What is a Progressive Slot Machine?

If you have been to a casino, you have surely noticed the rooms filled with slot machines. Even if you have never been to a casino before, chances are you've heard about slot machines and heard rumors of the money you can win from playing them. 

What you might not have known before is that there are different kinds of slot machines. Aside from the traditional slot machines, there are other kinds of slot machines, like the progressive slot machine. Not exactly sure what a progressive slot machine is? Read on to find out more. 

What is a Progressive Slot Machine?

The name progressive slot machine can be kind of confusing.  But the truth is, the answer is pretty simple. A progressive slot machine is a slot machine that takes a small fraction of every bet made and adds it to the total jackpot. The machine will keep doing this until somebody eventually wins this large jackpot. 

Once somebody wins the jackpot the machine will start off once again with its original base jackpot, and begin to take fractions of the bets that lose until once again, someone wins the large jackpot. This cycle will continue for the entire life of the machine.

How do Progressive Slots Work?

You may be wondering how these machines work. One way to think about how these machines work is to think about it kind of like the lottery. The prize of the lottery increases every time people continue to purchase tickets even when no one wins. 

Eventually, when somebody wins the lottery the prize resets at its starting jackpot. Progressive slots work the same way. A small percentage of every bet is taken and added to the jackpot until someone wins. 

Standalone Progressives

This term of standalone progressives refers to machines that only increase their jackpot based on the bets placed on that particular machine. There are some machines that increase the jackpot with other machines of the same type nearby which causes the jackpot to increase at a much faster pace. 

With standalone progressives the jackpot doesn’t increase as fast, but you could argue that you have a better chance of winning a larger prize since you won’t be competing with other people in real time.

Local Progressives

These kinds of machines work in what is called a local network. This means that the machines are all connected to the same network in a casino. Machines that are close to each other can all be on the same network.

These machines have much larger prizes than standalones because there are more machines taking fractions of the bets made by gamblers which add to the jackpot.

Wide Area Progressives

The last type of progressive slot machines is wide area progressives. These machines have by far the biggest jackpots because there are different machines in different locations that all add to the same jackpot. There may be these kinds of machines in three different casino locations that are all adding to the same jackpot. 

However, because of the much larger jackpot, your chances of winning in a wide are progressive slot machine are lower than in a standalone progressive.

Do Progressive Slots Pay Out Often?

Because of the fact that some wide area progressive slot machines have jackpots that reach millions of dollars, these machines don’t pay out as often. The higher the jackpot is, the lower the odds of winning it are. 

This is why a standalone progressive slot machine will have better odds and pay out more often than a wide area progressive slot.

When Should You Play Progressive Slots?

Many people are attracted by the large jackpots that can be found in progressive slot machines. There are many tactics and strategies that people like to use to boost their odds of winning in slots. 

However, the truth is that almost all of the strategies you will find online don’t work. All these strategies do is boost your confidence and make you bet more than you probably intended to when you sat down to play. 

It can be hard to resist some of the prizes offered by wide area progressive machines. It’s kind of like playing the Mega Millions lottery when it’s at $200 million. Even if you don’t usually play the lottery, you probably play it when the jackpot is that big. Same goes for wide area progressives which can sometimes have jackpots in the tens of millions of dollars. 

The truth is that the best time to play any progressive slot machine is when the jackpot is low. This is perhaps the only thing that can actually boost your odds of winning. Regardless of what type of slot machine you play, gambling can be very addictive. If you feel like you can’t stop playing, then you should reach out for help.

Is There a Better Slot Machine Than Progressives?

Many people ask whether a traditional slot machine is better than a progressive machine. The truth is that only you can answer that question. Although progressives have larger jackpots than traditional slot machines, progressives also have lower odds of winning than traditional machines.

It is up to you to decide if you would rather play for a smaller prize with higher odds, or try to win a bigger prize with lower odds. Due to the higher odds on traditional slot machines, many people argue that they are better than progressives, but it really is up to you to decide which is better for you.

Playing progressive slot machines are very similar to playing the lottery. This is what makes them so attractive to people. The large jackpots attract people that don’t typically play slot machines. The lower odds help the machine collect more money for the jackpot when people lose their bets. This is why despite the higher jackpot, it might be better for you to stay away from progressive slot machines.

You might be better off fighting the temptation of trying your luck by trying a different game such as plinko, or maybe even a fun skill game like Bit.Rocket. Both of these games can be played right from the comfort of your own home at MintDice.com

This article was brought to you by the Crypto Slots on MintDice. Originally posted to the MintDice Blog.