Back
Progressive Jackpot Games at LeoVegas New Zealand

Progressive Jackpot Guide

Summary

Progressive jackpot slots feature an ever-increasing top prize fueled by a small portion of each bet. The pot grows as players spin the reels simultaneously. The appeal lies in diverse themes and the potential for random triggers by any player.

Progressive jackpots grow with each wager, and a fraction contributes to a separate pot until won. The jackpot size depends on the number of players and bets. Networked progressive games connect various themes, enhancing the prize's reach and attractiveness.

Table of Contents

Progressive jackpot slots are games that feature an ever-increasing top prize. This prize, the progressive in jackpot slot games, is able to continue to grow because a small pre-determined amount of every bet goes into the pot. With the same slots being played at the same time, the pot can seemingly grow continuously and rapidly.

Some will play these progressive jackpot slots work because they like the intertwining themes within a progressive jackpot suite. Some have different games for each of the ancient Greek deities, while others have similar features, like Mega Moolah. Overall, it’s because almost every progressive jackpot can be randomly triggered at any time, by any player.

PLAY JACKPOT

How Progressive Jackpots Work

A progressive jackpot is a prize in casino gaming that sees its ultimate top prize progressively increase and build. The progress is made by players wagering and spinning the reels. A small predetermined amount of each bet goes towards a separate pot, the progressive jackpot, which continues to build and increase until it is won.

A progressive jackpot is only as big as the number of players or number of bets being placed in the game. Once won – which is usually a randomly-triggered event – the progressive jackpot reseeds to a set sum. The most popular of these kinds of games tend to have a high seeding, with such jackpots as over $100,000.

Standalone progressive jackpot slots were just the start. Standalone games can accumulate a massive top prize on their own, as seen by the original run of Mega Moolah. Networked progressive games and jackpot suites, on the other hand, can make for much larger and sometimes, life changing prizes. This is because there are more games connected to the prize, so they have a greater reach to a broader player base. As an example, Mega Moolah’s somewhat outdated graphics and safari theme may not appeal to the majority whereas in-theme games for Hercules, Zeus, Hades, Athena, and Griffins – à la Age of the Gods – extends to a much larger please base, helping to build the core progressive jackpot.

To win a progressive jackpot, you need to be playing at the right time. As a general rule, progressive jackpots are randomly triggered by whoever happens to hit the spin button at the very moment the slot’s software decides to drop the prize. Usually, players don’t even need to be playing at the maximum bet, but there may be some exceptions to this rule.

Playing a progressive jackpot slot isn’t all about hitting the biggest jackpot pokies prize shown on the game’s tile. It’s still a slot game. So, you’ll be able to land payline wins, trigger special features, and even win standard jackpots below the progressive jackpot while you await the granddaddy!

Types of Progressive Jackpots

There are three main types of online progressive jackpots: standalone progressive jackpots, local progressive jackpots, and wide-area progressive jackpots. Primarily, each type determines the reach of the game and how many players can be spinning at once. This impacts the chances of any one person randomly triggering the prize and the rate of increase for the top pot.

Standalone Progressive Jackpots

Standalone progressive jackpots are single-title slot games with one progressive jackpot. To win this jackpot, you have to play the one game that it’s tied to on any online casino website. Most progressive jackpot games – including the one that made the mechanic so popular, Mega Moolah, have expanded into mixed-game and top progressive jackpots.

There are some outliers however, with Playtech’s Jackpot Giant being a prime example. The advantage of these, is that there is generally a smaller pool of players to compete against. However, that means that the jackpot tends to progress much more slowly, and drops can seem farther apart as a result of the reduced input.

Local Progressive Jackpots

Local progressive jackpot prizes are those put on by an individual platform and often come with some kind of additional feature. For example, at LeoVegas, there's the local progressive jackpot Hourly Drop. It’s tied to several online slots too, including Fortune Charm and guarantees a progressive jackpot trigger every hour.

Red Tiger is the renowned provider behind many of the most popular local progressive jackpots available, including the Hourly Drop. The advantages are that you get a wide choice of games and know that the top prize will go to someone on the same platform as you within the timeframe. To counter this, prizes don’t tend to climb very high.

Wide Area Progressive Jackpots

A wide-area progressive jackpot seeks to make the most of the vast online slot gaming community. These games, regardless of where they are being played from, connect to the same progressive jackpot. On top of this, they usually span several connected games across different themes for maximum appeal.

When you see massive progressive jackpot prizes in the millions, they tend to come under the wide-area progressive jackpot banner. This includes WowPot!, Mega Moolah, Jackpot King, and Age of the Gods suites. While the progressive jackpots accumulate progress to much larger sums faster, the competition is much higher for any solo spinner.

LeoJackpot – Unique Progressive Jackpot

To offer our players even more progressive jackpot action, LeoVegas has launched its own prize pools for those who love to spin jackpot games. The LeoJackpot is an opt-in promotion that increases with every bet you place on a game in the jackpot section. Each spin contributes $0.17 so that the prize pool builds in 17 cent increments.

As with other progressive jackpots, prizes increase with each bet, and the LeoJackpot winner can be anyone during any game round. When triggered, you’ll get a wheel spin to determine if you’ve won the Mini, Minor, Major, or Mega Jackpot, with the latter seeding at $8.5 million.

There is a set list of jackpot games that are associated with the LeoJackpot prize, which includes Book of Dead, Reactoonz, and Razor Shark (at the time of writing). The other casino games listed here aren’t progressive jackpot slots as presented, but if you opt-in, they become progressive jackpot games thanks to LeoJackpot!

Most know progressive jackpot slots as the way to play for ever-increasing, randomly dropped prizes. At LeoVegas, we’ve got progressive jackpots on many kinds of games. While our own progressive jackpot pokies are, naturally, the most popular, you could also play your favourite table games to be in with a shot at one of these super prize pots.

Slot Machines

You won’t struggle to find a whole bunch of slot machines that feature progressive jackpots. It’s with slot machines that the progressive network of mechanic was first developed, owing to their popularity and style of play. In the jackpot section, you’ll find standalone, local, and wide-area progressive slots that span a huge range of themes and features.

Table Games

Similarly to slots, table games can also feature their own progressive jackpots through the same method of adding a small portion of each bet or offering a specific side bet, to have a shot at the prize.

Evolution Gaming, a pioneer in live casino games, introduced a progressive jackpot to its Live Casino Hold’em back in 2017. Now, Live Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker, Live Caribbean Stud Poker, and many more have these jackpots.

Online Progressive Jackpot Games

As the premise is simple and easy to apply in digital format, just about any kind of online casino game can become a jackpot game. This is the approach that LeoVegas has taken with our LeoJackpot. We’ve applied the progressive jackpot formula to over 900 of our most popular casino games now, from Mega Moolah slot to LeoVegas Live Roulette.

Best Progressive Jackpot Slots at LeoVegas New Zealand

Always choose your progressive jackpot slot based on your own preferences. If you’re a fan of classic movies rather than ancient Egyptian myths, pick The Goonies Jackpot King over Book of Atem WowPot!. These are the games that are so popular that we can comfortably tip them as the best progressive jackpot video poker slots here.

Mega Moolah

Mega Moolah is the game that started it all. Created by Microgaming, it is a safari-themed slot featuring zebras, lions, elephants, kudu, buffalo, lemurs, and giraffes on the reels with the main bonus being the Mega Moolah Wheel. This feature can be randomly triggered at any time, but higher bets offer a greater chance of doing so.

On the Mega Moolah Wheel, you’ll see several segments that represent each of the four progressive jackpots. Of the 20 slots that the wheel can land on, one is for the Mega Progressive, which seeds at $2 million and has eclipsed $7.7 million at the time of writing.

Everybody’s Jackpot Live

Brought to you by Playtech, Everybody’s Jackpot Live is your best bet when it comes to live casino gaming. However, unlike most live games, this is a slot. With 32 paylines on a 3x3 game grid, you need to match three symbols to each pay line to land a win of up to 25x your bet.

The progressive jackpot comes into play in a unique way. As could have been gleaned from the name ‘Everybody’s Jackpot,’ every bet contributes, and more than one player gets paid when it randomly drops. The winner nets 70%t of the jackpot. The other 30% gets split between all other qualifying players who met the minimum total bet amount within the last 24 hours!

The Biggest Progressive Jackpots in History

Here’s your list of the biggest reported progressive jackpots won at land-based casinos and at online casinos, with the sums converted directly into NZ$ in mid-2023, not adjusted for inflation:

  1. NZ$65.5 million from Megabucks, Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas (2003)
  2. NZ$57.6 million from Megabucks, Desert Inn Casino in Las Vegas (2000)
  3. NZ$45.4 million from Megabucks, Palace Station Resort in Las Vegas (1998)
  4. NZ$34.7 million from Megabucks, Mirage Casino in Las Vegas (2005)
  5. NZ$34.2 million from Absolootly Mad Mega Moolah, Belgium Online (2021)
  6. NZ$33.3 million from Mega Moolah, Online (2018)
  7. NZ$33.1 million from Mega Moolah, Canada Online (2019)
  8. NZ$31.4 million from Mega Fortune, Finland Online (2013)
  9. NZ$31.1 million from Book of Atem, United Kingdom Online (2021)

Progressive Jackpots FAQ

How often do progressive jackpots hit?

Progressive jackpots can hit mere hours after dropping, or they can take days, weeks, or months as they are randomly triggered. This is of course, unless they must drop within a given timeframe.

What triggers a progressive jackpot?

Most progressive jackpots trigger completely at random, but some require you to play at the max bet in order to qualify.

Can you play progressive jackpot games for free?

You can play some progressive jackpot games for free, but playing for free uses virtual coins and won’t allow you a shot at ‘real money’ progressive jackpots!

What is the highest progressive jackpot?

The highest progressive jackpot varies depending on how recently the others have dropped. Generally, though, overdue jackpots for Mega Moolah and WowPot! tend to be among the highest.

What is the difference between a fixed jackpot and a progressive jackpot?

A fixed jackpot is a set prize in a casino game, while a progressive jackpot increases whenever players place a bet.

Do you have to max bet to win a jackpot?

In some games, you have to play bonus games at the max bet amount per spin in order to qualify for the progressive jackpot. Be sure to check the info page in the slot you’ve chosen to play, to see if this is the case.

Are progressive slots good to play?

Progressive slots are great to play if being within shot of claiming an ever-increasing prize is entertaining to you!

Does every slot machine hit a jackpot?

Every slot machine will eventually hit its jackpot – provided you’re playing at a licensed and regulated online casino.

How can I find progressive slot games?

You can find all of our progressive slot games on the jackpot games page at LeoVegas!

Learn more about jackpots in our latest guides: