A Guide to Online Progressive Jackpots
by Ted Loh

Every time I tell someone I am headed to Vegas, someone always gives me $20 and says “Blow it on Megabucks—we’ll split the winnings.” And needless to say, I never hit anything, but the allure and excitement of possibly winning millions of dollars on a single spin of the reels is so mind-bending that people give you money to play on their behalf!

But now, your friend doesn’t need to give you money to spin for them—they can do it themselves on any one of a number of progressive jackpot slot machines on the Net. And what’s better, they have much better odds of winning!

Progressive slot machines are taking the Net by storm. While the online gambling industry continues to attract new clientele at a strong clip, it is clearly online progressive slot machines that are now driving this continued growth. With this demand came the need for portals which specialize in providing progressive jackpot information—and the two largest, Jackpot Madness and Jackpot Mania offer a number of different progressive machines to tickle your fancy.

The first and largest, Jackpot Madness, is operated on behalf of casino software suppliers Microgaming, with arguably the largest base of licensees and players online. By the time you read this, it will have paid out over $53 million in winnings to nearly 2,000 happy winners. Jackpot Madness currently features five progressive slots and one progressive video poker:

• CashSplash—the world’s first online progressive slot machine, features a standard three-reel slot machine, with a jackpot starting at $5,000 and rising as high as $171,000 in one instance. Three CashSplash symbols with full coin-in ($3) wins you the jackpot, which falls on average once every day!
• Lotsaloot—a 50¢, three-reel, five-line machine, Lotsaloot has already attracted a legion of followers. To win the jackpot, you must line up three Lotsaloot symbols on the fifth line with full coin-in ($2.50). Jackpot Madness’ most famous winner, Jean, has hit this jackpot so many times she has supposedly promised to tattoo the Lotsaloot symbol somewhere on her body!
• Fruit Fiesta—a 25¢, three-reel, three-line machine, has been online for over a year. Line up three Fruit Fiesta symbols on the third line with full coin-in (75¢) to win this jackpot.
• WOWPot—lots of bang for your buck on this 50¢, three-reel machine. Similar to CashSplash, all you need to do is line up three WOWPot symbols on the payline with full coin-in ($1.50) to collect the jackpot.
• Supajax—the first progressive Video Poker on the Net, Supajax is a $1 Video Poker machine that uses a fifty-three-card deck—the fifty-third card being the Supajax card. To win the progressive, you must have four jacks plus the Supajax card with full coin-in ($5). A pretty tall order, indeed, but there are some very happy winners out there!
• Treasure Nile—the first 9-line progressive slot machine, Treasure Nile is a 50¢, five-reel machine, and within a month set the world record for online progressive slots, a massive $389,843.85 paid to “Olivier C”. Five King Tuts on the 9th line with full coin-in ($4.50) landed him this super jackpot.

Jackpot Mania is the progressive Slots portal of Cryptologic, another large casino software supplier. It currently boasts the largest-ever progressive jackpot, $414,119.22, paid to a player nicknamed “BOB0” in September 2001. Jackpot Mania currently features two progressive Slots, a progressive Video Poker, and a table Poker progressive:

• Rags to Riches—the flagship progressive of Jackpot Mania, is a $1, three-reel slot machine. Hitting three bonus symbols takes you to the bonus phase, where a spin of the wheel could win you their progressive jackpot, which starts at $100,000. “BOB0” achieved his lucky win on this machine.
• Super Jackpot—available in $1 and 25¢ denominations, this progressive Video Poker machine is like any other progressive Video Poker machine in Vegas or elsewhere—get a royal flush and the progressive jackpot is yours!
• Triple Olives—also available in $1 and 25¢ denominations, Triple Olives is a three-line, three-reel machine. Hitting three olives with a maximum wager ($3) wins you the progressive jackpot.
• Spice Islands Poker—more commonly known as Caribbean Stud Poker—a royal flush is the magic key to the progressive jackpot in this well-known and popular game. The largest jackpot paid on this game was $235,661.88 to “Creed” in March 2001.

Jackpots here do not seem to fall as often as those on Jackpot Madness, but it’s pretty certain they fall on a frequent basis—one winner, Kvegas, has achieved an in-credible ninety-two wins for a total payout of over $27,000! Each of these portals has a list of casinos that operate these progressive slot machines, so you will have no trouble finding places to play. But does it match the excitement of playing a progressive slot machine like Megabucks in Vegas?

“BOB0”, who won the huge Spice Islands Poker jackpot last year, said about his win, “Unbelievable, I couldn’t and still don’t believe it! I woke up my wife and we sat for almost twelve hours as the machine counted off at $600 per minute. People really do win on Internet casinos. Thank you 414,000 times!”
Well, okay, you won’t have to wait twelve hours for the counter to increment in Vegas, but I’d bet that was the most incredible twelve hours in their lives.

“Jean G.,” who has won an unprecedented eight Lotsaloot jackpots, said “it is nice to be able not to worry about your bills, it is a stress when you are living week to week, so the winnings helped me to live a stress-free life from that end. So now I am happy. Also, now I can go into a store and buy something that I need or want, when before the winnings, just like most people I had to think twice.” Jean also promised to get a Lotsaloot tattoo—talk about the love of one’s life! What’s more, her mother and her daughter have also hit Lotsaloot at least once each—on the same computer! Perhaps there is something to the theory about certain machines hitting more often!

Online progressive slots are here to stay. You don’t have to travel outside your house to play—just turn on the computer, prepare some food, log-in to your favorite casino and start playing! No more handling huge cups full of coins, moist towelettes, digging for an appropriate bill to put in, or even searching for your slot club card—it’s all automatic online.

The casinos recommended by either of these portals are amongst the best in the industry today. They are as safe and honest as most land-based casinos—the only thing they lack is the overhead cameras, but they can certainly track your every play and transaction—and in many cases you can also audit your own activity. Millions of dollars are being won every month—and when jackpots like CashSplash fall on average once a day, it’s easy to believe that you could be the next winner.
What will you do with your winnings?

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