Crossword Genius

Win a lot of money; beat the sailor on vessel (3,3,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hit the jackpot

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'vessel' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'win a lot of money beat the sailor on' is the wordplay.
'win' becomes 'hit' (hitting is a kind of winning).
'a lot of money beat' becomes 'pot' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'sailor' becomes 'jack' (informal term for a sailor).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the'+'jack'='thejack'
'pot' after 'thejack' is 'thejackpot'.
'hit'+'thejackpot'='HIT THE JACKPOT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hit the jackpot that I've seen before include "Have a great and unexpected success" , "Achieve lucky success" , "Strike it lucky" , "Win the big prize" , "Strike gold!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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