Progressive Jackpot In Slots

Progressive jackpots have appeared in the 1980's with the inception of the microchips into the slot machines. The first linked progressive slots appeared in 1986.

The progressive jackpot is the highest payoff in the gambling game. As a rule, it is present in slots machines and video poker, but lately there have appeared progressive jackpots in blackjack and some other gambling games. The value of the jackpot constantly increases with each bet placed in the machine. The prize continues growing up until somebody wins it. Some casinos even link several machines to form one Progressive jackpot. In case somebody wins it on one machine, it becomes unavailable on the others.

The main principle of the progressive slot machine is that while the biggest part of the bets put in is paid out, less then a half is kept by a casino, and still there is a part of the bet that is added to the progressive jackpot. For example, in case you are playing a $5 bet machine, each bet, 25 cents are added to the jackpot, while $1.25 is kept by a casino and $3.50 is a payback.

As taken from the example, the casino pays back 75%, however, this may vary from 70% to 87% in land based casinos and 89-99% at online casinos.

There are no theoretical limits for a progressive jackpot, as it continues growing until won. One of the latest records was over $4 mln.