The allure of big wins is a massive drawcard when gambling. We recommend looking at jackpot slot machines to trigger those gigantic wins. You will find two types of jackpots when you play at a real money online casino in Canada. The first is fixed, and the pots remain constant. They never increase or decrease in size and are known as fixed jackpots.
The other much more lucrative option is progressive jackpots. With progressive jackpots, the pots start at a seeded amount, but as players spin the reels, a portion of each spin increases the size of the progressive jackpots. These pots will continue growing until a lucky player walks away with a life-altering amount of money, rivalling many lottery draws.
Our team of slot experts has considerable experience trying out slots, including many jackpots. We will look at the types of jackpots, the basics, how to win, and some of the massive sums won by lucky players.
In 1986, IGT released the first progressive jackpot slot, Megabucks, in land-based casinos. In 1987, a fortunate player won a nearly $5 million jackpot, which would be worth considerably more today due to inflation. Seeds are at a minimum of $10 million, and this slot is still found on casino floors but less rarely online.
Since then, progressive jackpots have massively increased in popularity, and you can find some that only offer one jackpot while others may provide a few jackpots. The mega or grand jackpots (the biggest prizes) are always the most elusive. While you can trigger the smaller ones more frequently, the wins will be much lower.
Like non-jackpot slot machines, progressive jackpots use random number generators (RNG) to keep things fair and random. Another factor built into the progressive jackpot mechanics is the seed amount. This means that when a jackpot is won, it has a predetermined sum that will rest immediately after it pays out.
When you spin a progressive jackpot slot, a percentage of each wager will go toward the jackpot contribution. Many players at casinos across the globe will all be contributing at the same time. The percentage of your wager contributing averages around 2% to 6%. So let us say you bet C$1 that only 2 to 6 cents would be used for the jackpots.
The sum can change, and it’s set by the individual casino or the software providers that created the game. However, it ensures the slot will maintain its payout percentage over its lifetime. It will also affect the overall RTP rate; the percentage is generally lower than non-progressive slot options.
The fact that a chunk of your bet goes towards the jackpot pots usually means a much lower RTP rate than when you play on video or classic slots. The two main types of jackpots are local progressive and wide area progressive. Both offer lucrative jackpots, but they work differently. Let’s examine both and give some examples.
These types of jackpots grow within a specific online casino. It often includes multiple machines linked to the same jackpot prize. Here are some of our recommendations:
MGM Grand Millions is a five-reel slot machine available at BetMGM and partnered casinos such as Borgata, Party Casino, and Caesars Palace. It has a pays-all-ways mechanic. In the base game, there are 243 ways to win and up to 1,024 ways in free spins. No minimum wager is required to trigger the jackpot, and a $0.10 stake is sufficient. It is as likely to trigger it as a higher wager.
While the return-to-player percentage may be low, the frequency of its jackpot payout is high. Other slots that share a progressive jackpot include Loot’en Khamun, Mirage Mega Magma, Book of Myths, Spin & Win, and Bison Fury. On each of your wagers, 3% goes towards the jackpots.
The wide-area progressive jackpot is the most popular and common type of jackpot. You’ll find the same jackpot titles at many casinos worldwide. Due to the increased number of players, these grow faster and offer more significant winning potential. Here are some games to check out:
Microgaming released the original Mega Moolah in 2006. Since then, Microgaming has rebranded, and Games Global has taken over. You can play this game at numerous online casinos globally that offer it. It has identical jackpot sums and growing pots as players worldwide play for the jackpots. For every wager you make, 5.3% goes towards filling the jackpot pots.
The game is similar to the original, with a few changes, like the heightened graphic quality, but the theme remains with wild animals set in the gorgeous African savannah. It has also introduced book symbols similar to the Book of Dead slot.
Three books on the reels trigger ten free spins with a randomly chosen symbol before you begin. They will expand and pay anywhere on the reels if the symbols appear. If more books land, you can retrigger the feature.
The jackpot trigger is entirely random across all the Mega Moolah slots. If you land the feature, you can spin a giant jackpot wheel with 20 segments. The mini jackpot has ten red segments. It will spin, and you will receive the corresponding jackpot on where it lands. Once the jackpot is won, it reseeds at the following amounts:
The WowPot progressive series is one of the newer ones, launched in 2020 by Fortune Factory Studios, an upcoming software provider. It has ten linked slots, like Wheel of Wishes WowPot and Book of Atem WowPot. Each has four jackpot pots.
The Wolf Blaze WowPot has a lower-than-average RTP, but 5.3% of every stake goes towards filling the pots. Animals such as eagles, bears, and wolves roam freely in North America, and these have been incorporated into the game’s theme and symbols.
It has a Megaways mechanic, which means you have up to 117,649 winning possibilities on every spin with the maximum number of seven rows in play. There’s also an extra reel from rows two to five on the top. The rolling reels mean you can win multiple times on a single wager, as winning combinations leave the reels to make way for new ones.
The free spins feature triggers with W O L F scatter symbols. It plays out with increasing multipliers on each rolling reel with no upper limit. To trigger the jackpot, you can collect gold in a gold pot. However, it is still a random trigger and possible with a C$0.10 stake.
When you trigger it, you’ll get taken to a new screen with 12 tokens. You must pick at least three matches to win the corresponding jackpot. On slots like the Book of Atem, WowPot book scatters can activate the jackpot, which comes in a wheel format. The four jackpots and seed value are as follows:
NetEnt is the software developer behind Mega Fortune. Its library has a few progressive titles, like Hall of Gods, but this is its biggest hit, released in 2009. It advertises a high RTP rate, but 7.6% goes towards the progressive jackpot pots, essentially making it an 89% RTP.
Its first jackpot winner won over C$5 million, and the most significant win was by a student in Finland, who won an incredible €17.8 million. The theme is all about wealth, and the symbols on the reels include luxurious items, including expensive watches, bottles of champagne, super yachts, and wads of cash.
It offers ten free spins when you land three scatter symbols with a 5x multiplier on any wins. The main attraction is the jackpot feature, which requires three bonus wheels anywhere across the reels. You’ll then get taken to a giant wheel with three levels. The outer wheel contains arrows to the second-level cash prizes or the rapid jackpot.
The second level contains higher cash prizes and arrows to the innermost third wheel or the major jackpot. If you land an arrow taking you to the innermost wheel, you’ve won the Mega Jackpot. The seed values of the jackpots are
Playtech released Jackpot Giant in 2014. This Stone Age-themed slot offers a Giant Bonus feature, which includes a friendly giant, volcanoes, and gold coins. When you trigger this feature, you can pick up to six volcanoes for instant cash prizes. The other bonus feature is when the Giant Hand scatter triggers the mystery bonus with wins up to 500x.
You must play the maximum bet of C$4 per spin to play for the progressive jackpot pot. You must land all wilds on the central row to win the jackpot. If you land them without the minimum stake required, you’ll still win 50,000x of your stake. 2.98% of the wager contributes to the single jackpot pot, making the actual RTP rate 91.24%. Its highest win was in 2018 when a player won an incredible sum of $12,305,243.
With a random trigger, any spin can lead you to the jackpot bonus round. While the random number generators will ultimately trigger it, any spin size and symbol combinations can land. It doesn’t have any specific triggers. While the bet size doesn’t always make a difference, the higher the wager on some, the higher your chances of hitting it.
Other progressive jackpot slots come with a bonus-style game. The type of bonuses you’ll find include giant spinning wheels. These come with various segments. When a few jackpots are available, the lower-value prizes will have more segments on the wheel, with the grand or mega jackpots typically only having one segment.
The other way these bonuses work is through mini-game mechanics like a pick-me-style game. Here, you’ll typically be presented with a set of 12 cards. You must take your pick and match at least three to four cards, and you will win the jackpot prize corresponding to your chosen cards.
Other jackpots require a specific combination of symbols on one of the paylines. It also often requires the maximum bet to trigger five jackpot symbols on a payline or a combination of wilds on the central middle row, like in Jackpot Giant.
Lucky for us, the jackpot amounts aren’t a hidden secret. When you open the slot game, the jackpot totals will be displayed at the top or sometimes on either side of the reels. Generally, there is more than one jackpot, so each jackpot on offer will have a block with the total sum you can win.
As you spin and help contribute toward increasing the sums, you’ll see the jackpot amounts constantly ticking over as they grow. If another player wins one of the jackpots on the slot you’re playing, a pop-up will appear to inform you of the win. Once that happens, you’ll notice the jackpot pot will reseed back to its minimum amount, and you’ll see it start its upward growth again.
Once a progressive jackpot is won, the online casino has two ways to pay the cash prizes:
With some online casinos, you may not have a choice of how to receive your winnings, as they will choose for you. At others, you can decide. When taking a lump sum, you may be subject to taxes. Receiving annuity payments provides a steady income stream over an extended period.
With the annuity payments, you also won’t be taxed until each withdrawal, which allows the funds to generate interest. However, you will be restricted in terms of money emergencies and unable to access the unpaid winnings.
To give you an idea of the types of wins you can achieve when playing jackpot titles, we want to showcase some of the most considerable progressive jackpot wins on record:
| Jackpot Slot and Win | Details |
| WowPot Well of Wishes £42,149,180 December 2023 | This recent massive win is the largest progressive jackpot win ever recorded. There are few details about this incredibly fortunate player who prefers to remain anonymous. |
| Absolooty Mad Mega Moolah €19,430,723.60 April 2021 | This largest win on the Mega Moolah slot series was won by a Belgian player playing at Napoleon Sports & Casino. |
| Mega Moolah €18,915,721 September 2018 | A player in under 50 spins won this sum by playing 0.75 cent stakes. The Mondial Casino was where they had their incredible win, and it held the highest progressive payout for several years. It even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. |
| Mega Fortune €17,861,813.00 January 2013 | This was the most significant progressive slot win when it was won in 2013. A player from Finland hit this massive payout. |
| Mega Moolah $20,057,734 January 2019 | Playing at Zodiac Casino, this Canadian player landed this incredible win. The player has chosen to remain anonymous with his life-changing sum. |
| Mega Moolah £13,213,838.68 October 2015 | This UK soldier played the minimum spin size on the Mega Moolah. He won an incredible sum from a 25-pence bet at Betway Casino. |
Various factors affect jackpot growth. The main and obvious one is the game’s popularity. This heavily influences the jackpot size, as the more players, the more contributions will go towards the pot.
For example, the Mega Moolah series of slots all have identical jackpot sums. With nearly 20 titles, the pots snowball and pay out on average every eight weeks. The average progressive jackpot win is over C$10 million.
The bet size can also influence the outcome. While not on all progressive slots, as you can see from our examples above, massive sums have been won at the minimum stakes. However, many require you to place the maximum bet to have a chance to win the jackpot. An example is Jackpot Giant, where you must bet a minimum of C$4 to activate it.
With others, the higher the wager, the higher the chances. However, those players spinning with higher wagers will contribute more to the pots.
Many online casinos worldwide offer various jackpot types. This keeps things fun, with some networks linked across multiple games while others are standalone. It means they will suit all player styles, which enhances the user experience and encourages re-engagement. Let us break down the main types you’ll come across:
An in-house jackpot is exclusive to a specific casino or a group of casinos. The casino will select several slot machines you can play on. They won’t necessarily be jackpot slots, but the casino will offer a progressive jackpot linked to your wagers when playing them. The odds of winning one of these increases as it’s only available to a single casino. However, the prizes won’t be as significant as those available at multiple casinos globally.
With these progressive jackpots, a small percentage of each stake you make gets added. It can range from 2% to 6% on average. You will see the jackpot sum grow each time you bet until a player wins. These jackpots have limited scope as they may be exclusive to a single casino on a standalone slot or a set of slot machines.
Network jackpots have many similar mechanics to local progressives. The difference is that they are available at a group of casinos. For instance, network jackpots from BetMGM can be won at PartyCasino, Wheel of Fortune, and Borgata. Due to the limited number of players in these jackpots, the payouts tend to be much lower but still significant, often in the six-figure dollar range, compared to wide-area ones.
Games like 88 Fortunes or the MGM Grand Millions feature local progressives that offer substantial prizes while remaining confined to a specific casino.
Standalone progressive slots provide the lowest payouts from the smallest prize pools. While not connected to other in-house slots or a network progressive, these games generally offer five-figure jackpots.
A standalone progressive jackpot is exclusive to a single gaming machine, typically found in brick-and-mortar casinos. Unlike those linked to multiple machines or casinos, standalone progressive jackpots only accumulate funds from bets on that specific machine.
Also known as network progressives, these jackpots involve players from multiple casinos who all play and contribute. As they draw from a vast player base, these jackpots offer the potential for the most significant payouts. However, due to the high number of players, they also have the lowest odds of winning.
Again, a percentage of each stake contributes to the prize pool. This means you can play from Canada, and someone from Australia or Thailand can play and contribute simultaneously. The more players involved, the faster the jackpot accumulates, which leads to massive and life-changing sums.
Some of the best-known wide-area progressives include Mega Moolah, Divine Fortune, Megabucks, and the WowPot Series.
Hot Drop Jackpots are a revolutionary online slot game allowing players to regularly win huge progressive jackpots. These types of jackpots are split into three categories:
A small portion of each bet placed on Hot Drop Jackpot slots contributes to the growing jackpot pools. The closer the jackpots reach their maximum thresholds, the more likely they will drop. You must land three jackpot symbols anywhere on the reels to win a Hot Drop Jackpot. This triggers the Hot Drop Jackpot Wheel, determining whether you win the Hourly, Daily, or Epic Jackpot.
Some top Hot Drop Jackpot slot games include Oasis Dream, 777 Deluxe, and Golden Buffalo.
Whilst progressive jackpot odds aren’t in your favour, the rewards are worth it. If we use Mega Moolah as an example, the winning chances are 1 in approximately 50 million. If you were to head to Vegas, that sum would increase, with some at 1 in 300 million. Typically, Lottery odds are one in 300 million, so jackpot odds are still better, offering you a higher shot at a life-changing sum.
Before you play any progressive jackpot game, always quickly examine the requirements. While most don’t require a minimum bet size, some do. Check the paytable and how to play inside the slots information button to avoid wasting funds that don’t count. So, if you’re aiming for a big win, betting the correct amount is crucial.
The more you bet, the higher your chances. However, don’t forget that each spin is independent of the next due to the random number generators, and the slot odds will remain the same. Before you get spinning, we have some top tips to help you keep the fun within responsible gambling limits:
Progressive Jackpots offer a chance for everyone to win incredible and life-changing sums of money. While the odds are against you, you have to spin to win, and we’ve had some Canadian winners who’ve won many millions on some of the top jackpot slots.
When deciding where to play, check out our list of fast-payout. You won’t have to wait long to receive your jackpot winnings. If you want to claim the welcome bonus, always check the terms at each site, as not all allow you to play on the jackpot slots with bonus funds.
You can play across many types of jackpot slots. Standalones have lower winning sums but lower odds of triggering them. For substantial sums, play on the wide-area progressive jackpots like Mega Moolah and the WowPot series, which seed at C$1 and C$2 million, respectively and can alter your life with a single spin.
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