Progressive Jackpot Slots

Most online casinos distinguish between classic and jackpot slots, as you may have noticed. What then is the difference, since all slots offer a “jackpot prize“?

A progressive jackpot is the answer. A progressive jackpot is a prize that grows in value each time a player plays a slot machine. It will continue to rise until it is won by a lucky player.

If you’ve ever seen an advertisement for a casino that advertised large top rewards (typically in the millions), you’ve probably seen progressive jackpot games. Continue reading to learn more about progressive jackpots, including, how they work, and the most important progressive jackpot slots.

Progressive Jackpots

Progressive jackpots are amounts that are offered as the top prizes for specific casino games and continue to rise until a player wins. They can be found in a variety of games, although the most popular ones are associated with slot machines.

They usually range in price from a few thousand dollars to millions of dollars. Progressive jackpot games can be found both online and in brick-and-mortar casinos.

This has to be one of the worst feelings in the world, so make sure you both understand the minimum wagering requirements in order to be eligible for the progressive and that you always bet at that level or higher when playing on a progressive game.

A video poker game with a progressive jackpot is the most common example of this. To unlock the top pay-outs on most machines, you must risk five coins. So, if you’re playing a quarter video poker machine, your total wager would be $1.25 every hand if you bet five coins.

You will only win the amount mentioned for your number of coins if you play less than this and hit the highest paying hand, not the progressive jackpot. If you don’t feel comfortable investing as much, play for a lower coin value.

You could be able to play the same video poker game for a cent in a nickel machine. A five-coin wager costs $25. Many slot machines offer the same option of playing for a smaller per-line bet.

How Progressive Jackpot Slots Work

Progressive jackpots grow over time until a player wins them, at which point they reset to a predefined level and begin the process all over again. They do this by adding a percentage of every bet placed on the game with which the progressive jackpot is tied to the prize sum.

Here’s a made-up scenario to demonstrate how a progressive jackpot works. For the sake of this article, our example assumes numbers that are simple to calculate. These figures aren’t exactly typical of a real-life progressive game, but they do depict the mechanics accurately.

As an example, we’ll look at a slot machine with a linked progressive jackpot. The slot machine deducts 10% of each stake and invests it in the progressive jackpot. The jackpot value is reset to $100,000 when the jackpot is won. In most cases, the reset amount is derived from contributions to the overall progressive jackpot.

In this case, 1% is used to fund the next reset amount, while 9 percent goes directly to the progressive amount until the reset account reaches $100,000. The entire 10% is used for the ascending jackpot once the $100,000 has been accumulated. Another option is for the casino or software provider, whoever is handling the progressive, to put up $100,000 up front, and the 10% goes toward that until it is paid off.

The progression will then continue to expand. There are a few additional ways to manage the reset amount, but the main thing to remember is that the seed amount, like the progressive amount, is collected from the game’s wagers.

Continuing with our example, a total cost per spin of $3.50 is being wagered. In this instance, each spin contributes $35 to the progressive jackpot, while the remaining $3.25 is treated similarly to a non-progressive machine. The remainder of the pay-outs, as well as the machine profit, are deducted from this second sum.

The assumption that the casinos take a large part of the progressive jackpots is a prevalent misconception. On large progressive jackpot machines, casinos gain more money, but not because they get a portion of the prize. Between the jackpot sum and the reset amount, they usually pay out 100% of the prize.

Because there are more players aiming to score the big win, they may make a bigger profit on the biggest jackpot games. When jackpots reach new heights, media attention increases, resulting in an increase in the number of players. In our example, the increased profit comes from the second figure ($3.25).

The casino will make 33.5 (Thirty-three and a half) cents per bet if the machine in our example is programmed to pay out 90% of the time. So, here’s how a $3.50 wager on the slot machine in question works out.

A demonstration of a $3.50 Wager on a Slot Machine

Examples of Progressive Jackpot slots

When slot machines initially became popular, the winnings were in the form of flavoured gums! Fruity fruits were dispensed instead of cash in the inaugural Fruit Slots! The best you can hope for is to get your preferred flavour! Things have evolved tremendously over the decades, and today’s highest rewards from online slot games are in the eight-figure range, with progressive jackpot slots being the best method to earn such life-changing money from slot games. Here are the top 5 examples of Progressive Jackpot slots;

1.    The Mega Fortune (Provider: NetEnt)

2.    The Mega Moolah (Provider: Microgaming)

3.    The Mega Fortune Dreams (Provider: NetEnt)

4.    The Mega Moolah Isis (Provider: Microgaming)

5.    The Arabian Nights (Provider: NetEnt)

Summary

Considering the options available, we highly recommend you only engage in online gambling with the most reputable companies. There are a lot of them out there, and you can learn more about them in our subsequent publications.