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Duane Kelloway, a Spring Hill resident and hospital nurse treating COVID patients, won the 2022 BMW X7 M50i, which is $122,245 as part of a $1 billion jackpot celebration paid so far in 2021 by Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa.

Kelloway, 50, was playing Ainsworth Gaming's Double Hit Progressive Slot Machine with a $3 bet. He won $2,450 from the machine, pushing the casino's total slot payment to more than $1 billion in 2021. The win earned Kelloway a new BMW in recognition of his outpacing the slot payment milestone.

"I thought I was going to faint," Kelloway said. "I'm very lucky to be here at the right time, at the right place, and at the right machine."

Keloway is an operating room nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lutz and said he has been treating COVID patients for weeks. He and his wife, Kelley, who is also a nurse, visited the Seminole Hard Rock Casino for a quick escape Saturday. They drove nearly 200,000 miles to the casino in 2013 aboard Ford Taurus.

"I was going to come down on Friday," he said, adding that his wife persuaded him to visit the casino on Saturday instead.

To celebrate the milestone, NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Derek Brooks surprised a lucky guest. Seminole Hard Rock Tampa has awarded 360,000 jackpots to more than 43,000 people so far in 2021, nearly the equivalent of a jackpot per minute.

"Obviously, it's an exciting time for this property and for Seminole Gaming," said Steve Bonner, president of Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. "We're lucky to be in a position to create so many jackpot winners and look forward to celebrating this milestone with another major announcement later this year."

As part of the celebration, all 1,130 slot players who properly inserted a seminol wildcard into the machine within 15 minutes of the milestone announcement won the $100 bonus free play.