When you visit a casino whether it is online or land-based, you see big flashy signs advertising the words “big progressive jackpot”. But what does it really mean? And how does it actually work?
The mathematics involved in progressive slots games can be a bit complicated to get your head around if you’re not very familiar with how progressive jackpot slots work. This sounds surprising especially when you think about the simplicity of how playing slot machines can be. You spin the reels and wait to see if you’ve won. There are no special skills that can improve your odds (unless you have a really good lucky charm.) But as a rule of thumb, the average payout rate of a progressive slot machine is going to be smaller than a regular non-progressive slot machine.
Statistically speaking, a progressive slot player will reduce his/her odds of winning when compared to a non progressive slot machine player. But as a trade off, if the player wins, then his winnings will be bigger than if he had played a regular non progressive slot machine.
Usually casinos will not disclose any information about payout percentages or statistics of their slot games. But if you get lucky and find any information on a small print, make sure to read it. This may give you a better understanding of the machine odds before you actually start playing the progressive jackpot slot machine.
So how do progressive slot machines work? Well, progressive jackpots start out at a certain payout and every time a player presses the spin button on a linked progressive slot machine a portion of your bet is allocated to the jackpot and this is the reason why the payout percentage is smaller than non-progressive slots.
Another thing you should know before you find out the hard way, is that to play progressive slots you need to bet the maximum amount of coins in order to be eligible for the jackpot. Although it could cost $3 or more per spin, you have the chance to hit a huge jackpot! If you bet smaller, you could be in for a big time disappointment!
Don’t let the statistics of the progressive slot games discourage you from trying a progressive slot. All casino games will have a house advantage. Unfortunately, when playing slot machines, you don’t have much control over the outcome. With that being said, players DO win money playing the progressive online slots games. So if you are feeling lucky and the timing is right you could win a big jackpot.
So just how large are they? There are so many of them, and they are growing at a rapid rate, so it’s not an easy question to answer. As it stands, the current record for the largest online progressive jackpot ever won was worth €17.8 million playing the Mega Fortune progressive jackpot. Other popular progressive jackpot games include Mega Moolah, Major Millions, Hall of Gods and Arabian Nights. Some of the progressive slots actually have multiple jackpots on offer.
