It wasn’t that long ago that we covered the thrilling tale of Microgaming’s progressive jackpots. Almost €90 million were awarded across a whole slew of jackpots. Mega Moolah, Microgaming’s most popular progressive jackpot, paid out over €13 million in January! It remains the biggest awarded jackpot for 2019 to this day.

With eye-catching headlines, progressive jackpots appeal to the ultimate gambler dream. To do a perfect spin or play a perfect round, and walk away obscenely rich as a result! But you shouldn’t leap into jackpots like they’re any other special feature. We aren’t exaggerating when we say progressive jackpots can be dangerous. But if you can keep yourself in check, they’re a fun pastime with a fantastic potential payout.

How Do Progressive Jackpots Work?

When you’re playing a regular slot, all costs are pre-calculated. A 1000x fixed jackpot will never increase, no matter if you play that game for €0.05 or €50. It’s a basic system, but it works wonderfully, even to this day.

Progressive jackpots shake up the formula immediately. For starters, their value isn’t fixed. The operator will usually pay in a big chunk of the progressive jackpot. From there, the progressive jackpot increases by taking a part of every person’s bet.

How much of your wager contributes to the progressive jackpot tends to vary from release to release. In our experience, a contribution rate of 0.99% seems to be the most common, but it doesn’t apply to every slot we tried.

That also means that how much you wager does impact the prize you will receive. Bigger wagers mean more money in the pot. And more money in the pot means a bigger progressive jackpot that someone will eventually claim!

Another cool thing about progressive jackpots is that they aren’t always limited to one game. It’s not uncommon to have several games linked together via one progressive jackpot. Playtech’s Age of the Gods series is the perfect example of this.

Let’s say there are four slots linked with a progressive jackpot. This means wagers from all four releases contribute and increase the size of the pot. At the same time, it also means that someone playing a completely different game could win the progressive jackpot.

Progressive Jackpot Bets

Because progressive jackpots prizes increase the more you bet, gamblers may be tempted to wager more than they can afford. It is something you should never do. Even if that particular game happens to be one of the best progressive jackpots released in 2018!

This is why we mentioned jackpots being potentially dangerous. If you lack self-control, it’s all too easy to fall into temptation and bet more than you can afford. Thankfully, Responsible Gambling laws have given players ways to avoid this problem. But it doesn’t help that some slots outright encourage it.

Specific releases will not make you eligible for a progressive jackpot win unless you’re playing at max bet. Luckily, this kind of design seems to be disappearing with the years. Nowadays, progressive jackpots are as open as they can be.

Progressive Jackpot Payouts

As we’ve already seen from the mentioned examples, progressive jackpots can award some massive prizes. Which naturally raises the question; how do payouts for these huge sums work? The answer tends to vary depending on the casino’s T&C.

The simplest possible solution is for the operator to pay out that sum immediately, all at once. This is how most websites we know tend to handle progressive jackpots. Bit of a nightmare in terms of taxes, but at least you have all your money immediately.

Other casinos will restrict your withdrawals via withdrawal limits. Now, just because a website has a withdrawal limit, doesn’t mean it always applies to a progressive jackpot. The operator will usually add a separate sentence somewhere if the limit applies for progressive jackpots.

If that happens, your best bet is to hope the casino at least has high withdrawal limits. Otherwise, the prize from your progressive jackpot could be tied up with that particular operator for years!

To their credit, websites tend to avoid doing this. Sure, they will keep you around for a while, but most new players will be turned off by such an approach. Nobody wants to register an account where they’ll be held hostage via the withdrawal limit.

An approach we really like are casinos that allow you to withdraw funds via progressive jackpot in instalments. Usually, these will be listed in the T&C ahead of time. From our research, websites which offer instalments usually offer them over two years, paid every month.

Most operators who offer payment in instalments do not allow you to take the whole sum at once. However, this rule does not apply to gamblers in Great Britain. Thanks to UKGC regulations, casinos must be able to pay progressive jackpots in full to British players.

Are They Worth It?

Honestly, it depends on which progressive jackpot you’re gunning for. If you want to get the top prize, be ready for a long grind.No slot will easily hand over a €13 million progressive jackpot, lucky spin or not!

Another critical topic to check is how your casino handles progressive jackpot payments. As we detailed in the previous section, you should avoid operators whose withdrawal limits limit how much you can withdraw.

One thing we’d recommend to everyone interested in progressive jackpot games are ones with a set time limit. These jackpots have to pay by a certain time. Most common time-limited progressive jackpots are daily and weekly. However, you will occasionally see a monthly progressive jackpot from time to time.

Since they have to pay by a specific date, they can never reach the heights of the headline-grabbing prizes. That said, they provide a more standardized and less risky experience, while still being able to award fantastic prizes.

The final decision, as always, rests with you, the reader. Will you go all-in on the risk and chase after an uncapped progressive jackpot? Do you plan on compromising, and picking a time-limited progressive jackpot? Or does the whole thing sound like it is too risky, and you’d instead stick to what you know? There’s no shame in any of these decisions. Just make sure your wallet can whichever option you choose!