Progressive Jackpots: What Are They?
Progressive Jackpots Slots are offered by online slot machines that have a small chance of rewarding you with a huge payout that would be impossible to acquire through regular play.
Pioneered by IGT in the ‘80s, these games quickly exploded in popularity.
Some Progressive Jackpots are smaller and offer only a few thousand in payments, but others can literally change your life overnight.
One such case is the current holder of the highest progressive jackpot win in history, Jonathan Heywood, a soldier from the UK who won $13,209,300 at Betway Casino on the famous Mega Moolah – all from a single $0.25 spin!
How do Progressive Jackpots work?
In essence, Progressive Jackpots are no different from regular Video Slots. They may have your usual features such as Scatters, Wilds and Bonus Rounds.
The key difference is that a small portion of each bet goes towards jacking up that money pot. Hence, the jackpot reward increases as time goes by without a winner. Then, it resets back to its initial value. There are also regular jackpot slots with a fixed payout, but that’s a story for another day.
Many Progressive Jackpots are inter-connected. The same jackpot can be available on multiple games and across multiple casinos as well.
Mega Moolah, for instance, is available at over a hundred online casinos, hence its massive jackpot size that occasionally surpasses £10 million.
Winning a Progressive Jackpot
Is there anything I can do to increase my chances of winning a progressive jackpot, you might be asking yourself?
Besides betting on maximum pay-lines, which still comes out at $0.25 per spin, there is not much else that is in your power. Slot machines are based on luck, and lady luck may smile upon you, or she may not.
Most Progressive Jackpot slots have several types of jackpots – a minor, a medium-sized pot and the major jackpot.
There is a higher chance that you win a minor jackpot, but even those can reward you with tens of thousands in straight cash paid out directly in your balance.
RTP in Progressive Slots
Certain Progressive Jackpots are known to have a lower RTP than regular video slots.
In a way, this compensates for the big jackpot. Mega Moolah, for example, has an RTP of around 89%, which is significantly lower than the average slot machine RTP of 95-97%.
Meaning, unless you are hunting for that big jackpot, it wouldn’t be worth spending your time and money on Mega Moolah.
In addition, Progressive Jackpots are known for their high volatility. In general, this means less frequent, but bigger payouts. Thus, they require a more significant investment on your part.
On the flipside, Progressives such as The Dark Knight, which is a 243-ways to pay Jackpot slot, boasts a high RTP, medium volatility, Wilds, Scatters and a Bonus Feature – all in addition to the big jackpot lying in wait.
Before playing a Progressive slot machine, make sure to check out its RTP and features.
