(STL.News) If you take a stroll through the slot machine section of a casino floor in somewhere like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you probably won’t fail to notice the displays of jackpot prizes. The intention of the signage is to be overt, showing clients the ever-growing prizes, which sometimes reach millions of dollars. The fact that they constantly rise in value is what deems them “progressive” jackpots. But have you ever wondered about the math behind these prizes? How are they funded and how do they grow? And who wins? It’s actually an interesting aspect of the casino economy.
The first thing to note is that all slots are based on RNGs (random number generators). It doesn’t matter if you are playing a physical machine in the Bellagio or slots at a social casino like Pulsz, the basic format is the same: an RNG determines the outcome of each spin. The RNG will be programmed within certain parameters, for example, with a 96.2% payback rate over time. Yet, while RNGs are also involved in progressive jackpots, it’s not quite the same format.
Economies of scale at play
Progressive jackpots are funded by players’ bets on the game. They will also have a seed amount. Usually, the contribution from players is very small – circa 1% – designed so it is not noticeable and does not impact the other prizes in the game. For instance, say a progressive jackpot had a seed amount of $100,000, and a player bet $1 with a 1% contribution rate, the jackpot would grow by 1 cent for every spin that player paid. It’s going to take a lot of spins to grow that to millions, of course, so slots providers use economies of scale, linking the jackpot through a network of games. Usually, the network is found across different casinos. So you could have 1000s of players adding their proverbial penny every minute. It’s an economy of scale principle.
So, if that’s how they are funded, how are they won? Well, the RNG decides in advance that the jackpot will pay at a specific value, say $1,822,457.37. Once the jackpot reaches that value, it will pay, and the player whose contribution takes it over the threshold will be awarded the prize. Sometimes the games will award the prize through a combination of symbols or a similar function, whereas other times it’s just announced and paid. Regardless, it is the person’s bet that causes the jackpot to reach the pre-determined value that will win the prize.
High-stakes players are favored.
If you consider the above, you will appreciate two things: First, that progressive jackpots are not random in the same way that other game outcomes are. The RNG randomly picks the prize value, so that part is random, but from there it isn’t. Of course, players don’t know the value, thus it becomes something of a moot point. You do see websites and forums online devoted to tracking and ‘hunting’ progressive jackpots, but it remains a guessing game.
Secondly, you will probably also work out that high-stakes players are more likely to win progressive jackpots. Why? Because their contributions are larger. If someone is betting 20 cents on a game and another person is betting $100 per spin, the latter is contributing $1 (not all contributions are 1% but it serves as a useful example), and the former just a fraction of a penny. Therefore, the high-stakes player is more likely to break the threshold because they contribute a higher amount.
Knowing this information can’t really make it any more likely that you would win one of these jackpots. However, as with financial trading, understanding the mechanics and functionalities of a game is always useful. It can help you consider risk, budget management, and other aspects.
