Dreaming of winning big when playing slots online? Your best chance is playing slots and other games that offer a progressive jackpot. But what exactly is a progressive jackpot and which slots offer them? That’s what we are going to have a closer look at in this article. 

What is a progressive jackpot? 

A progressive jackpot is a “the grand prize” when it comes to casino games and the jackpot increases every time the game is played. The jackpot usually starts at a minimum value (1 million pounds on the slot Mega Moolah) and then increases with every bet until one lucky winner hits the jackpot. 

When someone wins, the jackpot resets and it all starts over again. It’s a bit like playing the lottery, as numerous players from all over the world can play and help build the jackpot. 

When playing a slot or game with a progressive jackpot, you can see the total jackpot increase constantly by a small amount. The money added to the jackpot comes from the casinos connected to the jackpot network and not the money you play with. 

For example, if a slot has a RTP (Return To Player) of 96%, the casino(s) are in theory making 4%. This is what’s called the house advantage. When it comes to a progressive jackpot game, the casino(s) may put as much as 1% of their 4% earnings back into the progressive jackpot. 

Why offer progressive jackpots? 

Casinos, like any other business, is in it to make money, and to make money you need to attract customers, in this case players. Players will always be attracted to the casinos offering the best bonuses and the biggest wins, and there are no bigger wins than the ones progressive jackpot slots have on offer. 

So offering the biggest and baddest progressive jackpots will attract players to the casino. The best way to think about progressive slots is like the lottery, be it the national lottery or an international one. The principle is the same. The more players that participate and the longer it takes before anyone wins, the bigger the jackpott becomes.

Why do some progressive jackpots increase quicker than others? 

How fast a progressive jackpot increases comes down to two factors; how many players are playing the slot and how big the jackpot network the slot is a part of. It used to be that the progressive jackpot was just one slot or one single game, but over the years providers have taken to connecting several different slots to the same progressive jackpot. 

This way, players from several different casinos or networks help build the jackpot faster than if you could just build the jackpot at one casino. Simply put, the jackpots you can win by playing Euromillions where players from a range of countries play, will always be a lot bigger than a normal country’s national lottery.

How big can a progressive jackpot get? 

How big a progressive jackpot can get is hard to say because the slots are controlled by a RNG (Random Number Generator) machine. Therefore, there is no way of saying when the jackpot will drop or how big it will be. 

The largest jackpot ever won on a slot was on Microgaming’s Mega Moolah. The record-breaking win of €18,915,872.81 was paid out on 28th of September 2018 at Grand Mondial Casino. The jackpot just beat the previous record of €17,879,645.12. The slot? Mega Moolah of course, and the lucky player was a mobile player back in 2015. 

Which are some of the biggest progressive slots online?

Microgaming was the first provider to launch progressive slots online and their network remains one of the biggest in the world with slots such as Mega Moolah, Major Millions, Treasure Nile, Lots a Loot and Tunzamunni. 

Other providers that are known for their progressive slots are NetEnt, with big winning titles such as Hall Of Gods (biggest payout of a cool €7.5m in 2017), Arabian Nights and Mega Fortune, among others. 

If you are looking to win big playing slots online, you can’t pass up slots from Playtech either. The Isle of Man based provider offers numerous slots with progressive jackpots. Leading the way are slots like Bache Life and Jackpot Giant. Both slots have paid out jackpots of about  €10 million over the years. 

What to think about when playing progressive slots

Progressive slots are not easy to win on. Just like the lottery, the odds are not on your side, but the wins can be astronomical. That’s what’s so enticing when playing slots like this. Just bear in mind that progressive slots have lower RTP than other slots and most of them have very high volatility. 

What this means is that you won’t land winning lines as often as on other slots, but when you win, you are likely to win bigger prizes. In other words, progressive slots are not the best slots to play if you’re just playing for a few minutes. 

You should also check how the jackpot works and what minimum you have to play for to be able to win the jackpot. Only bets of a certain amount will count towards the progressive jackpot and only players betting the minimum will be able to win the jackpot. 

If you want to try and chase down the jackpot, make sure you have time to play for a while and you should always set yourself a budget. To increase your chances further, you might want to check when the jackpot was last won. Usually a progressive jackpot will build up for at least five to six weeks before it drops.