Woman wins $US3m on one-armed bandit

A lucky US gambler won nearly $US3 million playing the one-cent slot machines in a Nevada casino, scoring a world record in the process, the maker of the one-armed bandits said.

Shigeko Ide Stein, 61, won $US2.99 million last Wednesday after popping penny coins into the slot machine in a casino in the Nevada town of Laughlin, near Las Vegas, which she visits three times a week.

Ms Stein said when she took her seat at the machine she immediately had a premonition she would win.

"I just had a good feeling after seeing a woman had a winning combination but didn't have a max coin bet," she said in a statement issued by machine maker IGT.

However the resident of the small California town of Needles, near the border of Nevada, famed for its gambling cities, had no idea just how much cash she would go home with.

Her jackpot broke the previous world record of $US2.06 million dollars set earlier this year, according to IGT.