While it may seem slots are a lot alike, and they often can be, even games within a particular series can have key differences between them:
Why are some slot machines such as huff n puff have very very high grand jackpots like 176.500.00. Is this a progressive machine? Is that high amount only on max bets ? Is it a progressive?
Christine N.
Often times slots with six and seven-figure prizes (and in the case of Megabucks, even eight figures!) are what’s known as Wide Area Progressives. They’re offered by the maker of the game as an additional attraction to encourage players to give it a try.
In some cases a game series may consistently and prominently feature one of these jackpots. Wheel of Fortune is a series where a large progressive is a pretty regular feature of the game series, although not every version necessarily will have one.
Other slots may feature it on specific versions, such as the example of a game like series like Huff N’ Puff. In those cases you might see an additional progressive jackpot over the prize levels normally offered.
In most cases you don’t have to max bet to qualify for it, but you do have to meet a minimum bet requirements. A $3 bet is a pretty common floor, which is where things tend to start for games like Megabucks.
But the requirements will vary by game, and we did even see one example of a slot at the recent IGA conference made by Aristocrat that will make that life changing prize available at any bet level all the way down to a 75 cents minimum bet.
That’s not to say all versions of six-figure and above prizes are wide area progressives. There is a newer class of high limit slot, led by games such as Million Dollar Dragon Link, where the jackpot is indeed limited to the machines in a bank of the high limit room of the casino.
The success of these game series have been so strong, casinos are willing to take those games on themselves with the expectation (rightfully so) that they’ll perform.
So ultimately that’s generally the two scenarios that you’ll see. In both cases the prizes are progressive jackpots, and depending on the game it’s either offered by the manufacturer or it’s banked by the casino like other, smaller progressives.
When playing slots where a big top prize is on offer, it’s important to remember that a portion of the slot’s total payback (perhaps 1-2 percent) will be awarded within that one prize that most players don’t get. So if you’re looking for games that are less tough, that’s an important consideration as those big top prizes put a portion of the payouts into the hands of a select few.
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