Missouri grad pays for college with viral social media channel

By Joe McLean

Click here for updates on this story

    COLUMBIA, Missouri (KCTV) — In finding a way to fund a college education, recent University of Missouri graduate Andrew Labit hit the jackpot, so to speak.

After digging up a 1930s-era slot machine, a family heirloom, Labit decided to create a video with it and post it to TikTok.

“It was one of those cool, unique things that you don’t see it every day and I decided to use a slot machine and make a video with it,” Labit said. “It was ridiculous! The most amount of views I’ve ever gotten, and then after I saw how much people enjoyed it, I decided, ‘I could probably make this into something.’”

Labit began regularly posting daily content with the machine to his Tiktok channel in 2021.

Each day, Labit would place a quarter in the chrome-plated slot at the top of the machine, pull the lever on the side, and wait for the satisfying “clack” and “wirr” sounds until the machine revealed success or failure. He would then repeat the process a few times, leaving the audience without the desired “jackpot” if the machine didn’t provide one that day.

Labit monetized the channel, which has since generated enough revenue to cover his college tuition expenses. He plans to become a content creator full-time. Labit admits that predicting what content will go viral online is not easy, if it’s possible at all, but suggests that sharing what you’re interested in or fascinated by is a good place to begin. Likely, there are thousands, potentially millions, or people interested in the same subject.

“Social media is one of those weird things where you just kind of do something, and all of a sudden, one thing sticks,” Labit said. “You just have to do it, you have to try it, dip your toes in the water, see if it works – and if it works, then jump all the way in and run with it.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.