Why You Should Play Progressive Slots Instead of the Lottery
As financial times continue to deteriorate, it seems everybody is looking for ways to make fast money with a small investment. That might explain the gambling community’s fascination with playing progressive slots and local lotteries. While both of these gambling options come with significant risks, they can create life-changing winnings if “lady luck” comes for a visit.
If you want a chance to win big with a small investment, you might be interested in knowing whether you should make that investment in progressive slots or the lottery. Hopefully, the following information will shine a light for you in the right direction.
What are Progressive Slots?
Standard online video slots are played with a stated statutory payout scheme for each applicable winning reel combination. While progressive slots offer the same kinds of statutory payout schemes, they also offer something a little extra in the form of progressive jackpots.
A progressive slot game is uniquely tied together across multiple online casinos on which the game is available. This effectively creates a game network of sorts. As players across the network play the game, the game’s normal payouts are enforced based on amounts wagered. At the same time, a small portion of each wager goes toward a separate pool. That pool becomes the game’s progressive jackpot.
It’s noteworthy that some progressive jackpots can grow to 10-digit payouts. For proof, you might want to read about progressive slots Microgaming’s Mega Moolah or Netent’s Mega Fortune. The latest life-changing progressive jackpot payout came in April 2020 when one lucky player won $16,496,060 USD while playing the aforementioned Mega Moolah.
Once a progressive jackpot is awarded, a minimum progressive pot is automatically established. For instance, Mega Moolah always has a minimum payout of $1,000,000.
How Progressive Slots Affect Return to Player Percentages
Every online casino game has tests performed by an independent auditing firm. The reasons behind these tests or audits are two-fold. First, each game needs testing and to become certified as fair with random outcomes. Second, each game receives a “Return to Player” percentage (RTP) based on the audit results. A game’s RTP percentage represents the percentage of every dollar wagered that will be paid back to players over the history of the game.
In the case of standard video slots, the RTP percentages will generally range between 92% and 97%. If a game includes progressive jackpots, that game’s RTP percentage will slip to around 85%. The reason for this is because of how RTP percentages are calculated and the infrequency of progressive jackpots hitting.
The process of getting to a progressive jackpot game will vary from one progressive jackpot slot to the next. Sometimes, the chance to go for the big win is determined by certain reel configurations during a base spin. Other times, participants are chosen at random while playing the game in question.
As for the actual progressive jackpot games, Most of them revolve around participants having to spin a bonus wheel. If the stars (wheel) align properly, bang, it’s a winner. With most progressive slots, participants will at least get a minor award for simply playing.
Brango Casino offers access to a nice selection of progressive slots such as the site’s featured Aztec’s Millions.
Aztec’s Millions Progressive Slot Game as Featured on Brango Casino
Making the Case for Playing Progressive Slots vs. Lottery
With the exception of people who have been living in caves, everyone knows something about playing lotteries. At a minimum, everyone knows lotteries offer huge life-changing jackpots while also being very difficult to hit. In both regards, they are very similar to progressive slots. With that in mind, it begs the question, “Why are progressive slots a great alternative for lottery players?”
The best way to reply to this question in earnest is to look at it from a couple of different angles.
The Odds Angle
If a gambler is simply looking at odds, they might not even consider playing the lottery. After all, most national lotteries carry odds of approximately 300 million to 1, depending on the number of available balls and those drawn. That’s a risky number to overcome even if the monetary investment is small.
While the odds of hitting a progressive slot jackpot will vary from one slot to the next, the possibility of hitting one is completely random. There is nothing for players to do but spin the reels and hope for the best. Unlike lotteries, they don’t get to choose which symbols or numbers they want to use.
Still, there is a general consensus that the odds of hitting a progressive slot jackpot have got to be better than the odds of hitting a lottery. It’s hard to determine how much better because there are no stats related to the odds of hitting any progressive slot jackpot.
The Enjoyment Angle
From a pure enjoyment angle, it’s hard to argue with the fact that playing any slot has got to be more enjoyable than buying a lottery ticket and waiting for the next drawing. How much fun can someone have while staring at the TV to find out if they will be buying a Ferrari the next morning?
As long as slot players don’t get too serious, playing slots is a lot of fun for several reasons. First, the action is fast and furious with a new spin coming every 10-15 seconds. Also, each spin creates a little dose of anticipation regarding the possible outcome.
Second, slot players can get hours of entertainment with the smallest of bankrolls. It’s hard to argue that there is anything entertaining about watching a lottery drawing that only takes a minute to complete.
Finally, who can resist those fun and interesting interactive bonus games that slot casino software developers have been creating in recent years?
The proof is in the pudding. All a gambler has to do is buy a lottery ticket and follow up by playing progressive slots. It won’t take long for them to see why progressive slots beat playing the lottery for the casual gambler.