What Are Progressive Jackpots?

Online slots are one of the most popular types of online casino games. Offering a wide range of themes and gaming formats, slots have gained a considerable following ever since the dawn of online casinos.

The appeal of online slots is easy to understand – you don’t need any complex experience or knowledge, just old-fashioned luck. One of the most popular genres of slots are progressive jackpots, which offer players the possibility of landing larger, real money jackpots.

In this week’s Casino School, we’ll be covering the basics of how progressive jackpots work, some key features of progressive slot games, and also some of the best progressive jackpots online.

What Are Progressive Jackpot Slots?

A progressive jackpot game is a slot that offers a high prize payout, or jackpot, that increases as players play the slot. The jackpot in a progressive slot keeps increasing as long as the jackpot isn’t won, through a “jackpot meter”. A small pre-set amount is taken from every spin and put in the progressive jackpot slot’s meter to grow the jackpot.

Once the progressive jackpot is won, or “falls”, it resets to the minimum level to start growing again.

The Two Types Of Progressive Jackpots

You can find two main types of progressive jackpots online. First, the standalone progressive jackpot, and second, the network progressive jackpot.

Standalone progressive jackpot slots are games with a jackpot meter that increases each time players place bets on that specific game. The jackpot can only be won on that one game – and only grows through spins played on that one game.

On the other hand, network progressive jackpots accumulate money across different slots to feed towards a large jackpot. Network progressive types are the most common progressives found in online casinos, and generally carry the largest jackpot prizes.

How Are Progressive Jackpots Different To Regular Slots?

Regular slots will always have a fixed amount of money that you can possibly win, like a max coin win, while progressive jackpots continue to increase as more people play the game. Regular slots normally pay out more often as well with smaller wins versus the average progressive slot’s lower pay out rate with bigger win.

A progressive slot will also have a jackpot meter somewhere on the game to indicate the current jackpot prize amount. Many will also have a special bonus feature needed to trigger the jackpot win.

What Are The Odds Of Winning A Jackpot?

In general, with progressive slots, the higher the jackpot amount, the lower the odds will be in favour of winning. The odds can be compared to that of a lottery, whereby the greater the number of people who buy tickets, the less the odds will be in the favour of your ticket.

Unlike standard slot machine games, it is difficult to estimate the odds of winning a progressive jackpot since they are dynamic games. Despite this, the prize is lucrative, and the game is fun, so there are quite a few casino fans that love these slots. Much like a lottery, it is never a good idea to put all your bankroll on one game.

Keep in mind the ‘max coin’ or ‘max bet’ feature. Placing higher value bets on these types of slot games will make them more eligible to win the big prize. Although possible, it is less common for players to win millions by placing a bet that is just a couple of cents.

Despite the fact that the odds of landing a progressive jackpot may seem quite low, the lure of landing that top jackpot has not stopped the best slots players from giving it a shot, so make sure you join them and you could be our next big story!

The Best Progressive Jackpots Online

There are several big progressive jackpot games that are currently available at CasinoEuro. Some of these have a relatively modest jackpot prize that sits below the €100,000 mark. These include Piggy Bank, Mr Toad, Holmes and the Stolen Stones, Jazz of New Orleans, Cosmic Fortune, and many more. Others can run into several millions! We’ve picked our top five progressives for you to test out.

Mega Moolah And Mega Moolah Isis

These two similarly named slots share a network progressive jackpot that easily runs into the millions. The safari themed Mega Moolah and Egyptian-themed Mega Moolah Isis have seen some record breaking winners over the years and are worth a spin. Keep an eye on the jackpot amount, this jackpot falls out on average every 30 days at around €5.3 million!

Joker Millions and Empire Fortune

These Yggdrasil slots have two things in common; they both feature jackpots, and they share a progressive jackpot pool. Joker Millions is always a favourite for the players here at CasinoEuro. Keep an eye on the joker, as on average this jackpot falls out at around €2.8 million approximately every 70 days.

Mega Fortune Dreams

Soak up the luxury on the reels in this NetEnt favourite. Mega Fortune Dreams, the sequel to the standalone progressive jackpot slot Mega Fortune, also has its own standalone jackpot that can easily go up into the multi-millions. This jackpot falls on average every 71 days at approximately €3.8 million.