Progressive Jackpot: What Is It and How It Works?

Progressive jackpots are a popular feature of many online slots. They provide a chance to win huge prizes, often reaching millions of dollars. However, they are really hard to hit. Most gamblers will never experience such a big win ever. This article discusses all the important details of progressive jackpots at online casinos.

What Is a Progressive Jackpot?

For the player to understand the concept of a progressive jackpot, it is critical to learn the difference between progressive and non-progressive jackpots. With non-progressive jackpots, the sum of the prize is fixed at the beginning of the game and remains the same all the time. When it comes to progressive jackpots, any time a gambler makes a bet across the player network, a small percentage of his bet is added to the final jackpot sum, increasing the final jackpot prize. The total of the progressive jackpot is measured as the gambler spins the reels, and it can be taken from multiple slots at once. This way, the multi-million jackpot prizes appear. The more time the jackpot takes to hit, the higher the jackpot prize sum is.

When some lucky player eventually hits the jackpot, the prize resets to default. The major progressive slots do not reset to 0, but their jackpots start from a specified amount instead. The biggest ones start at a million dollars.

Software providers set minimum wagering limits on jackpot games to qualify for the jackpot prize. For this reason, gamblers should always check the paytable before playing any slot to ensure they would potentially qualify for the progressive jackpot.

It is also worth mentioning that just like regular slot machines, the progressive ones are also governed by a random number generator, meaning it is not possible to predict who and when will hit the jackpot.

How Do Casinos Pay Out Progressive Jackpot Prizes?

Typically, smaller prizes are paid out directly by online casinos. As to the multi-million prizes, here, the software providers are involved. If the software developer is paying, there is a high probability that the player will receive a single, huge payout. If, however, the funding comes via an online casino, the payment may be split into several smaller payments that could be paid out across the year.

What Are the Odds of Hitting a Progressive Jackpot?

The answer to this question sounds not as positive as most gamblers would like it to be. Statistically, the odds of hitting such a prize start at around 50 million to one. Anyway, before starting to play any online slot, the player should check its RTP and volatility. The RTP is a theoretical return to a player percentage that a slot can pay back to gamblers over time. The volatility tells the players how often the slot pays out. However, it is not really possible to tell how a specific online slot would perform since these games have a random nature.