Progressive slots are a special category of slot games, which pay out huge prizes that rise with every spin of the reel. Some automatically pay out after a certain limit is reached, but others are uncapped and keep getting bigger and bigger until someone wins it all. These jackpots can run into millions of dollars. They attract a huge audience of players, and may be the most popular type of online slots at online casinos. In this article, we’ll take a look at their history, how they work, and the types of online jackpot slots LegaBet offers.

Table of Contents

What are Progressive Slots?

1. History

2. Player-Funded Prizes

3. Types of Progressive Jackpots 

4. How Do You Win?

5. Evolution of Jackpot Slots

6. LegaBet’s Attractive Jackpot Slot Options

7. Play Jackpot Slots Today!

Progressive Slots

History

The first time progressive slots were introduced to physical casinos was in 1986. The first progressive slot machine was called the Megabucks, and it was developed by International Game Technology (IGT). This machine did not have a jackpot cap, so each player putting in their money caused the pool to grow and grow until it reached ridiculous amounts. Ultimately, the person to win it all took home nearly $5 million!

Player-Funded Prizes

In short, think of progressive slots as slot machines where each player contributes to the ultimate prize. The idea behind their invention was to make the players fund the jackpots themselves, using something called a stake contribution to bring in bigger prize funds without the casino needing to pay out as much from their own pockets. The theory was that if players did this, the game itself would be more attractive to them. In return, they would fund bigger jackpots. And he was right!

For every bet a player makes, the machine takes a small amount of it and places it into a separate pool, which is used to fund the jackpot. In a way, it’s a cross between a lottery and a standard slot machine.

Types of Progressive Jackpots 

Progressive jackpots come in many different forms though, and not all of them offer huge payouts. While the huge ones obviously get more of the spotlight, there are smaller ones for those who want to cash out quickly, or those who want a lower risk game. For example, some progressive jackpots offer a limit of less than $1000 USD.

The physical machines or online slot games offering progressive jackpots usually display the amount of the jackpot prominently, to attract players. Whenever a player wins this jackpot, the number resets to a preset minimum level.

How Do You Win?

So you’re up for playing a progressive jackpot, hoping you’ll win big. 

Good news! If you have previous experience with online slots, then you’ll understand how to win a progressive jackpot too. The gameplay is usually really similar: spin, and hope your symbols line up to give you a payout. It’s all luck anyway, so pick a bet, and spin away. 

Payout Details

If you’re curious about the technical details of slot payouts, here’s more info. Like regular slots, these progressive jackpots use maths models to calculate the odds of paying out for each player that spins, and randomly select a winner when a win condition is met. What this win condition is varies depending on the game or algorithm, ranging from fixed probability (like 1 in 5 million spins), to the time, to total number of players, or even the size of the jackpot.

This is usually chosen by a random number generator (RNG) based on a preset from the slot provider.

Winning Screens

As for what actually happens in front of the player, it varies too. Sometimes, players have to match special symbols in a line. Sometimes, progressive jackpots require you to trigger a bonus game first.

For example, you may have to land 3 jackpot symbols during a base game spin. When that happens, you’ll get to spin the jackpot wheel, which gives you a chance to be in the running for Daily or Mega jackpots.

Evolution of Jackpot Slots

As technology advances, so do progressive online jackpots. Ever since their invention, they’ve been evolving. Now we don’t just have single-game jackpots, but also jackpots funded across entire international networks of casinos. These are played by many more players, which means bigger jackpots, and more frequent payouts!

LegaBet’s Attractive Jackpot Slot Options

Now that you’ve read all that, maybe you’ll be interested in checking out some of the progressive jackpot slot options LegaBet has to offer.

At LegaBet, you’ll find a huge variety of unique games from different providers, including titles such as Tower, Firebird Spirit, Aztec Gems Deluxe, and Wild Wild Riches.

Let’s take a look at Firebird Spirit, for example.

Firebird Spirit is a game made by Pragmatic Play. It has an Aztec theme, featuring images such as a warrior queen and a step pyramid with carved stones.

In Firebird Spirit, there is a unique feature: a six-reel set-up, compared to the usual three reels in most other slot games. Pretty unique, isn’t it?

Play Jackpot Slots Today!

Progressive jackpots can help you win big, and are as easy to play as traditional online slots. At LegaBet, we have loads of progressive slot games. Nearly 50 of them, in fact! So if you’re looking for a chance to strike it rich, why not come over to LegaBet.com and give it a shot? You might get lucky!