Online slot games come with all sorts of special features, themes, and options nowadays. But one of the most popular variations at online casinos in Canada is progressive jackpots, which can be quite lucrative. Because of the huge potential wins, progressive jackpot slots are incredibly popular amongst all punters.
In this guide, we’ll run you through the basics of progressive jackpot games. We’ll look at what these are, how they work, and how you can increase your chance of winning. Keep on reading to learn more and get pro tips to get the most out of your experience.
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What Are Progressive Jackpots?
Regular online slots have a fixed jackpot. In other words, there’s an upper limit on how much money you can win. But progressive jackpot slots are different. They have a unique feature that makes them very desirable – a jackpot that keeps growing without limits. Hence, you could earn quite a significant payout for a small investment upfront.
Fortunately, the majority of real money online casinos in Canada offer progressive jackpot games. In fact, most platforms separate their fixed-jackpot slots from their progressive jackpot ones in the game lobby with separate categories. Of course, this is to make it easier for you to find the games you’re after.
If you’re playing a slot game and you’re unsure whether it has a progressive jackpot – simply check the paytable. There you should find information about the progressive jackpot (if there is one) and how you could win it.
How Do Progressive Jackpots Work?
The way progressive jackpots work is rather straightforward. Basically, each slot with one of these jackpots has a special fund set aside. The fund starts off at a fixed amount of money (e.g. CAD 1,000) and it grows in size whenever someone places a real-money bet on the slot. In other words, a portion of each individual bet goes towards the jackpot fund. Therefore, the more people play, the more money they spend, and the faster the fund will grow.
Moreover, progressive jackpots don’t have upper limits. Hence they can keep on getting bigger indefinitely without a cap. However, once someone wins the progressive jackpot, it will reset to its base value. Of course, front here it will start growing again with each new bet. Furthermore, some progressive jackpots are unique to a single slot while others are shared amongst two or more slots. In that case, playing any slot within a network of games will increase the collective jackpot prize shared between them.
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How Do You Win Progressive Jackpots?
Surely you’ll want to know how you can go about winning progressive jackpots. Unfortunately, the answer is that it’s all a matter of luck. Slots by nature are luck-based casino games, so it’s really down to good fortune if you’ll end up with a prize. However, one thing you can do is pay attention to the details. For instance, some progressive jackpot slots have a minimum bet requirement. Without it, you won’t stand a chance of winning the top prize.
On the flip side, there are games where bets of any size will qualify. But in that case, the odds of winning will increase proportionally to your bet size. Furthermore, how you can win the jackpot is also very important. For example, a progressive jackpot can be randomly awarded on any spin. However, sometimes you might have to do something specific to win, such as winning with five of the top-paying symbols.
If a slot has more than one progressive jackpot, there’ll be some sort of feature that determines which one you’ll win. For example, when playing the Mega Moolah slots, you can trigger the jackpot feature. This lets you spin a wheel with 20 segments of four types, with each type corresponding to one of the four Mega Moolah progressive jackpots. So the wheel spins and the winning segment determines which jackpot prize you get.
Additionally, quite a few online slots have a re-spin round. You will keep getting re-spins, as long as paying scatters land. In fact, some of these can award progressive jackpots and you can potentially win more than once per round. A common feature of these rounds is that if you fill the screen with scatters, you’ll get the biggest progressive jackpot.
Your Chances of Winning
Progressive jackpots can be life-changing – you could turn into a millionaire as some have in a matter of seconds. But it goes without saying that the odds of winning a progressive jackpot prize are very slim, indeed. Generally speaking, the bigger the prize (and the higher it starts at), the lower your chances of winning it are.
Another thing to remember is that all online slots have an RTP. This is a percentage figure that shows how much of a player’s bet they can expect back on average. Of course, the higher the Return to Player coefficient it is, the better. So you should pick games with a high RTP and a low house edge. The house edge is RTP’s opposite – it’s the size of your casino’s advantage.
Progressive jackpot slots, especially those with bigger jackpots, tend to have RTPs that are lower than average. This is to make up for the potentially large wins the slots can give. Thus if you play these slots a lot, you’ll probably get less of your money back than otherwise. But on the bright side, some slots allow for higher winning odds for larger bets.
Common Types of Progressive Jackpots
When it comes to progressive jackpot slots, they’re not all one and the same. In fact, there are many options out there and the key differences lie in how the prize pool is comprised. For instance, with stand-alone progressive jackpots, the prize pool is meant just for the players of a given game. So because this kind of jackpot applies to a single slot game, the number of players contributing to it will be smaller. Therefore, a stand-alone progressive jackpot is smaller than its counterparts.
On the flip side, a wide area progressive jackpot (Network progressive jackpots)can be much more lucrative. This is because usually, it’s the developer who offers this opportunity and the game is available at many online casinos. Hence more players on multiple platforms will be playing, placing bets, and contributing to the prize pool. However, you could play for an even bigger prize if you choose a proprietary progressive jackpot slot. This jackpot applies to all games at a given casino and, naturally, is going to be huge since so many players are betting.
Popular Progressive Jackpot Games
There are loads of online slots with progressive jackpots out there on the market. So here are some of the most popular ones in Canada:
- The Mega Moolah series by Microgaming – The first instalment came out in 2006 and there are now a dozen games, including Fortunium Gold Mega Moolah and Atlantean Treasures Mega Moolah.
- Divine Fortune by NetEnt – Inspired by Greek mythology, this slot has two fixed jackpots and a progressive jackpot that starts at $10,000.
- Mega Fortune by NetEnt – This online slot has a bonus round where you spin a wheel with several sections. Reach the innermost section to win the progressive jackpot prize, which starts at $250,000.
- The Age of the Gods series by Playtech – A collection of slots inspired by ancient gods and goddesses. Each slot gives you the chance to play a pick-me game where you can win one of four progressive jackpots.
Pro Tips for Playing Progressive Jackpos
Remember that whether you win or not is down to luck at the end of the day. Unfortunately, your chances of winning don’t increase the more you play. So you’re just as likely to win on your first spin as you are on your hundredth. Unless, of course, you change your bet size – this will boost your chances. In fact, some slots require big bets for the best chances of winning the progressive jackpot.
Hence it can be quite expensive to play, especially if you don’t actually end up winning. So if you’re going to play progressive jackpot slots, you should have a sensible budget. But besides setting aside what you can afford to spend on gambling, you should also be choosing smart. Do some research before you commit to real money bets on a new game and pick one with favorable terms.
Summary
Progressive jackpot slots have special prize funds that keep growing without limits until someone wins. These prizes can be very large, indeed – that’s why so many punters love playing these games. However, the chances of winning are slim, especially if it’s a significant sum of money that’s up for grabs. But the good news is that smaller jackpots tend to fall more often.
If you’d like to play some progressive jackpot slots, you might also be looking for a great gaming destination. And the quality and reliability of the platform you choose is just as important as the game itself. So why not head to our reviews library to discover more about some of the top online casinos in Canada. We’ve done all the research for you, so you can make an informed decision.
FAQ
The smaller a progressive jackpot is, the more often it tends to be won. The bigger it is, the less frequently it’s won.
Microgaming’s Mega Moolah slots have four progressive jackpots. The biggest of these is the Mega jackpot, which starts off at 1,000,000. This is the world’s highest-paying progressive jackpot.
To win a progressive jackpot, you just need lots of luck as slots are not a skill-based game.
The most anyone has ever won from a progressive jackpot is €19.4 million (approximately CAD 28 million). This was in 2020 by someone playing Absolootly Mad Mega Moolah.
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