A cocktail waitress in Las Vegas has won a record-breaking $35m on a slot machine.

Cynthia Jay decided to try her luck on the megabucks machine while at a show in one of the Golden Mile casinos.

The jackpot had been rising for months.

The waitress had a premonition that it was going to be her lucky night and told her mother she would return with alot of money.

But the cash won't come all at once.

Under Nevada state gaming rules she will get it in annual installments for the next 25 years.

Massive returns

Cynthia Jay said she almost fainted when she realised how much she had won after putting $30 in the machine at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.

The previous world record was $27m in one of the city's casinos in 1998.

The company which owes the slot machine said some people put in as little as $10 and win.

Robert McMonigle, vice president of International Gaming Technology, the company which owns the slot machine, said: "It is just a matter of the combination coming out at the right time.

"The atmosphere here was absolutely electric - it was as if everyone had won,"

Cynthia Jay said she had no plans for the money but would be going back to her job serving drinks at the Monte Carlo casino.