Progressive Jackpots

Popular attractions in many online casinos (and, indeed, in real-world casinos too) are the 'Progressive Jackpots' amongst the ranks of Slots games. The appeal is easy to see from the tantalisingly large headline payouts they offer the lucky punter who hits the top prize jackpot - sums that can even hit the heady heights of seven figures!

The games are played in exactly the same way as other Slots, with players aiming to achieve specific combinations of images on the machine's reels to get a prize, however they don't have a fixed payout for the combination that triggers the top prize. The progressive jackpot's top prize is started from a specified level by the casino (somewhere between £1000 and £50,000 is usual, depending on the minimum cost bet on the machine) and grows incrementally with every spin of the machine that fails to win it, i.e. a fraction of each coin played helps grow the pot.

Whilst every coin played into a progressive Slot helps build the top jackpot, it's worth noting that the usual rule of these games is that you will need to be betting the maximum credits per spin to be in with the chance of winning that progressive prize. Play less than the maximum bet and you will still be able to win the lesser prize payouts advertised for that Slot, but if the biggest bounty is what you're aiming for you won't be in the frame!

The moment a player succeeds in spinning the top-prize combination, claiming the hefty accumulated prize, the Slot resets to its original starting prize and the jackpot begins to build again.

The accumulation of progressive jackpots at the most popular online casinos can be very rapid indeed and lead to some seriously life-changing payouts. Such accumulation can also be accelerated if the Slot in question is a 'Linked' or 'Multi-location' machine. The former is a Slot that is part of a group of machines in one casino that feed into one common jackpot, whilst the latter is similar, but builds its jackpot from a group of machines distributed amongst several different casinos. These groupings of Slots means there can be hundreds of machines feeding the progressive at any time, but remember that also means hundreds of other players competing for that top prize and increased odds to bag the big one.

Online casinos invariably promote their progressive jackpot delights with 'taxi-meter' style displays, (some of which you'll see below and elsewhere on this site) which constantly update to show the current jackpot headlines. If you should be tempted by the potential prize on a 'meter', you should also find a link near it to get you straight to the Slot in question and make your bid for that tasty jackpot…just remember though to play the maximum bet per spin to be sure you're playing for the top prize!