Beginner's Guide to Progressive Slot Machines for Irish Players

Progressive slot machines are, in essence, jackpot slots. Learn which are the highest-paying jackpots on the Irish market and find out more about them!

7 Top-Ranked Progressive Slot Machines in Ireland

How Do Progressive Slots Work?

1. The casino or game provider furnishes ‘the seed’, an amount of money that represents the baseline jackpot value
2. Each individual bet contributes to the general pot, following the relevant guidelines for eligibility
3. When the jackpot feature is eventually triggered and paid out, it resets back to the seed amount and the cycle restarts

RNG-triggered jackpots

Slots are not created equal, although, under the hood, they rely on similar RNG software to work. Triggering a jackpot prize depends on a randomly generated number, but they all hit differently.

For instance, in Microgaming’s Sisters of Oz, the jackpot consists of a bonus wheel mini-game. But in other slots, it may depend on landing a specific symbol combination or picking the correct symbols on the screen.

How Likely Are You to Win a Progressive Jackpot?

The odds of landing a progressive jackpot are challenging to pinpoint precisely because so many variables come into play, like the pot contribution rate, the number of slots linked on the same network and so on.

However, we’re indeed talking about long odds. According to various estimates, you have a better chance of winning the lottery, which doesn’t look so great either.

Still, Irish players may prefer the thrill associated with such a high-risk game. If you’re among them, set realistic expectations for your sessions.

The 5 largest online progressive slot payouts

Regular vs Progressive Jackpots

Jackpot slots are of two main types:

• Fixed jackpot slots
• Progressive slots

Fixed jackpot slots

If we consider the maximum possible payout, any slot game has its ‘jackpot’. However, fixed jackpot games will only multiply your stake by a predetermined factor, up to the limit specified in its technical sheet.

Therefore, since the maximum bet per spin is €100, the jackpot in Starburst is €100x 500 = €50,000.

The downside of fixed payout slots is that, for a lower-valued jackpot, you may need to max out your stake or be highly fortunate to trigger bonus rounds.

On the positive side, regular jackpot slots provide a more consistent Return to Player rate. That may translate into steadier returns and less of your bankroll wasted on dead spins.

Must-hit-by jackpots

You might have encountered the idea of mystery jackpots, but you didn’t know they were called ‘must-hit-by’ slots.

In a way, they’re halfway between the fixed and progressive types. They increase in value only up to a certain point. Here’s how they work:

1. The pot is ‘seeded’
2. An algorithm picks a random point between the seed value and the maximum jackpot
3. A player whose bet contributes up to that exact point triggers the jackpot

Progressive jackpots

As we’ve hinted, progressive slots have an open-ended maximum payout, meaning the pot increases with each eligible spin. But how they accumulate and pay the jackpot depends on whether it’s a local or wide-area progressive.

Local progressive slots

A local progressive is an individual slot not connected to other machines but forming a network with others of the same kind within the same casino. The overall pot only grows when Irish players place eligible bets at that casino.

Local progressive slots are also known as standalone or in-house jackpots. It should also be noted that local networks have significantly reduced jackpots compared to their global counterparts.

Global progressive slots

So-called ‘wide area’ progressives connect one or several slot machines into a global network spanning multiple online casinos.

Since a wide area progressive can reach a global audience, its jackpot will be sensibly greater than what you’ll see in an in-house game. At the same time, because it’s played at such a large scale, your odds diminish greatly.

Two scenarios

We have two different scenarios here. First, a progressive slot’s pot is shared among several casinos featuring that game. In that case, players from all casinos participating in the network contribute to the pool.

The second scenario is when multiple slots combine into the same jackpot network across several casinos. Here, any of the qualified slots may trigger the pooled jackpot.

Multi-tiered jackpots

Software providers have found a way to make progressive slots more appealing by adding lower-valued jackpot prizes. Multi-tiered jackpots have become the norm, with most progressives offering up to 4 jackpot levels.

Since they value less, the lower tiers are naturally triggered more frequently, sometimes minutes apart. Conversely, more substantial prizes may drop in weeks or even months.

Jackpot tiers in Mega Moolah

Limited-time jackpots

Also known as Daily Drops, limited-time jackpots work just like any other progressive slot, except they payout by a predetermined time. They accumulate with each wager and are guaranteed to be triggered by the chosen hour.

Pick and Play the Best Progressive Slot for You

Best Irish online casinos are host to a wide variety of progressive slots, so you might be tempted to pick the one with the largest jackpot. However, be sure to consider the experts’ advice to optimise your progressive slot gaming sessions:

1. Learn the optimum strategy to not lose recklessly at slots
2. Experiment with no deposit casino slots first, as they usually have a higher RTP. Thus, you increase your chances of small and moderate returns
3. Practice with the free spin offers you may receive further, and only then progress to progressive slots
4. Remember, the highest-paying jackpots are linked in global networks from trusted software providers like Microgaming or NetEnt
5. Keep in mind that multi-million jackpots are also the least likely to drop
6. You shouldn’t disregard local and daily jackpots because they present a lower value
7. Create a weekly budget for jackpot slots and stick with it. Aid your budgeting with responsible gambling self-limits

Progressive Jackpot Slots Providers

In Ireland, there are several popular and proficient progressive slot providers.

NetEnt jackpots

The progressive jackpots included in the game catalogues of Netent casino websites may seed at a lower value. Still, they tend to offer high RTP games with several bonus features to compensate.

Thus, your gaming session will not be restricted to waiting for the jackpot to drop but will keep you engaged by other means.

Microgaming jackpot slots

Novomatic progressive slot machines

Suppose you want to get a taste of both local and network jackpot types. In that case, Novomatic casinos have all kinds of progressive slots.

To use the provider’s terminology, they have Standalone Progressives (local jackpots) and Linked Progressives (pooled jackpots).

Standalone Progressives

• Dancing Lantern
• Book of Ra Mystic Fortunes
• Dancing Tiger
• PayDay – Prize of the Nile
• Pyramid Fortunes
• Clover Power

Linked Progressives

• Star HIT Link – Born to Gamble, Queen of the Night
• Ultra Boost Link – Grand Eagle, Great American Buffalo, Tiger Storm
• Enchanted Fortunes Linked Jackpot – Book of Ra Mystic Fortunes, Goddess Rising
• Sizzling Link – Amber Party, Cats of Egypt
• Lucky Twist Link – Lucky Twist Matrix: Dynamite Dragon, Lucky Twist Wheel: Money Ki Neko

7 Progressive Slots Myths Debunked

To further round off your mastery of progressive slot machines, we’ve selected and debunked 7 of the most frequently uttered jackpot myths.

You can win a jackpot with free spins

No, that is impossible. Free spins are not free in the absolute sense since they imply wagering requirements. If casinos allowed winning jackpots with free spins, they would give the entire jackpot amount from their pockets.

Slot machines have hot and cold streaks

If progressive slot machines had had discernible hot and cold streaks, they would not be mathematically random.

That cannot be the case at a fair casino, which must frequently audit its games’ RNG.

Slots are programmed to pay according to a payout cycle

Irish players may believe in payout cycles because they have experienced what seemed to be cyclical winnings in slot machines.

Again, that may only happen by accident in an authentically random game.

You can figure out when a progressive jackpot will hit

A fail-proof way to trigger a progressive jackpot goes against its very definition. Nobody knows or can know when the big prize will drop.

Progressive slots are better than regular slot machines

That depends on your preference. Some would say they’re not necessarily better because the odds are poor, while others would swear by their life-changing potential.

Both categories of players can find their favourite at the best Irish online slot sites.

Online jackpots are not as fair as land-based casino slots

Playing at the best land-based casinos in Ireland can guarantee you complete fairness of the jackpot slot results.

However, you can rest assured as long as you play at a licensed online casino as well.

The Revenue Commissioners grants jackpot fairness by imposing its licensees to analyse how their games operate thoroughly.

You can only trigger jackpot slots by betting the maximum

The most common misconception about progressive slots is that the max bet craze should be dismissed ASAP.

There are indeed slots in which only betting the maximum will give you a chance to win the progressive jackpot, but that’s just one type.

Remember the recent Mega Moolah winner? Their life-changing spin was not even €1.