Progressive Jackpot Slots

Progressive jackpot slots are a hot item at most online casinos. This is thanks to the fact that they payout enormous amounts of money when someone wins. There are different types of progressive jackpots you can encounter when playing slots. There are specific jackpots that may be of interest and the casinos that offer them. Progressive slots usually have a higher house edge than the average fixed jackpot games. Players ignore the odds and losing sessions, if it gives them a chance to get a life-changing jackpot.

This page will go over the best online casinos for progressive slots. Also pointing out the progressives with the highest jackpots right now, along with those that have the best return-to-player (RTP). Once US players finish reading this page, they should have a good idea where to play. There is also enough information on international online casinos to compare. Players in Canada and the United Kingdom might be surprised to learn that the US-friendly gaming companies often offer much better odds, even if their jackpots are not always as high.

Best Progressive Jackpot Slots Online  

Different Progressive Jackpots

There is several progressive jackpot terms that slots players are likely to encounter. Below is a short lexicon of progressive slot machine terms, including the phrase and its definition.

Rival Gaming Progressive Slots

There are only four accumulated jackpots in the entire Rival Gaming catalogue. The jackpots are fairly small by most gamblers’ standards.

Rival Gaming offers nice graphics and a lot of bonus features, like wild symbols, scatter symbols, free spins, bonus games, and (especially) multipliers. In the US gaming market, no software developer offers more multipliers than Rival Gaming. Progressive jackpots are not the company’s specialty.

Players who want to find Rival Gaming progressive slots should look at websites like Bovada, Bodog, Slots.lv, and Ignition Casino; along with many more online casinos. Here’s a table with the pertinent information you’ll need when deciding which game to play.

In the table below, I include the game’s name, its number of reels, as well as its number of paylines, its return-to-player percentage, and the current size of its jackpot. The information provided is updated for the middle of April, 2016.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES	RTP	JACKPOT*
Strike Gold	3 Reels	1 Payline	97 Percent	$6,383
Major Moolah	3 Reels	1 Payline	96 Percent	$7,159
One Million Reels B.C.	3 Reels	5 Paylines	94 Percent	$40,361
Money Magic	5 Reels	9 Paylines	94 Percent	$46,328
*Jackpot amounts change daily. Be sure to check progressive slots for updated jackpot.

The biggest payouts have the lowest return-to-player, but a 94% RTP is still good. Compare these rates to the Microgaming slots below and you’ll see the difference. The payouts on Strike Gold and Major Moolah are small, but the RTP are 97% and 96%, respectively. That matches anything in the gaming industry, including the fixed jackpot games which have such high RTPs.

Betsoft Progressive Jackpots

Betsoft is known for its 3D animated graphics, but it offers 21 progressive jackpots which are competitive with any games in the industry. There are enough Betsoft progressives that it’s hard to put them all in one table, especially because their 2-cent, 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent, and one dollar gaming machines each have different jackpots.

If you want to gamble on Betsoft progressive slots, play at BetOnline Casino, Slots.lv, Bovada, Bodog, or Ignition Casino. Information for the size of the Bovada and Slots.lv jackpots are available online, so I’ve collected that information in a table below, as a resource to our readers.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES	RTP
Good Girl, Bad Girl	5 Reels	15 Paylines	8 Percent
At the Copa	5 Reels	30 Paylines	5 Percent
Slots Angels	5 Reels	30 Paylines	97 Percent
Vegas Slot	5 Reels	30 Paylines	96.5 Percent
The True Sheriff	5 Reels	30 Paylines	4 Percent
The Glam Life	5 Reels	25 Paylines	5 Percent
Tycoons	5 Reels	30 Paylines	5 Percent
Greedy Goblins	5 Reels	30 Paylines	5 Percent
Treasure Room	5 Reels	20 Paylines	9 Percent
The Ghouls	3 Reels	20 Paylines	8 Percent
Diamond Jackpot	3 Reels	1 Payline	5 Percent
Mega Jackpot	5 Reels	5 Paylines	5 Percent
The Bees	5 Reels	5 Paylines	5 Percent
Pharaoh King	5 Reels	20 Paylines	5 Percent
Jackpot Jamba	4 Reels	9 Paylines	5 Percent
Chase The Cheese	3 Reels	9 Paylines	94 Percent
Jackpot Ultra	3 Reels	5 Paylines	1 Percent
Ghouls Gold	3 Reels	3 Paylines	93 Percent
Mega Gems	5 Reels	10 Paylines	Unknown
A Night In Paris	5 Reels	30 Paylines	Unknown
Mega Joker	3 Reels	5 Paylines	Unknown

To give an example of the wide range of jackpots offered, here is a comparative look at the “Bad Girl” jackpot at Bovada and Slots.lv, two sites you’ll read about a lot at this resource. Notice that the pot sizes fluctuate wildly from one version of the game to the next.

RealTime Gaming Progressive Slots

RealTime Gaming has the largest number of progressive slots for U.S. gamblers. Also, RTG has the biggest jackpots for American players.

OUSC offers a huge amount of information on the RTG slots alone. That’s because RealTime Gaming has devoted so much time to progressives. Some players would say the long list of RTG progressives are bogus, because the local-area progressives and (especially) the random progressives are not what players really want. For that reason, I’ve separated each into its own category, so you don’t have to search for which RTG slots you considered to have real progressives. We’ll start with the biggest jackpots and work our way down.

American players who want to play RealTime Gaming progressive slots should consider Slots.lv, Club World Casinos, Bovada, Aladdin’s Gold, 5Dimes Casino, and Ignition Casino. Those outside the United States should consider Bodog Casino.

The RTG slots with the biggest jackpots are the “wide-area progressives.” These pots grow the fastest because they are linked according to the many online casinos which have RTG slots. As a jackpot grows, this only speeds up the process, so a few of the RTG slots (Aztec’s Millions, Jackpot Piñatas) have large payouts. In fact, these are the best progressives in the US gaming market.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES	JACKPOT*
Aztec’s Millions	5 Reels	20 Paylines	$1,844,596
Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold	5 Reels	20 Paylines	$365,509
Jackpot Piñatas	5 Reels	20 Paylines	$1,766,502
Megasaur	5 Reels	25 Paylines	$983,860
Shopping Spree II	5 Reels	9 Paylines	$369,905
Spirit of the Inca	5 Reels	25 Paylines	$287,143
Fame & Fortune	5 Reels	20 Paylines	Check Casino
Caesar’s Empire	5 Reels	20 Paylines	Check Casino
*Jackpot amounts change daily. Be sure to check progressive slots for updated jackpot.

Local progressive jackpots do not increase as fast as the pots listed above. Also, they seldom get as big as the top RTG progressives listed above. That being said, the following list of games have a jackpot which is triggered in the traditional way, with a jackpot reel combination.

RealTime Gaming produces more slot machines with random progressives than any other software developer. These are local area jackpots independent of the reel alignment. They are programmed by the operator and not by RTG.

These jackpots do not increase that quickly, indicating they are not that popular. That being said, RTG has produced so many of these games, they must be popular with operators and players alike. The list below are those games which have verified random progressives.

RTG has produced dozens of Real-Series Slots in the past few years. These games have enhanced graphics and sounds, while offering progressive jackpots. The list below includes dozens of Real-Series Slots. Most of these only have random progressives, so their jackpots might not be what you would imagine. That being said, AskGamblers lists every single game below as a progressive jackpot slot machine.

RealTime Gaming produces some jackpots which trigger at special times during the game. Three of these games have progressives build on losing spins. If ever a player has a really bad streak of luck of 29 losing spins, they trigger the progressive.

The first of these games was “It’s Good to Be Bad”, which became popular enough that RTG released others with a similar feature. Here are the special jackpot games.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES	JACKPOT
Operation M.Y.O.W.	3 Reels	1 Payline	Jackpot after 29 Losses
7s & Stripes	3 Reels	1 Payline	Jackpot after 29 Losses
It’s Good To Be Bad	3 Reels	1 Payline	Jackpot after 29 Losses
Pharaoh’s Gold	3 Reels	3 Paylines	Jackpot after 100 Spins

Real-Series Slots feature themes from around the world. RTG caters to Americans, but their gaming machines are designed with a global customer base in mind. A growing part of that customer base include Asian gamblers. I’ve noticed in the past 5 years, RTG has released a number of China-themed progressive slot machines. While a few are scattered throughout the lists above (example: Mystic Dragon Slots), below is a small list of China-themed Real-Series slots.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES
Zhanshi	5 Reels	20 Paylines
God of Wealth	5 Reels	25 Paylines
Year of Fortune	5 Reels	25 Paylines
Tiger Treasures*	5 Reels	20 Paylines
Crazy Dragon	3 Reels	1 Payline
Happy Golden Ox	5 Reels	50 Paylines
*Called Tigar Treasures on AskGamblers. Bally Technologies also has a game named Tiger Treasures.

While I’m discussing RTG progressive jackpots, I wanted to mention that games like Let ‘Em Ride ($157,255) and Caribbean Stud Poker ($145,366) often build significant progressive jackpots. Both examples are table games and not slots, but players who like those games should consider playing them.

IGT Progressive Slots

International Game Technology is the all-time champion of progressive jackpots. IGT invented progressive slots back in the 1980s for brick-and-mortar casinos. When others began to produce progressive jackpots, IGT created the definitive big-money jackpots: Wheel of Fortune Slots and MegaBucks Slots. Wheel of Fortune Progressives remain arguably the most popular progressive slot machine to this day. MegaBucks wide-area progressives boast 8 of the 10 biggest progressive jackpots of all time.

Unfortunately, since the passage of the UIGEA law by the US Congress in late-2006, IGT websites have not accepted play from American gamblers. That prohibition still remains in effect, except in New Jersey. In the New Jersey online casino market, 888 Holdings has partnered with Caesars Interactive on a series of websites for their 3 land-based casinos: Caesars Las Vegas, Harrah’s, and Bally’s Casino. Thus, New Jersey gamblers can play IGT Interactive slots.

IGT only has one progressive jackpot in the American gaming market at the moment: Mega Jackpots. This prize is linked to several different slot machines, so you can play one of three different games while trying to win this progressive jackpot.

Mega Jackpots has a reputations of having large prizes. Players tend to enjoy these games much more as they give them different unconventional games to choose from. Some are based off of popular table games, like monopoly.

888 Casino websites are the only place Americans can gamble on IGT progressives on the Internet at the moment. The New Jersey Divison of Gaming Enforcement lists six different web addresses associated with the Caesars Interactive:

Once again, the only Americans who can play at these sites are those residing in New Jersey. Players anywhere else in the USA can register accounts, but cannot play for real money. If you have an account and happen to be in New Jersey, you’ll be able to play on these IGT progressive jackpot slots.

Microgaming Progressive Jackpots

Microgaming offers bigger progressive jackpots at times. Their progressive slots sometimes reach $5 million prizes. RealTime Gaming slots usually get into the $2 million range before they hit. That being said, you’ll notice that the RTP on the Microgaming progressive slots are far inferior to American progressives. You might prefer the trade-off, but a good case can be made that the Betsoft and Rival Gaming games are a better bargain.

SLOT	REELS	PAYLINES	RTP
Mega Moolah	5 Reels	25 Paylines	94 Percent
Treasure Nile	5 Reels	9 Paylines	1 Percent
Cash Splash	3 Reels	1 Payline	5 Percent
Fruit Fiesta	3 Reels	1 Payline	9 Percent
King Cashalot	5 Reels	9 Paylines	59 Percent
Tunzamunni	3 Reels	1 Payline	3 Percent
Wow Pot	3 Reels	1 Payline	89 Percent
Major Millions	3 Reels	3 Paylines	89 Percent
Mega Moolah 5 Reel Drive	5 Reels	15 Paylines	12 Percent
Mega Moolah Ises	5 Reels	25 Paylines	12 Percent
Mega Moolah Summertime	5 Reels	9 Paylines	Unknown
LotsaLoot	5 Reels	25 Paylines	Unknown

Microgaming progressives were great when they first launched. For instance, Treasure Nile Slots paid out a record (for the time) of $389,843.85 only 3 weeks after it launched in 2001. These days, the Microgaming progressives leave a little something to be desired.

Conclusion

US players have a lot of options if they wish to play the progressives. The top prizes are not going to exceed about $2 million, which is below the international standard. Still, the return-to-player percentage on these games are competitive, and I don’t know a single person who couldn’t stand to win a couple of million dollars. Until more US states license and regulate online casino gambling, the RTG, Rival Gaming, and Betsoft progressive slots are solid playing options for progressive players.