Hitting Progressive Jackpots at Online Casinos

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Progressive jackpots offer massive payouts to online players and are therefore very popular. But what make progressive jackpot slots interesting are the nuances of differences they offer. One example of a factor that exhibits such differences is the way the progressive jackpot is hit.

In most progressive slot games the jackpot is hit when a specified symbol appears in each of the reels of an active payline. These are sometimes referred to as traditional slots. Usually the specified symbol is the Wild symbol and it in some way embodies the theme of the slot game. In the Microgaming progressive slot game King Cashalot the symbol that hits the jackpot is that of the King. Since the progressive jackpot payouts are huge, often running into millions of dollars, there is usually a condition that the player must wager with maximum bet in order to be eligible for the jackpot. This entails wagering on all paylines with maximum coins allowed per line and with the coins being of the highest specified denomination. Hence the jackpot is hit only if the specified symbols appear on the last payline. King Cashalot is a 9 payline slot game. The progressive jackpot will be hit only if five King symbols appear on the 9th payline. If the five King symbols appear on any other payline the player gets a fixed payout of 15,000.

In some progressive slots the jackpot is it by a random event that takes place outside of the game. Here there is no necessity of lining up specified identical symbols on a specified payline. The software is programmed to hit the jackpot directly at a specified probability. These progressive jackpots are referred to as random progressive slots jackpots. One example of such jackpots is the Marvel Hero Jackpot available at Cryptologic powered online casinos.

There is another mechanism of hitting the jackpot in a random manner. In this case the jackpot is hit when a specified event takes place in the bonus game. Usually the bonus game is triggered by a specified arrangement of symbols. But in this case the bonus game is triggered randomly. The most talked about example of this type of progressive slot game is Mega Moolah from Microgaming. The bonus round is triggered randomly and in this round the player spins a wheel that can stop at the progressive jackpot position.

As in traditional progressive slot games, the intent in random progressive slot games is to encourage the players to wager higher amounts. Therefore the software is so programmed that the probability of hitting the random jackpot or of triggering the random bonus round is higher when players wager more. In these games wagering with maximum bet is not a stipulation for hitting the progressive jackpot, but the player is more likely to do so if he wagers with maximum bet.

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