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Jan

17

2011

Betting Enough To Be Eligible For Progressive Slot Jackpots

 Betting Enough To Be Eligible For Progressive Slot Jackpots

One of the saddest sights I’ve seen in a casino came when I was just getting off an elevator, coming down from my hotel room. As I walked into the casino, a host I knew pointed to a player sitting, shoulders slumped, just staring at a slot machine. It was a four-reel mechanical game in which four blue 7s was the big winner for a progressive jackpot.

“He hit the four blue 7s,” the host explained. “And he only bet one coin.” The progressive meter above the machine told me that a three-quarter wager would have brought a jackpot of more than $250,000. I asked the host how much the player won. “Oh,” he said, “a few hundred quarters.”

There are many different kinds of progressive slot machines. Some have a single progressive, while others have multiple progressives, such as video slots with four levels labeled minor, mini, major and maxi, or bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Some require you to bet maximum coins to be eligible for the progressive (common on mechanical) reel games. Others, especially on video slots, require a separate progressive bet to be eligible for the jackpots.

One thing progressive games share is that if you take the jackpot out of play, they pay less than non-progressive games. If you’re going to play a progressive slot machine, make sure you bet enough to be eligible for the jackpot or jackpots. Read the machine glass or help menu. Find out what it takes to go jackpot hunting and bet accordingly. If you don’t want to bet that much, then choose a non-progressive machine.

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