Jackpot! Understanding Casino Jackpots

By Alex J. Coyne © 2019 Great Bridge Links

If you’ve ever been to the casino – and even if you haven’t – you’ll likely be familiar with the term jackpot. Heck, the jackpot is a huge part of the reason why people play slots in the first place.

It’s even been the subject of a study in 2013 called  The impact of jackpots on EGM gambling behavior.

But not all jackpots are the same. We took a closer look at the different types of jackpots you’ll find at video poker and slot machines, what they mean and why many people opt to spin progressive slots like the ones you’ll find at Mega Moolah over the standalone. Here’s what you should know about the leprechaun’s pot of gold.

Flat Jackpots

Flat jackpots are jackpots that stay the same regardless of how many times the player spins the wheel. If you start at a jackpot of a certain amount, this is the jackpot that particular machine will stick at.

Often, flat jackpots are smaller – and restricted to one machine. This is why they’re also sometimes referred to as standalone jackpot machines.

You’ll usually see these at smaller slot machine setups (like the ones you find in some bars or smaller casinos), or the machines put up at the entrance of the floor.

 

Standalone Progressive Jackpots

Progressive jackpots are known for getting progressively larger with every bet. The longer you play the machine for, the larger the eventual jackpot will get. Standalone progressive jackpot machines are usually restricted to only one machine at a time. Some types of progressive jackpots aren’t standalone, and link several machines across an entire gaming network together for a larger jackpot.

 

Proprietary Jackpots

Like standalone jackpots, proprietary jackpots (also sometimes proprietary progressive) will get larger with every bet placed, but the difference between these? With a proprietary jackpot machine, several machines are linked together over the same gaming network – for example, all of the one-armed bandit slots on the floor, usually within the same casino.

These can also sometimes be referred to as in-house jackpots. You’ll see this around at most casinos.

 

Wide Area Progressive

Progressive jackpots will get larger as you keep playing, and it’s a massive part of the draw for players who spend a lot of time at slot machines – but sometimes even in-house jackpots aren’t progressive enough for players who are after the much larger jackpots.

Then, you can chase what’s called the wide area progressive jackpot.

In this case, it’s a lot like the traditional progressive jackpot because it gets larger the more you play. The difference (and draw) with the wide-area progressive jackpot is the fact that it’s several gaming machines linked together over a much larger and wider network – and it’s a much wider spread than covering just one casino floor. Sometimes they’re linked across gaming platforms, several casinos or states.

Wide-area progressive jackpots are often the largest ones when it comes to slot machines and video poker, and the more you put into this one, the larger your potential jackpot will get.

We even found a Google Patent for a progressive jackpot machine system.

 

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