We will tell you one thing; gamblers have never had it so good in 2019. Seriously, whilst many people long for the golden days of Las Vegas casino in the swinging 60s, when everything still had a rather novel and decadent sheen, it would be incredibly foolish to argue that this time was better for the overall art of gambling at Dream Jackpot than today. That’s not discounting this era at all, because it was still a lot of fun and actually incredibly influential. In fact, as many professional gambling analysts and historians will tell you, without that initial burst in the mid 20th Century casino gambling would probably be nowhere near as popular today. It well and truly set the groundwork for what we have in the 21st Century, and nowhere is this more evident than in the world of slots.
Oh yes, it can seem quite hard to get away from the all encompassing world of slots these days, especially now that they have made the jump online. Besides, the only reason slots are so prevalent in gambling circles these days is because they are just so much fun – the amount of players in 2019 is genuinely outrageous! Millions of us try our luck on the reels each and every day across the world, and the reason why? Well, as fun as they are there is always one absolute prize on people’s minds – the all important jackpot. That’s right, we are not so sure that so many people would gamble on the slots if there were no incentive to win any money. It is, in a sense, all about that illusive jackpot. Of course, nowadays there are so many variations in the slots world that many games will have differing types of jackpots, some much larger than others. Read ahead for a comprehensive guide on all kinds of jackpot slots.
The Basics: What Is A Jackpot?
So, before we get into anything too complex we really have to ask ourselves one simple question – what exactly even is a jackpot? Anyone who has watched one of the variety of different game shows will know exactly what we are talking about here, or indeed underwent a spot of gambling. Many people, however, will be genuinely stumped by this question, so it is worth taking a second to give a brief overview here.
In essence the jackpot is the prize you win for playing a slot and emerging victorious. It really is that simple at the bare bones of it, however there are also a number of things to consider here, because it isn’t quite that simple either. Different people, for instance, will quantify what a jackpot is in different ways depending on the type that they prefer the most. There isn’t just one overarching group of jackpot slots, instead there is a variety of nuances on the concept, something we will come to touch on in this article.
History Of The Jackpot
However, before we get into the nit and gritty of all these different jackpots it is also worth taking a moment to explore the history of the jackpot. Many people, and we don’t blame them, seem to think that slot machines possessed eye widening jackpots from the very start of their existence, but this simply isn’t the case. In fact, the jackpots we have come to associate with these machines have only really been a thing for the last half a century – it wasn’t always like this you know.
When slots were first finding their feet at the turn of the 19th Century they didn’t actually possess the capability to pay out coins. In some ways, then, many people would argue that they didn’t have anything that would constitute a jackpot at all. Going to the bar with a winning ticket to pick up a free drink or cigar isn’t exactly jackpot worthy is it? Luckily as technology advanced and more money started pouring into the industry this quickly changed, and jackpots became the standard prize waiting at the end of the slot machine tunnel.
Standard Jackpot Slots
The vast majority of offline and online slots aren’t directly marketed as “jackpot slots”, and this is because of reasons we will get to later. But really, they still are technically jackpot slots, as with pretty much all of them there is a maximum pay out that can be achieved – something that most people will call a jackpot.
The difference here between some other instances of slots is that the jackpots are always fixed, and in most cases they rely on multipliers rather than a set chunk of money. This means that gamblers tend to win as much as they put in, good for people wary of spending too much money, but perhaps a bit annoying for those mega jackpot hunters.
Progressive Jackpot Slots
But this is where progressive jackpot slot machines come in, as these things are where the real big bucks are to be won. As oppose to a regular jackpot slot, a progressive jackpot slot’s prize increases after every losing spin, meaning that it can eventually end up being really rather big indeed. In fact, whenever you hear about a truly outrageous slot machine win you can bet your bottom dollar it was made on a progressive jackpot slot. There are different instances of this too, read on for a lowdown.
Local Progressive Jackpot Slots
Standalone progressive jackpot slots are a thing of the past, mainly because as soon as the technology allowed it they started to be hooked up to each other, ensuring that the jackpots got even bigger. A local progressive jackpot slot is usually connected with all the other machines in one particular casino hall. Nice!
Network Progressive Jackpot Slots
Even local progressive jackpot slots are out-dated nowadays, however, network progressive jackpot slots rule the roost now. These are connected over a vast network which could contain thousands of slots in it, you know what that means don’t you? Ludicrously big jackpots. To put this into context, the largest ever win on a Las Vegas Megabucks network progressive jackpot slot was over $40 million.
