A California woman won nearly $1.65 million in a five-cent slot machine when she stopped by a casino on her way to work.

Susan Nott, 54, of Auburn, played the Wizard of Oz-themed nickel slot machines for a half an hour before she won $1,648,076.81 at the Thunder Valley Casino, in Lincoln, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are to stay in a $27,500-a-night suite when they move to Australia. The Hollywood couple - who are relocating to Melbourne next month while the actress films new movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" - will be the guests of fellow Scientologist James Packer at his hotel Crown Towers.

They are expected to take up the entire 39th floor of the five-star hotel.

The long-held belief that gambling will thrive during a period of economic difficulty as people see it as their only way out is being put to a test in Las Vegas and other U.S. cities where games of chance proliferate.

As credit tightens and Americans lose their homes and jobs, gambling their last dollar away has become less of an option for many. This has led to casinos' revenues dipping for the eighth consecutive month in August. The peak was a 16 percent income reduction in May, which has slowed down to 7.4 percent in August.

A man killed in San Francisco's Outer Mission neighborhood earlier this week has been identified by the medical examiner as the president of the San Francisco branch of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, authorities said.

San Fransisco Police Department investigators say that Mark "Papa" Guardado, 46, was the person found shot at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday outside a bar in the city's Mission District about a mile from the group's club house in the Dogpatch neighborhood. Guardado died a short time later at a local hospital.

Anna Falco, a 53-year old woman from Woodbridge, won the jackpot at the Casino Rama, allowing her to celebrate Easter wealthier by $8.7 million.

Falco bet $2.93 each spin to get the jackpot and she had already spent $195 when she made the hit of a lifetime.