What are progressive slots? How are they different from normal ones? What are your REAL chances of hitting the progressive jackpot? Find out this and more from this article!
Progressive Slot Machines are a variety of games that have growing jackpot(s). The progressive jackpot is funded by a portion of each bet placed on the slot machine. Once enough money has been accumulated, or when the time is right, the progressive jackpot will be triggered and payouts to the lucky winner will begin.
What is Progressive Slot Machine
A progressive jackpot is a jackpot that grows over time and is often shared by multiple players. The concept was developed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board in 1976 and allowed casinos to offer higher payouts than would otherwise be possible. It also helped bring in new players who were excited about the prospect of winning a huge pot at one spin.
Progressive slots are available online and in land-based casinos across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. At first glance, they may look like classic slot machines and in fact they have a lot in common with them, but progressive slots differ from regular slots in their additional features.
How Progressive Jackpots Increase and Reset
Progressive jackpots start at an initial amount set by the casino operator. They increase with each new stake by a certain percentage.
Some progressive jackpots increase up to a certain value and some have no limits, making the winners millionaires. To find out what type of progressive jackpot is available in the slot you are going to play, it will be enough to go to the menu and then get acquainted with the information section.
It happens that the jackpot has grown to the maximum value and no one has won it. In this case, it will be carried over to next week’s draw. Once someone hits it, it will reset to an amount that is never lower than it was at the start.
Progressive jackpot Networks
The network is a collection of progressive slot machines in different casinos. When you play on a network, your bets go towards the jackpot. The more people that play and the more they bet, the larger the jackpot grows. It can range from a tiny amount to millions!
There are two types of networks: random and linked. Random networks include all online casinos with progressive slot machines that have no special relationship between them.
Linked networks consist of different casino sites that operate under one ownership (for example NYX Gaming Group owns several sites like Club World Casino). If you win at any of these sites while playing on one particular machine then your winnings will transfer directly into another site’s jackpot pool!
Your Real Chances of Winning
If you ask us what are your real chances of winning the progressive jackpot, we will give you the answer, but it is probably far from what you were hoping for. Statistics say that the odds of hitting a really big progressive jackpot start at about 50 million to 1 and increase from there.
Your chances can be affected by the RTP and the volatility of the slot machine you have chosen. The RTP of a slot is its theoretical return to the player, it is how much it is able to return to its players over time, and its volatility refers to how often it can do so.
Let’s explain with an example. Imagine that you have a low volatility slot with an RTP of 96%. This means that for every €100 of stakes in this slot, €96 will eventually be returned and this will happen pretty quickly.
Now imagine that you have a slot with high volatility and, let’s say, only 88% RTP. This means that for every €100 of stakes in this slot, €88 will eventually be returned and it will take a long time.
It is much more profitable to choose slots that provide a profitable return and not too high volatility. Now in the gambling industry, the golden mean for RTP is 96%. Major providers such as Microgaming or NetEnt rarely release games with a return of less than 95%.
We are talking about statistics, RTP and volatility now. However, it’s really difficult to gauge how a particular progressive jackpot will perform, mainly because the slots are based on RNGs, which makes their nature completely random. While things might make sense statistically, what actually happens on the reels is a completely different story.
The advantages of progressive slots
What are the benefits of progressive slots? First, they are more exciting. In a standard slot machine, you will play a few rounds and if you win it will be a small prize – maybe $100 or so. But in progressive slots, if you hit the jackpot (which is usually very high), it can turn your life around! You can carry hundreds of thousands of dollars with you at one time. Players love that anticipation and excitement. They never know how much they can get from their next spin on the reels.
We hope this article has helped you understand the nature of progressive slots better. The biggest takeaway from the info presented here has to be that the payouts on these machines are much higher than on standard slots and you can never predict when the progressive jackpot will be hit. If you want to win big on your next trip to Vegas or Atlantic City, or while visiting your favorite online casino, we recommend choosing a progressive jackpot slot machine!
