Progressive Jackpots are a unique type of jackpot that grows bigger the more people are taking part in it. Each time a players makes a wager or with each winning pay out, a small fraction of the amount is contributed to a progressive jackpot pool. The more people are taking part, the more small amounts get added to the pool, quickly generating a large jackpot amount.
There are a variety of ways that a payout can be triggered. It can either be triggered by 5 matching symbols on an active pay line, or it can be awarded randomly to any players. More often than not, most casinos require players to make a minimum wager amount to become eligible for the progressive pay out.
Standalone Progressive Jackpots
The first type of progressive jackpot that was created was the standalone progressive jackpot. This is a jackpot that runs on a single machine. The more you play that machine, the higher the potential jackpot amount grows.
The payout available from these styles of progressive jackpots are usually notably less than you would be able to win from subsequent iterations of the progressive jackpot system.
As with all progressive jackpots, a percentage of the player’s wagers contribute to the total jackpot on offer. The standalone cabinet will have some form of display that will show you what the current jackpot amount is valued at.
Local Progressive Jackpots
Local Progressive Jackpots are the standard type of progressive you will find on most casino floors. This is where a number of machines are linked together in a single jackpot. These machines will be located together in one section and will include a large digital display advertising the current available jackpot amount.
This serves to draw more players to the machines which in turn push the progressive jackpot even higher. These clusters of cabinets can include anything from a 10 cabinets to a hundred, depending on the casino hosting them.
Wide Area Network Progressive Jackpots
WAN jackpots are a relatively new development in progressives and feature some of the biggest pay outs available at any live casino. This network links cabinets located at multiple live casinos that can be geographically far removed from each other. Since the jackpot amount is increased by a huge number of players, the payout amount quickly heads into the millions.
Online Progressive Jackpots
Online progressive wins work in the same fashion as the WAN jackpots, except they link online slot games over an even wider area, literally globally.
These jackpots grow faster, bigger and pay out more often. Each player’s wagers add a small percentage to the total progressive amount, just like in a land based casino. Much like you’d find a huge online gambling Kenya jackpot win if you bet on a massive outsider who improved and won at the end of the season but improving all the time!
Popular Progressive Jackpots
Progressive Jackpots are a great advertisement for slot games and acts as an incentive for players to wager on specific games. Microgaming offers players an online exclusive progressive jackpot called Mega Moolah that can often go into the millions.
Megabucks is a popular live casino progressive jackpot that can pay out up to hundreds of millions. The odds of winning this jackpot is estimated at about one in 50 million but the wins are so big that they are paid out as an annuity over 25 years.