Progressive Slots

How to Win Progressive Slot Machines

Why You Should Play Progressive Slots

A progressive slot machine is the most likely way to change your financial life by gambling. Progressive slots offer the same kind of big life-changing jackpots as the lottery. That's not to say that you're likely to win a progressive slot machine jackpot either. Your chances of winning the lottery are only slightly better than your chances of winning a progressive slot jackpot, but that doesn't necessarily make it the better bet.

It's important to note that these are just samples. Some lottery games offer better odds, like 1 in 125,000 on a game in Georgia with a $20 ticket. (That's the exception though, not the rule.) Nothing wrong with the lottery, but...

Progressive slots are better than the lottery because you have a chance of breaking even or winning a smaller jackpot while you're on the road to hitting the big jackpot. Slot machines are designed to give back small amounts more often in order to encourage people to play.

Odds of winning a progressive slots jackpot	1 in 49,000,000
Odds of winning the lottery	1 in 47,000.000

Expected return on a progressive slots bet	90%
Expected return on a lottery bet	52%

Progressive Slots Most other gambling games don't offer a chance at a huge prize. Bet $3 on roulette, and the most money you can expect to win is $105. Bet the same $3 on blackjack, and you might win $18 if you split and hit a blackjack on each card. Bet $3 on a roll of the dice at the craps table, and you might win $30.

But bet $3 on Shopping Spree slots from Bodog right now, and you have a chance (a small chance, but a chance) at a progressive jackpot worth $859,000. That's the amount available at that progressive game right now. That kind of money can literally change your life.

Some Current Online Progressive Slots Jackpots

Here are some other current progressive jackpots available at Bodog Casino:

I.R.I.S. 3000 - $237,859
It's Good To Be Bad - $147,546
Crazy Dragon - $102,271

And Bodog isn't the only casino offering huge jackpots. At the time of this writing, the following jackpots are available at Golden Casino:

Red White & Win - $723,956
Treasure Trail - $318,190
Pay Dirt - $264,029

Traditional Land Based Progressive Jackpots

Traditional landbased progressive jackpots are best exemplified by Megabucks. The jackpot for that game usually ranges from between $6 million and $12 million.

Strategies for Winning a Progressive Jackpot

No strategy is going to guarantee your chances of winning a progressive slot machine jackpot. In fact, only one strategy will increase your odds. If you don't play, you have a 0 chance of winning. You can increase your chance of winning just by playing. It's still a negative expectation game, but your odds of winning become infinitely larger just by actually giving the reels a spin.

So your strategy for winning a progressive jackpot boils down to deciding how much you're willing to spend on this type of entertainment. You could:

Take one spin per day on a machine that costs $3 to play. That's $1095 a year. If you make a lot of money, that's probably a small enough percentage of your income to make it worth taking a shot. But if not, you might try another strategy.
Take one spin per week on a $3 machine. That's only $156 a year. This might be a lot better strategy.
Take ten spins per day on a $3 machine. That's $10,950 a year, but if you're a high roller, you can afford to give it a go.

Keep in mind too that you're not guaranteed a loss on these spins. In fact, even if you're playing the lottery, you can expect to get back approximately 52% of your money in payouts. So spending $1095 a year on lottery tickets will only cost you (on average) $1095 X 48%, or $525. But if you play a progressive slot machine online, with a payout percentage of 90%, you can expect to only lose $109.50 in that scenario.

Even if you go with the high roller strategy above, of spending $30 a day on your jackpot attempts, you can expect to get 90% of your money back. So you could budget for losing $1095 even though you're putting $10,950 in action a year.