Progressive slots

Every progressive slot sets aside a small slice of each wager, typically somewhere between 0.5% and 2%, depending on the game and the operator, and adds it to the jackpot pool, leaving less for the base game’s payout table. That’s also why a progressive slot’s advertised RTP usually sits a little lower than a comparable non-jackpot slot: a slice of every bet funds the jackpot, and the remainder funds the regular reels.

The three jackpot types above differ mainly in how many players feed that pool. A standalone jackpot only grows from bets on that one machine; a wide-area network jackpot pools bets from thousands of players across many casinos, which is why network jackpots can run into six or seven figures while a standalone prize might only reach a few hundred dollars.

Wolf Gold from Pragmatic Play (96.01% RTP) pairs a regular base game with fixed jackpot tiers, so its top prize does not keep growing like a true progressive pool. It is a useful contrast with the progressive titles on this page.

Some progressive slots only pay the top jackpot tier when you’ve placed a maximum, or near-maximum, bet on that specific spin. Not every game works this way, but the paytable or game info screen will always say so. Check it before you assume a minimum-stake spin qualifies for the full prize.