Ever wondered how progressive jackpots work in online slots? Generally, there are two types of slots; classic and jackpot slots. Even as all slots have their specific jackpot prizes”, these jackpot slots or progressive slots tend to have a prize that is a portion of every player’s bet or stake – also try Beat the Bobbies slot.
So, it differs from regular slots where the jackpot is proportional to your individual bets alone. Hence, the jackpot for progressive slots increases every time somebody plays that slot game.
How do progressive jackpots work?
You can think of progressive jackpots in the same way as lotteries. Therefore, winnings are entirely random. But a small percentage of every qualifying bet goes into the jackpot. If you win a progressive slot, you stand a chance of getting up to 100,000x your stakes, which is why progressive slots are popular. Another difference between progressive slots and regular slots is that the jackpot is never fixed. So you have a chance to win big while spending only a little.
Let’s use Mega Moolah as an example. At any given time, all the people playing that slot game contribute to the same jackpot. In most cases, progressive slots link several online casinos, increasing the jackpot size. The longer the jackpot goes unclaimed, the higher the jackpot prize rises until a fortunate player wins that massive prize.
Progressive slots can get as high as some good millions. In October 2015, Jon Heywood from Cheshire staked 33 cents, winning over £21.1 million in just 25 minutes of playing Mega Moolah and subsequently running the Guinness World Record title for “Largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game.”
So as a percentage of every bet wagered continues pooling towards the jackpot, it would keep growing until a fortunate player gets it. Once it happens, the jackpot resets to its seed(default) size, starting the progress again. This certainly means that sometimes, the jackpot does not get to its maximum before it is won but winning quickly resets back to default.
Types of progressive jackpot slots to play
Most online casinos categorize their slots by type. So it is easy to find jackpot slots quickly. However, some casinos may not have dedicated sections for actual progressive jackpot slots. But you can quickly identify them with their gigantic jackpots. As a rule of thumb, jackpots over £100,000 are most likely progressive. Still, here are the main types of progressive jackpots:
Standalone jackpots
These are reserved for a single machine in a casino. So they aren’t a part of a bigger network.
Local jackpots or in-house jackpots
This is usually used to denote jackpots from casinos linked in one land-based casino setting. Online, it might be linked across four or five different games within that one casino. It is also possible to have local jackpots linked across several machines in casinos operated by one casino provider.
Network progressive slots
These are also called wide-area jackpots and often mean progressive jackpots linked across multiple slots or offered across different brands of the same slot.
Concluding thoughts
Progressive slots are one of the best ways to win massive amounts of money by playing slots, find out more here. However, because of the larger number of players, competition is usually stiff and winning is a lot trickier. If you win progressive jackpots, you can go home with a decent payout by staking only a few cents.
