How Progressive Jackpots Work

Progressive jackpots build over time until a player wins them, then they reset to a predetermined level
and start building again. The way they build is by taking a percentage of every bet made on the game
the progressive jackpot is associated with and adding it to the jackpot amount.

Here’s a fictitious example so you can see exactly how a progressive jackpot works. The example uses
numbers that are easy to compute for the purpose of this page. These numbers are not necessarily
representative of a real-life progressive game but are an accurate representation of the mechanics.

We’ll use a slot machine with an attached progressive jackpot as an example. The slot machine takes
10% of every wager and places it in the progressive jackpot amount. After the jackpot is won the
amount is reset to $100,000. The reset amount is generally accumulated from the contributions to the
overall progressive jackpot.

In this example, 1% is used to fund the next reset amount and 9% goes straight to the progressive
amount until $100,000 is accumulated in the reset account. Once the $100,000 is accumulated the
entire 10% is used for the climbing jackpot. Another way this can be handled is the casino or software
provider, whoever is running the progressive, fronts the $100,000 and the 10% goes toward that until it
is taken care of.

Then the progressive will continue growing. There are a few other ways the reset amount can be
handled, but the important thing to know is the seed amount is taken from the wagers on the game just
like the progressive amount.

Continuing with our example, you are playing for a total cost per spin of $2.50. In this case .25 of each
spin is contributed to the progressive jackpot amount and $2.25 is handled just like it is on a non-
progressive machine. The other pay outs and the profit from the machine are taken from this second
amount.