What Is A Progressive Jackpot & How Does it Work?
Slot games come with various jackpots(the prize money) to entice gamblers to play, but most are fixed. A growing jackpot mainly distinguishes a progressive slot from a regular slot.
A small percentage of each bet contributes to the overall jackpot’s growth. A jackpot meter shows and updates the jackpot size on the screen in real time to let players know the latest status. There is no limit to the size of the jackpot and no due date for winning unless specified otherwise.
The odds of getting the right combination that triggers the jackpot are mostly millions to one as machines work with Random Number Generators(RNG), making it a pure game of luck with mind-blowing consequences. Gamblers can hit the jackpot at any point, and there are no rules stating that a jackpot cannot be won unless it reaches a certain point.
When a gambler wins a progressive jackpot, it resets to the seed amount. No one wants to participate in a progressive jackpot starting at zero. Therefore, a considerable amount is set as the starting point, called the seed amount, upon which the jackpot should grow. It can start from 10$ going up to millions of dollars or more, depending on the casino or casinos offering the jackpot. Casinos can share progressive jackpots. It means that multiple casinos can contribute to a single jackpot pool, making the potential winnings much larger.
The jackpot can get larger and larger like a balloon without busting. On Aug 2024, BetMGM announced that a player hit a $6,450,023 million progressive jackpot at its online casino in New Jersey, marking the biggest jackpot ever won in the history of the legalized online casino industry in the United States. The larger it gets, the more gamblers flock toward the slot machines to claim the jackpot. With a small stake, a gambler can win gazillions, retiring their entire family!
4 Types of Progressive Jackpots
Progressive slot machines differ based on how large the progressive jackpots can get time-wise. This concept is implemented by linking the slot machines together to work on the progressive jackpots. Different casino brands jointly offer one progressive jackpot to get the maximum out of the fast-and-large jackpot idea. The following are how the slot machines are categorized based on the concept explained.
1. Standalone Progressive
It refers to a single slot machine in a land-based casino with a progressive jackpot growing with each wager made on that machine only. The progressive jackpot is not shared among other machines, resulting in a smaller and slowly-growing jackpot. If a player makes a pact with himself to win the jackpot, no matter the bankroll and time, he can occupy a standalone progressive slot machine and gamble himself to win day in and day out.
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2. Local Area Progressives:
Going one step further in making the jackpot larger as fast as possible, the idea of connecting slot machines arises. When a bunch of slot machines are linked together in a casino, they are referred to as local area progressive slot machines. The jackpot grows larger in a short period compared to the standalone progressive.
A team of gamblers may plan to play all the progressive slot machines at the same time to hit the jackpot. They gamble non-stop, as long as the casino allows them, hoping to land the right combination. The winning spoils are to be divided equally among the gamblers who fought tooth and nail by pressing the spin button over and over. They may get old and not hit the jackpot or hit it at the very spin.
3. Wide Area Progressives:
You may have already guessed the third type if you are a networking engineer, but here is the explanation for non-engineers. When progressive slot machines are linked together across casinos, which can be of different brands, it is called wide area progressives. Multiple slot machines from different locations contribute to the jackpot. All slot machines are connected to one server, and the jackpot meter updates momentarily to display the latest amount.
4. Online progressive slots:
The above concepts apply to online progressive slots as well. Some of the largest progressive jackpots have been won online by gamblers. Online progressive jackpots mostly fall into the wide-area category, with players contributing to the jackpot from all corners of the world.
Mega Moolah is considered one of the best progressive slot games online. It has set the record for the biggest online progressive slot jackpot win in history, which amounts to 13 million dollars.
Top real-money online casinos in Florida and the entire United States offer big progressive jackpots. The biggest slot bonuses for new members in Florida allow online gamblers to get a chance to win life-changing jackpots with little to no deposit money.
How To Win A Progressive Jackpot? 5 Proven Strategies
As mentioned above, slot machines work with RNGs, making the outcomes purely random. The randomness is at next level with progressive slot machines. It means there is literally no strategy or sure-win formula to hit big progressive jackpots. However, betting the max or the maximum betting limit on the machine seems to increase the chances of triggering the winning combination. Overall, the following are five proven strategies to boost your chances of winning big progressive jackpots:
- Play progressive jackpots at trusted online and land-based casinos, as these casinos are being regularly audited for fairness.
- Find slots with high RTPs. Typically, progressive slots have lower RTP and higher house edge compared to the regular slots(85%-95%). But there are slots with higher RTPs, and you can find such games at top casinos. Aim for machines with RTPs more than 94%, as these games are more likely to give you huge jackpots.
- Depending on your bankroll, try to bet the max.
- Avoid playing slots right after the jackpot is reset to the seed amount.
- Try to play linked machines as more people playing grows the jackpot faster and increases the likelihood of winning.
Final Thoughts
Progressive jackpots are alluring, enticing sharp and casual gamblers alike. It seems to be the best test to see if luck has your back in that particular period and forward. It is the ultimate form of gambling, with odds hanging around zero. It is more like charity work to help one particular individual get a massive amount of money unexpectedly!
It is the adrenaline rush of hitting the jackpot that matters, like what adrenal glands can never produce in their lifetime. It is the instinctive voice longing for such close-to-zero odds things.
Give the impossible a try today and feel alive!
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