The size of the wins is relative. All the games pay a multiple of the line, spin, deal, or table bet. This means that a win of $1000 from a $1 stake, which probably would not make it into the winners list, is far bigger (relatively) than a win of $10,000 playing at, say, $45 a spin on something like Thunderstruck (which would get a listing in winners lists).
All winners lists are payouts from individual games, and does not reflect the player's overall position that session.
I have posted many biggish hits from Golden Reef this week, I am certainly well up, but not as much as if you simply added up all the individual payouts as I have found a few cold games as well. Worth noting is that after my 5 scatters at Spring Break, hit after raising my bet after being dealt pat 4OK TWICE in a session of
VP, I raised bets over all the games, probably 4x my usual, more at times - I got lucky, I did this just at the right time. I could have been unlucky, and lost most of it, and the only listing I would have on the winners list would be the 5K from Spring Break, making it look like I had won that much.
The only way you are going to find out how much players manage to cash out from their wins is to ask at the forums. Casinos will not go into this much detail due to their player confidentiality rules. Most casinos have a term that allows the use of First Name and initial to publish big payouts. Occasionally they will want more, such as when I won the world cup trip. I had to agree to allow a potted journal of the trip to be published as well as a photo (at least I got to take and choose it!). Casinos use winners list to make it look like they are a good place to play, they would be less inclined to publish a list that might show 95% of their players are down overall.