In the past five years or so, online casino jackpots have been breaking their own payout records several times over. In fact, it’s been happening so frequently, that it’s no longer considered a newsworthy event when someone wins millions from an online casino slot.
Obviously, online casinos, nor big jackpots, are nothing new, but there has been tangible evidence that game payouts are bigger than ever before. There isn’t any evidence that players are spending any more globally, and casinos certainly aren’t all making losses, so what’s the reason for this phenomenon?
It’s all to do with increased interconnectivity between games and economies of scale. Casino games developers will now frequently link games together in what is called a progressive network. The idea is that a small percentage of each wager on a game will be paid into a prize fund, called a progressive jackpot.
Progressive jackpot games that follow this pattern have been around for more than a decade, but what’s changed recently is that more and more games are being linked together in these networks, creating prize funds that are bigger than anything has been around before.
Age of the Gods Series has four connected jackpots
Let’s take the example of the Age of the Gods series. It’s available to play at a site where you can find the most exciting games online – mansioncasino.com. Now, Age of the Gods is comprised of around a dozen titles, covering slots and roulette. Each game is connected through an interior jackpot game, which can be triggered randomly at any time at any casino.
The idea, however, is that the players do not notice they are paying into a jackpot fund. This series factors in around 1% of wagering to be paid into the fund, calculated through how much the game will pay back over time.
So, for example, if you played a stake of $0.20 on Age of the Gods, a fifth of one penny would be paid into the jackpot game. While you might expect it to take time to reach a significant sum, you have to remember that 1000s of players across the world could be playing at the same time, even feeding into the jackpot if they are playing a different game in the range.
It goes a bit further though, as each game has four different jackpots – Power, Extra Power, Super Power and Ultimate Power – which are awarded with different levels of frequency. Power, for example, will usually be awarded every few minutes, whereas Ultimate Power could take weeks or months, but can potentially build up to millions.
Random awards keep players enthusiastic
The biggest draw for players is that the jackpots – even the top prize – are awarded randomly, thus even causal, small stakes players have a chance of a big payout. There is a caveat, though, as the jackpot is random, your chances are increased by playing for a higher stake. That is due to the fact the jackpot will payout once a (unknown) predetermined threshold has been crossed, and playing for a higher stake means your spin is more likely to be the one to break it.
Regardless of the mechanics, these interconnected games have enchanted casino players for a few years now, but it is a trend that seems to be catching on at online casinos. While it’s arguably the most popular and prominent series of interconnected jackpot games, Age of the Gods certainly isn’t the only one. Even games that have no discernible link are being connected by developers, as operators try keep up with demand of players wanting bigger prizes. Indeed, it’s completely changed players expectations around casino games.
