In the case of a large or progressive jackpot, the casino may have technicians come and check the machine to certify that it was functioning properly when the jackpot hit. If you hit one of the wide-area progressive machines such as MegaBucks, the slot company that operates the game comes out and verifies that machine before giving you a check. The jackpot payout in a progressive machine, on the other hand, steadily increases as players put more money into it, until somebody wins it all and the jackpot is reset to a starting value. In one common progressive setup, multiple machines are linked together in one computer system.
Areyou looking for booming jackpots from slots? Progressive slots arewhat you are looking for. Progressive machines are some of the mostpopular slots in casinos, as they offer very impressive prizesrunning to millions of dollars. Players flock these machines incasinos as no other games offer such lavish pay-outs.
Weare going to learn what casinos mean when they say progressivemachines, their benefits, and how they work. Read on.
What are Progressive Jackpots?
Progressive jackpots are pay-outs ongambling machines, such as video poker machines and slot machines, incasinos. They are usually marked as progressive machines, so playersmay be aware of that before they sit down to play.
Each time the machine is played, the combined jackpot winnings increase by small supplements. The casino sets the small chunks by which the jackpots are increased. On numerous occasions, these machines are linked so that the total increases faster as multiple players playing at different machines concurrently.
Eachof the slots has a meter that displays the amount of the jackpot andthe winning combinations that are needed. On a slot machine, forexample, you might need five cherries showing to win. Once you havewon the jackpot, the meter resets to the lowest level, and theprocess starts again.
Gamblersusually have to wager the maximum bet per play to qualify for thejackpot winnings. When the maximum is not wagered, the bet will stillcontribute to the jackpot, but the player is not allowed to keep thejackpot winnings should it hit on that play.
The Benefits of Progressive Machines
Thoughcasinos have progressive slot machines to lure players to play, thenumber of machines in the casino are not many. The casino is usuallywilling to make a small contribution to the progressive jackpotwinnings, but the odds always give the casino an edge over theplayers.
Gamblerslove progressive jackpots because if they win, they win big. The sizeof the jackpot can quickly escalate from hundreds to thousands.Players risk their losses by feeding the slot for a chance to hit theprogressive jackpot.
Progressivejackpot machines usually don’t pay out jackpot winnings frequently,because the casino presets the increments. The machine needs to beplayed for a while. The odds of winning faster pay-outs are onprogressive machines are not as good as on regular slot machines.
How Progressive Machines Work
Asalready mentioned, progressive machines are distinct from other slotsbecause their jackpots increase with every bet. The idea behind isquite simple: a small percentage of every bet feeds the pool of cashuntil one player hits the winning combination, which sets off thejackpot pay-out. Logically, the highest jackpots are won on gamesthat have the most top wagers and the most players.
Whena player hits the progressive jackpot, a few things happen. First,the machine locks up, lights flash on and off, and the player isinstructed to call an attendant. The machine then sends an electronicsignal to the control to notify the casino about the win.
Mostof the progressive jackpot winnings are huge. They range from $10,000to $1,000,000. Before the winnings are paid, the casino has to sendsomeone to verify that the machine was operating well when the playerhit the jackpot. The casino must confirm that the win is genuine.
Theplayer who hits the jackpot can either be paid in cash or check. Whenthe winnings are more significant, the pay-outs could be split. Anamount could be paid by check on the day of winning, then the playercan set time, say 60-90 days when they can collect the rest of thejackpot or an annual annuity.
Hereare a few interesting things that you might need to consider beforeinvesting in a progressive jackpot;
- Qualifying- this is one of the most important things that a player needs to learn. This is because not every wager on a progressive machine leads to winning an attractive pay-out.
- Jackpot Meter- the jackpot meter is another essential aspect of progressive machines. When the jackpot has been won, the amount of the highest pay-out resets and goes back to the lowest level from which it started.
- Odds and Expected Return- the odds of hitting the jackpot on a progressive slot are usually very thin, sometimes smaller than winning the lottery. If you remove the jackpot from the calculation, the house edge becomes different.
Who Pays Out the Jackpots?
Smallerpay-outs are paid by the casinos or I-casinos (online casinos). Theseinclude the lower level jackpots.
Inbigger prize pay-outs, the software company is involved, primarilywhen the linked progressives are hosted in multiple locations.
The Biggest Progressive Jackpots in History
Thehighest progressive jackpot ever recoded is $39.7 million. It was wonin the Excalibur Casino, Las Vegas, on one of the most famous slotgames, IGT’s Megabucks. For a very long time, Megabucks was onlyavailable on physical slot machines across many gambling facilitiesaround the globe. This was until recently when IGT added it to aportfolio of online games. Online slots are however, yet to hit suchhigh pay-outs, but they are rapidly gaining popularity and makingpay-outs to more and more players.
Forexample, Mega Moolah is known for the big pay-outs it regularly givesto players across the world. The game is commonly referred to as “TheMillionaire Maker.” In 2015, a British army soldier, J. Heywood,won £13,213,838.68, by placing £0.25 bets on Betway. CanadianMarcus Goodwin won CA$11,633,898 in 2016. A Maori man in New Zealandtook home NZ$10,144,395.82 a few months before that.
Anotherremarkable pay-out was of €17,861,813 unexpectedly won by ananonymous Finnish man in January 2013 at Paf Casino. The man got theright combination while playing NetEnt’s Mega Fortune. In 2011, aNorwegian student who was trying his luck with free spins won€11,736,228, while playing the same game.
In mobile jackpots, the highest pay-outs have been at Microgaming’s Mega Moolah. On August 28, 2016, a woman hit a jackpot of €7,968,311.26. She was playing the game on her mobile phone. It was the most prominent mobile win ever recorded until less than a year later in April 2017. A mobile player at Tipico Casino won €8,012,153.35
Conclusion
Progressivejackpots are very popular as they provide stunning pay-outs. They arepay-outs on gambling machines, like slots and poker machines. Theyare usually marked out in casinos so that players are aware.
Thenumber of progressive machines in casinos are not many. The jackpotswinnings also don’t happen as often because the house sets theincrements. The odds of scooping the progressive jackpot are minimalcompared to other games such as lotteries.
Thecasino pays smaller progressive jackpots while the software companypays larger ones.
The motto for most gamblers who come to Las Vegas on a lark is rather simple – go big or go home.
If you’re going to wager real American dollars on games of chance and skill, there’s no reason to take the conservative route. Bankroll management notwithstanding, the goal for any gambler in Sin City is to hit it big, win the jackpot, and walk away with more money than you know what to do with.
Of course, the vast majority of us who take these shots don’t mint themselves instant millionaires. Instead, the house’s inexorable edge and every gambling game’s inherent odds against the player combine to pour our money straight into the casino’s coffers.
For this reason, what happened at the Excalibur casino on March 21st of 2003 when a random tourist from Los Angeles decided to hit the slots has become the stuff of Las Vegas legend.
On that day, an anonymous 25-year old gambler arrived in town to visit his family. With the annual “March Madness” college basketball tournament in full swing, the player figured they might as well get some action down on Duke, Arizona, and the rest of the sport’s heavyweights.
The young man’s uncle heard about the trip to Excalibur Hotel & Casino and offered his nephew a little sage advice from a Las Vegas local – play the Megabucks slot machine and see what happens.
And with a $10 million starting seed* – not to mention millions of tourists plunking down the requisite $3 per spin to give themselves a chance – the Megabucks jackpot had swelled to an astounding $39.7 million.
*Megabucks initially offered a $1 million starting seed, before increasing to $7 million in 1997, and $10 million in 2005
Thus, the visitor from L.A. found a Megabucks machine and took a seat with $100 in hand.
What happened next made history…
How Does the Megabucks Slot Machine Work?
First things first though… in case you’re unfamiliar with the Megabucks slot, here’s a quick crash course on the greatest progressive jackpot game of them all.
Casino game manufacturer International Game Technology (IGT) introduced its Megabucks slot way back in 1986. At the time, slot machine jackpots were static in nature, meaning each individual machine offered its own kitty based on how many coins had been previously deposited in between major payouts.
IGT had a revolutionary idea, however, so the company linked its various Megabucks machines all over the Silver State together. In other words, whenever a player in Reno, Mesquite, or anywhere in Nevada for that matter played one Megabucks machine, their coins contributed to the same jackpot total.
This wide area progressive jackpot concept proved to be an immediate hit with players, who loved to watch the meter continuously climb into the seven-figures.
And those meters did climb on a daily basis too, thanks to the Megabucks game’s enormous odds against on the topline jackpot.
Megabucks is a deceptively simple game, one which eschews the multiple paylines and expanded reels that make up the bulk of a casino’s slot inventory nowadays. For a maximum bet of $3, players send three reels spinning, each featuring traditional symbols like 7s, cherries, and BARs. To form winning combinations, players hope to hit three matching symbols along a single payline.
The game’s jackpot symbol is a golden “Megabucks Eagle” which depicts the slot’s distinctive logo. The only thing is, landing even one of these crucial symbols along the payline requires the player to beat odds of 1 in 368. Knowing this, the odds against spiking all three at once come to an astronomical 1 in 49,836,032 – or (1/368)3.
Jackpot Machine Sound
For this reason, the Megabucks progressive jackpot often goes unclaimed for extended stretches, many of which lasting more than a year. With so much time in between big winners, and so many players statewide tossing $3 per spin into the kitty, Megabucks jackpots soon became notorious for reaching epic proportions.
Before that fateful day in 2003, Megabucks players enjoyed an incredible run which saw the jackpot rise to a then record $27.5 million in 1998. That life-changing sum was won by a lucky slot spinner at Palace Station in November of 1998, but the record was eventually broken with a $34.9 million payout awarded to a cocktail waitress playing at the Desert Inn in January of 2000.
A little more than three years later, a new record was waiting to be set at the Excalibur.
$100 Flier Turns Into Life-Changing Record Jackpot Win
Starting out with only $100, the player from L.A. had just 33 spins to work with given the $3* price of play.
*Megabucks can be played for $1 or $2 spins, but the progressive jackpot is only awarded to players who opt for the max-bet of $3
Even so, as a press release issued by IGT later revealed, the player with a birthdate featuring three 7s seemed to have Lady Luck on his arm from the very start. Within the span of those 33 spins, the man watched as not one, not two, but three of the “Megabucks Eagle” symbols slowly spun and came to a rest alongside one another.
Just like that, the player had beaten odds of nearly 1 in 50 million to put nearly $40 million in his pocket.
Well, not all at once anyway. The winner elected to take $1.5 million installments over the course of 26 years – which means he’s still receiving seven-figure payouts annually to this day. In fact, the winner has another 10 years and $15 million remaining on his record-setting payment plan.
Although he chose to remain anonymous, the winner provided the following statement to IGT:
“I’m still stunned; it doesn’t seem real yet. But both of my parents are still working, so some of this money will be used to fund their retirement.”
Largest Megabucks Jackpot Ever – And By a Long Shot
John Sears – who served as vice president of IGT’s MegaJackpots program at the time – confirmed that the $39,713,982.25 payout smashed the previous record for largest slot machine jackpot ever awarded:
“This MegaJackpot is nearly $5 million more than the previous world record slot jackpot amount of $34.9 million – this one goes into The Guinness Book of Records.”
Check out the table below – featuring 10 real megabucks jackpot wins – to get a better sense of just how ridiculous the record-setting jackpot really is:
Megabucks Jackpot History (Wins of $10 Million or More)
| DATE | CASINO | CITY/STATE | JACKPOT AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/21/2003 | Excalibur | Las Vegas, NV | $39,713,982.25 |
| 1/26/2000 | Desert Inn | Las Vegas, NV | $34,955,490.00 |
| 4/12/2009 | Terrible’s Rail City Casino | Sparks, NV | $33,000,563.00 |
| 11/15/1998 | Palace Station | Las Vegas, NV | $27,580,878.00 |
| 5/27/2002 | Bally’s Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV | $22,621,229.00 |
| 6/1/1999 | Caesars Palace | Las Vegas, NV | $21,346,937.00 |
| 9/15/2005 | Cannery | Las Vegas, NV | $21,147,947.00 |
| 11/14/2003 | Stardust | Las Vegas, NV | $19,600,523.30 |
| 12/14/2012 | M Resort | Las Vegas, NV | $17,329,817.67 |
| 11/30/2014 | Rampart Casino | Las Vegas, NV | $14,282,544.21 |
Competing Jackpot Hunters Lament Loss of Record-Setting Total
Within the slot machine gaming enthusiast community, learning that Megabucks’ massive jackpot had been won proved to be bittersweet indeed.
In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun conducted shortly after the news broke, Kim Wong from Kailua, Hawaii told the newspaper how she felt watching the meter reset back to $10 million:
“I was here at lunchtime around 12:30 and it was still around $39.7 million. Then I came back around quarter after one and it was resetting. It was such a drag. It was a little more enticing with the $39 million up there, but I’m still playing.”
Judy Selasky from Lavonia, Michigan provided a similar story, telling the paper that even though a record payout was off the table, she and her husband would still play in hopes of a “lightning strikes twice” type of moment:
Jackpot Machine
“I said, ‘Hurry up and get up to the room, so I can get downstairs. I figure if he won, there might be some magic here. I’m not a hog.”
Conclusion
In a city like Las Vegas which was founded on excess, setting the world record for slot machine jackpot winnings really is something special. And while we don’t know much about the software engineer from L.A. who did the deed, learning that a 25-year old tourist took the honors should give hope to every gambler who makes the sojourn to Sin City.
Jackpot Machine Number
More than 16 years have passed since the record-setting spin, and nobody has even come close to claiming such an incredible Megabucks jackpot over that span – which shows just how astonishing that memorable moment in March of 2003 really was.