The progressive jackpot is one of the main attractions for many in the online casino industry. They allow you to win a huge sum of money for a very little outlay and just one win could literally change your life financially. But, the huge sums of money on offer are because they are so hard to win and throughout this article we will be looking at how they work so you can get a better understanding the next time you play your favourite progressive game.
A progressive jackpot works by collecting a small amount of each stake on a game and pooling that money into one big pot. For example, lets say you are playing on a progressive jackpot slot machine and are wagering £1 per spin. That specific game will take 10% of your bet – in this case 10p – and add that to the overall progressive prize fund. Whilst this may not seem like a huge amount, the progressive will apply to every single bet that is placed on that slot and each bet will add towards the prize pool.
Progressive Jackpot Structure
Whilst the above is how they work in laymen’s terms, there are actually three structures to a progressive.
- The first is a standalone progressive and this where the money from that slot and that slot alone will add towards to overall prize pool. The standalone version of the game was very much the norm back in the early days of online casino and there are even still some that are in circulation today.
- The next is a local progressive and this is where the progressive fund is linked throughout the whole casino. So, whilst there may be several individual progressive games on offer, the money from each will feed in to one big pot and from there create a jackpot that can be won on any machine within that online casino.
- The final form is the wide area network progressive. This is where a network of casinos will all be linked to one jackpot, allowing for monumental jackpots to be formed. This is now the most common form of progressive for most online casinos and this is the reason why you often see prize pools of several millions for just one game.
Progressive Games
The most popular progressive games are run on slots as these are the games where the most money is wagered and in turn, the biggest jackpots can be had. The speed in which you can place bets is rivalled to no other casino game and quite often the casino will have a live ticket of how much money is in the pot. You only need to watch the ticker move for a few seconds to how much money gets fed into these games from slots alone.
Whilst slots is without doubt the most popular, there are a number of other games that include progressive jackpots also, such as Blackjack, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker and several lottery games. Because of the rate of betting for each of these games, the jackpot amounts are often much lower than slots, but they will still all likely offer up a more than pleasant payday should you hit the mark.
Potential Jackpot Sizes
The popularity of progressive games these days means that there is the potential to win some incredible prizes. More and more people are turning towards these games in an attempt to win big and earn that life-changing sum of money. Interestingly, in an attempt to keep prize pools up and players sticking with just one game, software developers actually limit the number of jackpot games they produce, making them more popular to bettors and funds less saturated throughout each game.
The sizes for a jackpot can range massively, but for the more popular ones you will be looking at several millions if you are lucky enough to hit. The biggest jackpot to be paid out was a staggering £13million on the Mega Moolah game!
Popular Jackpots
Below we have listed some of the most popular and highest grossing progressive jackpot games in the world.
Mega Moolah
Mega Moolah is a bit of a legend in the progressive jackpot industry as it’s made dozens of millionaires throughout its lifespan. On average the jackpot pats out at £4.2million for every win and has a hit frequency of 56 days, making for a fairly high strike rate. The game is part of the Microgaming software and is covered on the majority of top online casinos.
Hall of Gods
Next up is NetEnt’s Hall of gods. This progressive on average pays out every 147 days and has an average win rate of around £3million. The highest jackpot that has been paid out was almost £6million in April 2015 and again have made several millionaires in its time. In fact, since the slot was first brought in 2012 it’s paid out 10 times with all but one being that of £3million or greater.
Beach Life
Beach life is a popular progressive from Playtech and this slot pays out on average every 176 days. The average payout is just over £2.4million with 13 millionaires made since 2013.