Progressive jackpot slots are different to normal slot games because they offer prizes that are progressive rather than fixed. This means that the jackpot increases in size every time a player makes a bet. Unlike regular slots, many progressive jackpots regularly rise to be worth millions of Euros a time.
Jackpot slots offer you the chance to become an instant millionaire, but first, you’ll need to know which jackpot slots to play and understand just how they work. When you see how some of these jackpots are growing second by second, you’ll soon understand why the payouts can reach astronomical levels in a very short space of time.
Top 5 jackpot slots
When deciding upon the top 5 jackpot slots, it is not only the potential prize that needs to be considered. Just as important is the frequency that these jackpot slots payout. Knowing that a jackpot could reach €1,000,000 is all well and good, but knowing that it only pays out once a year may make it slightly less appealing. With that in mind, the top 5 jackpot slots right now are:
Mega Moolah
Microgaming’s Mega Moolah is hugely popular with players is probably the most famous of all progressive jackpot slots, holding the world record for a jackpot payout – an incredible €18,915,873!
The original Mega Moolah uses an African safari theme, but there are also Egyptian and Summer themed versions – Mega Moolah Isis and Mega Moolah Summertime. You can win in any of these versions, with the amount paid out in your local currency.
When playing Mega Moolah, anding 3 scatters on the reels activates 15 free spins, during which a 3x multiplier is applied to all wins. You can also re-trigger the free spins.
There are four jackpots in total in this 25-payline slot – Mini, Minor, Major and Mega. You get a shot at the jackpots if you’re lucky enough for the randomly activated bonus round. This lets you have a spin of the wheel which can potentially land you any of the four jackpots. The minimum jackpot amount set at €2m, Mega Moolah has been responsible for turning a number of very lucky players into millionaires.
Mega Fortune
Mega Fortune is a jackpot slot produced by leading software provider NetEnt that has delivered some of the biggest casino payouts. This is a 25-pay line slot set against the backdrop of a luxury marina, using champagne, cash and limos as symbols.
There are three different progressive jackpots in Mega Fortune – the Mega Jackpot, the Major Jackpot and the Rapid Jackpot. To have a shot at the jackpots you need to activate the bonus game by landing 3 or more Bonus symbols in succession on an active bet line. You then spin the wheels and keep your finger’s crossed your luck’s in!
Mega Fortune also has a free spins bonus feature which is triggered when you land three of more champagne scatter symbols. All wins during the free spins are also multiplied anywhere between 1x and 5x. You can land more scatters during the feature to bag some more free spins.
Hall of Gods
This NetEnt progressive slot offers three jackpots that can be won by playing the bonus game. In order to launch the bonus round and crack open shields and land your prize, you’ll need to use Thor’s Hammer. You could become a winner by matching three jackpot jewel symbols.
There is a link between the size of your bet, the jackpot size and your chance of winning, so those searching for the truly big bucks will want to play at maximum stakes. With a usual prize of around €10million and the jackpot falling roughly five months, Hall of Gods offers a path for players to become slots gods themselves.
Jackpot Giant
Jackpot Giant is a progressive slot developed by Playtech and as the name suggests, this game offers big win. This game uses 50 reels and 50 paylines, with transparent reels set against a volcano backdrop.
Bonus features include a wild, a scatter and the Bonus symbol which activates the Giant Bonus feature. The Giant Bonus feature is activated when you land volcano bonus symbols on reels 1 and 5. You’ll then be taken to another screen where the Giant is standing behind 6 volcanoes. You then pick volcanoes to win cash prizes.
The progressive Giant Jackpot is activated when you land 5 Wold symbols on the first payline. It has paid out several wins of well over $1 million.
Age of Gods
This is the original game in Playtech’s famous Age of Gods jackpot slots series, which includes a number of different games all with progressive jackpots.
This game uses the classic Ancient Greece theme and has four bonus features based on different Greek Gods – Athena, Poseidon, Hercules and Zeus. These are different free spins features that award different numbers of spins alongside other exciting bonus features, such as multipliers and stacked wilds.
There is also a Pantheon of Power on Reels feature which is activated when you land all 5 gods consecutively on a reel and can reward you large cash prizes.
Age of Gods gives players the chance to win four different progressive jackpots. The jackpot game is awarded randomly and requires you to match three symbols to win the corresponding jackpot.
History of big jackpot winners
The biggest wins on slots come from progressive jackpots. We will take a look at how these work and, once you see the record jackpots that these have paid out, there is little doubt that you’ll want to know exactly how to play these.
The highest jackpot slot payout stands at a staggering €18,915,872.81. This was won over at Mega Moolah in 2018. Given this eye-watering amount as well as the extraordinary average jackpot amounts, you can see why we included this in our top 5 jackpot slots.
Other spectacular jackpot wins have come courtesy of Mega Fortune with payouts of €17,860,868 and €11,735,446 in 2013 and 2011 respectively.
In stark contrast to regular online slots, progressive slots have the potential for the jackpots to grow and grow and grow. These record jackpots may seem almost unimaginable, but the truth is that with how progressive slots work there is always a chance that these records can be broken over and over again. With no restrictions on how high the jackpots can go, it is perhaps only a matter of time before these records are broken.
How progressive jackpots work
Progressive slots can lead to big payouts, so it is well worth taking the time to understand how these work. In simple terms, the longer the jackpot remains unclaimed, the bigger the jackpot gets.
The jackpots from progressive slots grow so large because every player is contributing to the jackpot every time that they play. What’s more, the players don’t even need to be playing the jackpot slot in the same online casino.
If we take Mega Moolah as our example, this progressive slot is available at numerous online casinos. Whilst you’re playing this slot at one casino, there could be thousands of other people playing the same slot, at the same time, at other online casinos. Every time you, and everyone else, wages €1 on a progressive slot and doesn’t win, a percentage of what you have wagered gets added to the progressive slot jackpot. With this in mind, you can see how the jackpots grow so quickly and why the jackpot from these slots can be so high.
Another great feature of progressive slots is that even when the jackpot is won and has to be reset, the jackpot amount doesn’t fall to zero. Some of the best progressive slots reset that their jackpots as high as €1 million.
There are varying ways that you can win when playing progressive slots. These include:
- Playing the maximum stake
- A random jackpot win
- Playing a bonus game
- Symbol combinations
Some jackpot slots will only allow you to win a jackpot if you bet the highest possible stakes. High stake progressive slots will reward you with a ticket when you spin the reels. The slots work to a particular algorithm, and if your ticket matches this after a spin, you win.
There are progressive slots where the wins are completely at random and not tied to bonus games or certain symbols. To qualify for a random jackpot win on progressive slots, you’ll usually have to be wagering the maximum amount possible.
Progressive slots tend to have bonus games that can be triggered while playing the main game. These bonus games can lead to a jackpot payout.
Other progressive slots require you to line up certain symbols on certain paylines. Doing this will lead to a jackpot payout.
