microgaming's most popular online casino games.

Mega Moolah features a top progressive jackpot that seeds at £1 million.

The prize wheel bonus can be triggered at random and gives players the chance to go for one of four tiered jackpots - even when playing at low stakes.

The year had barely begun when one lucky Canadian gambler bagged CA$3.6 million playing the slot.

Over £10 million has been paid out on Mega Moolah since the start of the year, including at least two pay outs in March alone. 

Bored online slots player takes down $194,000
AMOUNT WIN: $194,000
GAME: Divine Fortune
WHEN: March 2018

Gamblers can play slots for all kinds of reasons, but playing when bored isn't an advisable strategy.

That didn't stop one New Jersey man, however, who logged on to his computer on March evening to play NetEnt's Divine Fortune slot.

Anibal Lopes was playing on his mobile phone when he hit the game's mega progressive jackpot on the very first spin. In the process, he took down a jackpot worth $194,000.

Legalised online gambling in New Jersey is only a few years old, but the popularity of casinos has seen plenty of jackpots being triggered.

Mr. Lopes' prize may be small compared to those seen in more established jurisdictions, but it won't be the last.

Paris Las Vegas crowns another Megabucks millionaire
AMOUNT WIN: $11.2m
GAME: Megabucks (IGT)
WHEN: May 2018

Wheel of Fortune and its many offshoots have created millionaires over the years, but they don't come close to IGT's Megabucks slot.

The giant video slot still holds the record for a single payout when a software engineer took down a Megabucks jackpot worth $38.7m.

But an $11.2m prize last May is still impressive.

That's how much an anonymous gambler won playing Megabucks at the Paris casino in Las Vegas.

It followed two double-digit wins last year after a Californian tourist bagged $11.8m playing the game in Downtown Las Vegas and another player hit a $10m jackpot in Henderson.

$5 gambler wins a fortune on Wheel of Fortune
AMOUNT WON: $3.2m
GAME: Wheel of Fortune Winning Wedges (IGT)
WHEN: June 2018

Las Vegas is known for its massive progressives, and the Silverton casino saw its biggest ever jackpot in June.

One lucky player, who was betting $5 a spin on IGT's Wheel of Fortune Winning Wedges slot, hit the bonus wheel to add several zeroes to their initial wager.

Wheel of Fortune Winning Wedges is one of the newer variations of IGT's classic slot. It features five tiered jackpots: Blue, Purple, Green, Silver, and Gold.

Once triggered, the bonus feature allows the player to spin a physical wheel sitting on top of the machine.

This gives players the chance to win cash amounts from $250-2500, or activate a second bonus wheel containing the various progressives.

Wheel of Fortune Winning Wedges has crowned half a dozen millionaires in 2018 alone. In March, a machine at Excalibur on The Strip paid out $1.6m to one lucky punter.