Progressive slots list presented on our sites are games which are the most popular with players and profitable for the casinos. These are the games with progressive jackpots as the top prize. The progressive jackpot grows every time a player at any online casino all over the world plays that progressive slot. It happens because a small share from every bet goes to the progressive jackpot. Since players can play the same progressive in different online casinos the jackpot grows very quickly until someone hits it.
You can see the current size of one or another jackpot over the slot reels. Most progressives have set rules for players to follow in order to be eligible for the progressive jackpot. However, to tell the truth, the odds of hitting a progressive jackpot are quite low. You know that old joke about asking a man or a woman about the odds of finding a diamond in the middle of a bustling main street in New York. The guy says: “One in ten million”. The girl says: “One in two”. Why? Because it’s either going to happen or it’s not. It’s kind of the same with progressive jackpots. What’s important to remember is that in slots, if we’re talking professionally, no one event is linked to the previous event, so there is no use trying to calculate probability, because every estimation of a possible outcome is based on its relation to previous events. Every roll of the dice and the ball on roulette is an independent event. Therefore the chances of hitting a jackpot on an independent event are always one out of two. Casinos always take in money in the long run, hence the saying “the house always wins”, but that is a different kind of maths.
Progressive jackpot slots are high-end games played in casinos. The games are played in a manner whereby players from every casino that hosts the game contribute to the final amount every single. The concept of a progressive slot is a pretty easy thing to explain. Multiple players feed each machine in the network, and a percentage of those bets goes towards the progressive jackpot (though it’s possible to have a single machine with a single progressive jackpot). Progressive jackpot slots are the celebrities of the slot world. They attract a huge and loyal following of players to the life-changing jackpot numbers and captivating features. Various jackpot analytics blogs have spawned across the Internet as well, with impressive statistics and graphs that track every hit and payout on the Internet. That is, progressive slot games are commonly a part of a wider network. This, of course, goes without saying for online slot games. But even real-life casinos have ‘local progressive jackpots.’ In this, all the slot machines are wired together in a network, and every spin on every machine adds to the jackpot value.
We’ll use a slot machine with an attached progressive jackpot as an example. The slot machine takes 10% of every wager and places it in the progressive jackpot amount. After the jackpot is won the amount is reset to $100,000. The reset amount is generally accumulated from the contributions to the overall progressive jackpot.
How to win a jackpot on slot machines
As a rule, the key to a progressive jackpot is hitting a predefined combination of symbols on a payline. However, nowadays more and more slots with a random jackpot appear. Perhaps, the most famous progressive slot with the random jackpot is Mega Moolah developed by the top gaming software provider, Microgaming. Actually, this game offers 4 tiered jackpots which can be won during the bonus game which is triggered randomly. Mega Moolah is probably the most famous name in the industry, although there are plenty of other fabulous slots, with winnings of millions and millions of Euros, although you have to remember that you need to keep hitting Max Bet to get into the queue for a progressive jackpot, which can be some serious money. In the end though that means bigger payouts too.
Another leading software development company, PlayTech has some unusual progressive slots in its portfolio. One of the recent additions to the family of PlayTech progressives is Marvel multi-level mystery progressive slots. These slots have 4 linked Progressive jackpots in fact. Marvel Progressives can be won during the bonus game triggered randomly, too. The Bonus Game is played on the grid with 20 squares which have different jackpot symbols each. To win any of the jackpots the player has to find 3 identical jackpot symbols.
PlayTech offers its players the Dollar Ball game which is the Progressive Sidegame. The player must make a side bet and to choose 5 numbers out of 49. Then during the main game 5 numbers will fall out. If all 5 numbers are identical to those chosen by the player, the Dollar Ball Progressive Jackpot is hit.
RealTime Gaming offers a lot of slots with random jackpots. The random progressive jackpot can be won after any spin. Nothing matters here, but luck. Neither the number of paylines nor coins can help win the Progressive Jackpot. However, they say the higher the bet is, the more chances to win the Jackpot the player has.
Some gaming software companies, for example, Microgaming and Playtech don’t let you play Progressive slots in the Practice Mode, only when you are playing for real money. But there are other software providers that allow trying out progressives for free. They are RTG or Rival Gaming, Bossmedia and others. Make sure you really have prepared yourself for jackpots by coming in with plenty of money, and setting your bankroll (also give the GA a call to keep a seat warm for you in their weekly therapy meeting). Make sure you don’t set yourself up for a fail with too high expectations, and keep level-headed at all times.
How Do Progressive Slots Work
Related article: 4 Tips on Winning Casinos with Progressive Jackpots
Every slot player who has ever walked into a casino has probably had the fantasy of hitting The Big One, that progressive jackpot that will put you on Easy Street for the rest your life. You imagine the thrill of lining up the winning symbols and dream about how you will spend all that money. Then reality kicks in and deep down you know that you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do hitting the big jackpot. Does this mean you should not play progressive slot machines?
While the odds of hitting a life-changing jackpot may be astronomical, you don’t have to avoid all progressive machines. As long as you know what to expect and have some realistic expectations you can give them a shot. There are also some progressive machines that are better than others if you want to hit the jackpot. First, let’s take a look at the basics of progressive machines.
Progressive Slot Machine
Progressive machines are a group of many slot machines linked together by a network. The big progressive jackpot is made by taking a percentage of all the money played into the machine. This means that the jackpot continues to grow as more people play the machine until somebody hits the winning symbols for the top award. Because a percentage of the coins played form the Progressive Jackpot, the actual payback percentage will be less on the other winning symbols and, in some case, the payback percentage on the progressive machines will be less than other machines in the casino. Learn to play blackjack. This is true for the machines that offer the life-changing jackpots. Not all progressive machines are the same. There are actually three different types of progressive machines.
The Stand Alone Progressive
The stand-alone progressive machine is not linked to any other machines. Instead of having a fixed top jackpot it takes a percentage of the coins played and adds that to the award for the highest winning combination. It has a meter on the front and shows you the jackpot. In most cases, the payback is equal to the other machines of that denomination but it just distributed differently to give you a varying amount of the top prize. The progressive jackpots for the stand-alone machines are much lower than the ones from machines that are linked together.
In-House or Proprietary Progressives
These are a group of machines linked together and owned and operated by the casino. They may be just in a single casino or linked together with several properties if the gaming company owns more than one casino. The jackpots may not be the multi-million variety but they can be quite a substantial win in some casinos. They generally hit more often than the wide area progressives.
Wide Area Progressive
These are the machines that offer the life-changing jackpots. The machines are linked together from many unrelated casinos. These machines are operated by an independently operated rather than a single gaming company. Slot maker IGT operates games such as MegaBucks, Quatermania, and others in many different states. The casino share in a percentage of the winnings but the operator owns the games. The jackpots may be large but so are your chances of hitting the big prize. Because of the costs of linking the machine and the administrative costs to run these wide area games, the payback percentage on these machines is much lower than on other slots.
Take Away
It’s alright to try your hand at the big progressive machines hoping that lady luck will shine on you but don’t make it the mainstay of your slot play. Instead set aside a certain percentage of your playing bankroll and use that for a shot at the big one. Winning one of these is pure luck and is a gamble along the lines of buying a lottery ticket. Don’t spend your entire bankroll chasing a dream. If you want to play a progressive machine you might be better off to concentrate your efforts on the stand-alone or in-house progressives. Your odds are much better. Most importantly remember, playing slots is entertainment. Have Fun!