Enter any casino and you might find your eyes drawn to the selection of slots. These fast-paced games of chance are designed to be attention-grabbing and fun to play. The addition of jackpots has provided an extra element of gameplay, but what have recent changes to these games told us about overall casino trends?
How Do These Slots Work?
We need to start by seeing how jackpot slots work. Slot machines have been around since the end of the 19th century, but it wasn’t until electronic slots were made in the 1970s and onwards that jackpots could be added to them. This immediately added a new dimension to a classic casino game and gave players an extra reason to place a few coins in the slot to try and win big.
It’s perhaps no surprise that the biggest jackpot slot wins in history happened in Las Vegas. Leading the way was the $39.7 million won by a Los Angeles player who played the Megabucks slot in 2003. He didn’t even know he was playing a progressive jackpot slot but hit the jackpot with his very first spin. The introduction of online casinos as part of the global digital transformation process meant that these games could reach a bigger audience and potentially have bigger prizes, too.
Those slots that contain a progressive jackpot have a clever mechanism where a small amount of each wager is added to the top prize. This ensures that the jackpot will keep on climbing with every spin until someone wins it, at which point it gets reset to the starting point. The jackpot is mainly awarded on a random basis, but some jackpot slots have a bonus game you need to complete before claiming the cash.
The Different Types of Jackpots
It’s not the case that there’s just one type of jackpot slot. As the technology has advanced, new ways of playing have been introduced to this genre. The simplest examples are stand-alone progressive jackpot slots, where the amount can be won randomly on a single slot. On the other hand, linked jackpots can be won on any of the slots included in the network.
Curious to learn more? We can see how diverse the market has become by looking at some of the current jackpot slots in an online slots real money website. The Hot Drop Jackpots listed include Realm of the Gods and Reels of Fortune. These have an hourly jackpot, a daily jackpot, and an epic jackpot up for grabs. The epic prize can be won at any time, while the others have counters showing the latest time that the top prize must fall.
More Variety and Themes Being Added
A look through the current jackpot slots reveals a growing mixture of themes and features. Titles like Caesar’s Empire, A Night with Cleo, and Fury of Zeus point toward historical or mythological themes that feature some of the most memorable characters from different places and periods throughout history.
Jackpots are also offered on fantasy-based slots like Dragon’s Siege and Fairy Wins, as well as on many other themed slots. In fact, there’s no restriction on the themes that could be used. The same jackpot mechanism can be included in slots covering just about any theme you can imagine, which is why the number of games is growing as developers look to attract new players with diverse tastes.
In terms of features, the jackpot mechanism is typically still random, as mentioned earlier. Getting the most valuable set of symbols across the reels is often the key to a huge win. But the improvement in the technology used means that some jackpot slots now have special collector rounds where you try to fill the screen with special symbols to claim a jackpot.
Are Jackpot Slots Worth Playing?
Whether you decide to play jackpot slots or not is probably going to be based on your attitude to these gambling games. If you like aiming for a big prize, you might decide to try to trigger one of the main jackpots. This is the kind of excitement that a lot of players look for in casino games, although it’s clear that jackpot wins aren’t easy to achieve.
These games tend to be more volatile than non-jackpot slots. This means that you may need to play through a series of losing spins before eventually getting a big win. So, if you prefer steady, regular wins, you might feel more comfortable with traditional slots that don’t feature jackpots.
A Look to the Future
The way that jackpot slots have diversified to cover new themes and features helps to show us how the casino industry has been moving in new directions. Players can now choose from a massive selection of games until they find one that’s right for them, with the option of aiming for a big jackpot sure to appeal to a lot of players.
