Kalispell woman wins big at casino

The Daily Inter Lake

A Kalispell woman won $377,849 in a Flathead Indian Nation casino Friday, collecting what is likely the largest jackpot paid in Montana history, the resort's manager said.

Rhonda Byars won the jackpot after playing roughly an hour of Rocket Bingo, said Gary Weitzel, general manager of the KwaTaqNuk resort in Polson. Byars could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

This was also the third-largest payoff for a machine from Rocket Gaming Systems, an Oklahoma-based company that provides gaming software to Indian nations.

"We were just so excited and could hardly contain ourselves (when Byars won)," Weitzel said. She and her husband, Clif, routinely play at the casino, he said.

Rocket Bingo is a melding of slots and bingo, played on machines limited to Indian operations. KwaTaqNuk picked up 20 Rocket Bingo machines in February.

Rocket Bingo works under a system that the longer the game goes without a winner, the potential jackpot increases. Also, the amount bet on an individual round affects the jackpot amount. Byars bet the maximum of $2.25 a round until she hit five "cash cow" markers in a row on a bingolike matrix.