Progressive Jackpots
Welcome to the wonderful world of Progressive Jackpots: where the prizes just keep piling up until they pop! Gone are the days of fixed top payouts in jackpot slots. Progressive Jackpots grow with each and every bet placed. The more people play, the bigger they get, and the quicker the jackpot increases!
Here's everything you need to know to help you jump into the ever-popular world of Progressive Jackpots.
What Are Progressive Jackpots?
Progressive Jackpots are prizes found tied to online casino games, usually slots, which continue to increase in size. To create this ever-growing prize, a small percentage of each bet is taken and put into the jackpot. So, every single bet on the game increases the size of the progressive jackpot.
How Do You Trigger Progressive Jackpots?
Most of the time, Progressive Jackpots are triggered at random. In the most popular progressive slots, the prizes can be triggered by any player on any spin, regardless of bet size, however, some may have different rules. A progressive jackpot could be locked behind a feature or might require players to spin at the maximum bet to drop.
What Are the Different Types of Progressive Jackpots?
The requirements to trigger a progressive jackpot could classify them as different types. Alternatively, they can be categorised by localisation and the number of games. Some progressive jackpots, like the LeoVegas Jackpot, are very local and can only be won by players of that specific online casino.
Among these, Timed Progressive Jackpots or must-go prizes have become popular as they have to be won by the platform’s players by a set time or amount. For international notoriety and even bigger jackpots, progressive slots need to be accessible from online casinos all over the world. These games can be standalone ones, with one slot having one progressive jackpot or part of a suite of games. For example, the WowPot! progressive jackpots can be won via Book of Atem, Sisters of Oz, or many others. Many of those tied to a suite have a few different tiers of progressive prizes to be won.
How Much Do Progressive Jackpots Pay?
Progressive Jackpots are famed for paying out huge sums and creating some historic wins. Our very own LeoJackpot dropped £169,000 on one lucky spinner, but the biggest prizes have regularly come from the Mega Moolah games. The current world record of €19,429,358 was won by a Belgian player on Absolootly Mad Mega Moolah in April 2021.
At the time of writing, a WowPot! prize of over £15 million stands fifth overall in the record books. The next time it drops, as of late 2023, there’s going to be a new record that exceeds £39 million! This shows a perfect demonstration of how a bigger prize draws in more players and, as a result, the top prize increases more rapidly through slots like Queen of Alexandria WowPot!
Once a player wins a progressive jackpot, the prize resets to its seed value. Many revert to a seed of £500,000. The notorious millionaire-maker, Mega Moolah, always seeds at £1 million, and WowPot! seeds at £2 million. So, even if the progressive jackpot is randomly triggered immediately, the winner will instantly become a millionaire!
How to Increase Your Chances of Winning Progressive Jackpots?
The old saying rings true for trying to increase your chances of winning progressive jackpots: you’ve got to be in it to win it!
That’s about as much as you can do regarding a strategy to enhance your shot at the massive prizes reached by the likes of Irish Riches MEGAWAYS Jackpot King. All of the best Progressive Jackpots are completely randomly triggered. So, strategy can’t apply in a skill-based sense. Bankroll management is your best bet of having a shot at the prize.
Bankroll Management for Progressive Jackpots
By extending your bankroll, playing the same-sized bets throughout a session, and staying in the game, you increase your window of opportunity. Progressive Jackpots are still mostly video slots. You should remember that you can still win on these reels, and most of your gameplay will be on the regular slot. So, pick a slot game that stands out to you, offers good payouts in the base game, and even has rewarding features to get payouts while being in it to win the progressive jackpots.
Gamble Responsibly on Progressive Jackpots
It’s important to keep in mind that irresponsible gamblers are never winners. Play within your limits consistently, never go beyond your chosen bankroll, and don’t chase wins. It’s particularly foolish to chase a progressive jackpot drop. As they’re wholly randomised and only land on one spinner of potentially thousands - the odds are invariably slim. Always gamble responsibly.
What Are the Best Progressive Jackpot Games?
The very best progressive jackpot games are the slots with great base gameplay and the ones with historically massive prizes. Each of these progressive jackpots regularly climbs to six-figure sums and higher, and the slots themselves have a lot to offer, too.
Gates of Olympus
One of the most popular slots ever made by Pragmatic Play is now linked to the impressive Jackpot Play suite. Gates of Olympus won over casino players a long time ago, primarily because of its massive up to 500x Multipliers. As well as this, the base game deploys the Tumble Feature, which pops wins to make way for more wins, and the Free Spins feature gets a Multiplier boost as well. Of course, having the mighty ancient Greek god Zeus overseeing the six-reel, five-row, high-volatility slot with a top prize of 5,000 coins adds to the appeal of Gates of Olympus.
Age of the Gods: God of Storms
Age of the Gods: God of Storms is the best instalment of the storied jackpot series so far.
The Age of the Gods progressive jackpot suite from Playtech has been live since 2016, regularly eclipsing seven figures for its top prize since being re-imagined from the Marvel suite of jackpots. Now exploring the Greek pantheon, in God of Storms, you spin for the four progressive Power Jackpots while also looking to trigger Wild Wind Respins via the Ship symbol. During this feature, the God of Storms himself will move the Wild Ship and increase its Multiplier.
Mega Moolah
For many, the progressive jackpots fad started with Microgaming’s Mega Moolah. Set on an African safari, as it seeds at 1 million, the jackpot is always eye-catching. In the 2006-released slot, you can unlock a Free Spins mode that triples its wins. Its low volatility is one of the big selling points. This means that wins tend to be more frequent, even if they’re in smaller amounts than high-volatility slots. So, there’s always this sense of collecting wins while keeping an eye on the four progressive jackpots atop the reels.
Ancient Fortunes: Poseidon WowPot! MEGAWAYS
After the success of Mega Moolah and its spinoffs like Mega Moolah Goddess – formerly Mega Moolah Isis – Microgaming (now Games Global) dove back into progressive jackpots. With WowPot!, they went one step bigger. The top of four progressive prizes seeds at 2 million. Of the games in this suite, Ancient Fortunes: Poseidon WowPot! MEGAWAYS has proven to be the most popular. Again drawing from Greek mythology, the MEGAWAYS reels are a big draw, leading to up to 117,649 paylines, but so too is the Progressive Pick Game.
Tips and Tricks for Winning Progressive Jackpots
If you fancy yourself a jackpot hunter, here are some additional tips and tricks to consider when picking Progressive Jackpots.
- Most Progressive Jackpots can be won on the lowest bet per spin.
- Smaller Progressive Jackpots can still pay and the competition will be less intense.
- The odds of triggering a Progressive Jackpot are almost always the same as it’s completely random.
- Read the paytable of a progressive slot to see if there are any qualifiers for jackpot contention.
- The RTP of a slot game is usually a bit lower than the standard to account for the jackpot.
- A good RTP range for progressive slots is anywhere upwards of 87%.
Progressive Jackpots vs Fixed Jackpots
As you would have assessed, Progressive Jackpots differ from fixed jackpots as the amount that can be won is always increasing. While this can result in larger prizes, there are pros and cons to picking progressive or fixed jackpot slots, as you can see below.
Pros
Cons
Progressive Jackpots
Ever-increasing jackpot
Anyone can win the exact jackpot amount
Can play a range of slots to win the same jackpot
RTP of the base slot game takes a hit
You’re paying into a jackpot that you’re at long odds to win
Fixed Jackpots
You’re not competing with others for one or a few big prizes
RTP remains competitively high for base gameplay
Big fixed jackpots do exist and some multiply bets by tens of thousands
Jackpots remain the same regardless of how much you play
You can’t tell how recently the big prizes have been won
FAQs
How Do Progressive Jackpots Work in Online Slots?
Progressive Jackpots work by taking a small percentage of every spin on each linked slot and adding it to the jackpot. Usually, the progressive jackpot will randomly trigger to go to whoever happened to spin at that moment.
What Are the Odds of Winning a Progressive Jackpot?
The odds of winning a progressive jackpot are the same on every spin as the drop is always randomly triggered.
Which Online Casino has the Biggest Progressive Jackpot?
Progressive jackpot prizes are always growing, being won, and starting again. However, WowPot! boasts the highest seed at 2 million. So, any casino with WowPot! slots, like LeoVegas, is the online casino with the biggest progressive jackpot.
Are There Any Strategies to Increasing My Chances of Winning a Progressive Jackpot?
The only way to increase your potential window of winning a progressive jackpot is to extend your bankroll as much as possible. If you’ll still qualify for the drop, play the smallest bets to be around for longer in case the prize randomly triggers.
How Often Do Progressive Jackpots Hit in Online Casinos?
Progressive Jackpots of all shapes and sizes are hitting every day at online casinos. In fact, some have Progressive Jackpots that have to hit every day.
How Do I Know if a Slot is Progressive?
To know if a slot is progressive, you just need to see if the game’s tile from the menu, or the jackpot prizes shown in the game, are increasing from minute to minute.