Who doesn’t want to win a progressive jackpot? As the biggest paying slots in the online casino world, progressive jackpot games such as the Mega Fortune slot will always draw a crowd. Some have been in operation for almost 20 years, during which time they’ve paid out hundreds of millions of pounds. The biggest wins top the scale at well over £20 million.
If you’re new to progressive jackpot slots, though, how do they work? How can you win on them? In today’s blog, I’m going to answer those questions and look at the four most common ways to get your hands on a top prize. Let’s get stuck into this popular topic.
What Is a Progressive Jackpot?
Firstly, for the newbies amongst us, what is a progressive jackpot slot? To be brief, there are two main types of slots – progressive and non-progressive. The latter has a fixed prize that can be won by any player at any time in any casino. It is determined by your stake and will always be available. Progressives are different. They are uncapped, with each stake increasing the available prize in the pot and can only be won once by one player. If they are victorious at any casino, the prize disappears from every casino. However, progressives have a seed (base) value, so they’ll start rising once more as soon as the jackpot has been won.
There are typically two types of progressive jackpots out there, and they include:
- Networked Jackpots: These are shared amongst many games. For instance, every game in the Mega Moolah slot series shares the same jackpot prizes. There will often be several of these with various values.
- Single Jackpots: These are only available in that particular game. For instance, even slot series such as the popular Fluffy Favourites slots will have different jackpots, depending on the game you’re playing.
Now that you know about the different types of prizes, let’s discuss how you can win them.
Method #1: Winning on Specific Paylines
The oldest way progressive jackpot prizes can be won is now one of the least common – winning prizes by landing symbols on the paylines. In the most extreme of cases, you’ll need to land them on specific paylines. This is a tall order. The game may have specific jackpot symbols and use wilds or any other icons. Either way, it’s a big ask to land prizes in this manner. If you are playing a slot where you must line up symbols on a specific line, and you’re only interested in playing to win the top prize, you can cut your expenses by only playing with that line active.
Method #2: Winning via Bonus Rounds
One of the more popular ways to win progressive prizes, particularly at NetEnt online casinos, is to be successful in slot bonus rounds. For instance, the Mega Fortune slot requires you to first trigger a bonus round, then progress through wheel-based bonuses using pointers to win one of three prizes. Older games, such as Playtech’s Gladiator, pay out prizes via click-and-win games, where you must match up hidden symbols to win. There are many ways this can play out, but the upshot is that you’ll first need to trigger a bonus round and then be successful there to win a prize. Again, this is a long shot, but since the biggest prizes are won in this way, it isn’t to be dismissed.
Method #3: Winning as a Community
One of the least common ways to bag a jackpot, but one which doesn’t necessarily require you to be successful, is winning a prize as a community. There are slots out there where the progressive jackpot prize is shared amongst a host of members if one player wins. The prize won’t be split evenly, mind you. The player who triggers the jackpot will win the lion’s share, with a small portion then split (staggered) amongst other players. The qualifying criterion for those players varies. In some games, you simply need to play recently, while in others, it is more specific, such as having to play at the same time as the player who lands the jackpot when they do so.
Method #4: Winning at Random
Finally, the most common way to trigger progressive jackpot prizes in 2024 is to land them at random. This is the case in top game provider Games Global’s Mega Moolah and WowPot games. Yes, technically, which of the four Mega Moolah prizes you win is determined by a bonus round, but the jackpot bonus itself is triggered at random and not via scatters or bonus symbols. I like to think that this is the most stress-free way of bagging prizes since you’re leaving everything down to lady luck. Either you’ll trigger it, or you won’t. This way, you can focus on enjoying your slot gameplay (and bagging casual wins), and you may still end up a big winner.
Tips for Playing Progressive Jackpot Slots Online
I’ve played slots for over twenty years, and I can tell you with absolute certainty – there is no guaranteed way to bag progressive prizes. If there was, the casinos would have shut it down, and, I can’t say that I’d honestly share such a life-changing, money-making scheme with anyone to avoid the first scenario happening.
However, there are certain tips you can use to improve your chances. I’m going to end the blog by sharing a few of these with you today. They include:
- Don’t fall for playing jackpot slots just because they haven’t been won for a long time. Progressives can pay at any time, and there are instances of them doing so right after a big win. Slots aren’t “sure to pay out soon” if it has been a while since they last did so.
- You don’t need to be a high roller or play at no-limit casinos to win life-changing sums. One of the biggest wins of all time occurred on Mega Fortune with a stake worth just €0.25.
- Try and choose slots that have high RTP rates. These tend to be lower in jackpot slots than non-progressives, but the higher the RTP, the fairer the game.
- Volatility doesn’t make any difference in progressive jackpot slots. There is no evidence to suggest that it does.
- To win some jackpots, you may need to place a maximum bet. This outdated mechanism isn’t common anymore, but if you play an older slot, bear that in mind.
- Always check the paytable of any game before you play. You should figure out how to win the top prize before you wager your cash on it.
- Don’t be surprised if you can’t use bonus funds to play progressive jackpot games. Furthermore, avoid using free spins (with wagering requirements) on progressives, as the playthrough rate is often based on what you win. You don’t want to have to wager big prizes several times over.