Gaming
Progressive Jackpot Slot Games – What’s So Special About Them?
There are hundreds of different slot games out there and they come in various types. Categories of slot games go beyond their themes. The type of symbols that appear on the reels might be fruits or footballs or characters from a movie, but it is only window dressing that makes no material difference to the game.
There is one area in which the slot games you find at sites like https://www.gambleonline.co/en-ca/casino/games/slots/ can differ dramatically, however. This is in the nature of the prizes that they give out. Penny slots, for example, provide low wager bets and deliver correspondingly modest prizes.
Typical video slots like Starburst might have a maximum prize of 50,000 times the wager. And then there are jackpot slots, which take the winning potential to a whole new level.
Of Jackpots and Jackpots Slot Games
The name can seem misleading. Surely according to our example, Starburst has a jackpot of $50,000 on a $1 wager – doesn’t that make it a jackpot slot? The answer is that there are jackpots and then there are jackpots. Yes, every slot game has a jackpot in the sense that it has a top payout – and sometimes, as is the case with Starburst, that can be a life-changing sum of money.
However, when we talk about jackpot slots as a category of slot games, we mean ones that are linked to a progressive jackpot that is distinct from any prizes that might be paid out during the game. Whenever somebody plays the game, a percentage of the wager is added to the progressive jackpot, until eventually it pays out, sometimes after several weeks.
In land-based casinos, progressive jackpot games are physically linked with the current jackpot amount showing on a prominent digital readout. But now, with online casinos, there might be hundreds of players contributing to a progressive jackpot every hour. Little wonder, they can run into the millions of dollars.
What’s the catch?
The opportunity to become an instant millionaire sounds like something we can all get behind. So what is the catch? There are a couple of factors you need to think about before you start pouring all your money into the nearest jackpot slot.
The first is that Lotto is another form of gambling where you have the chance to become an instant millionaire. The odds of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions are about one in 300 million. The odds of winning a progressive jackpot are about 50 million to one.
The second point worth noting is that a Powerball ticket costs you a couple of bucks. In many progressive jackpot games, you don’t even get a shot to try for the big money unless you play the maximum stake. That could be $5 or even more, so you definitely wouldn’t want to spend an entire evening playing a slot like this hoping for a 50 million to one miracle!
But that is clearly not the way to handle jackpot slots. Some gamblers treat them as the ultimate double down – so if, let’s say, they have a good night at 3-card poker, they will stake the winnings on a few spins at the jackpot slot.