Progressive jackpot: what it means

How a progressive jackpot grows and resets

A fixed jackpot pays the same amount every time it lands. A progressive jackpot is different: each qualifying spin pays a small slice of its stake into a prize pool, so the prize keeps climbing until it's won. Our general entry on the jackpot covers the fixed kind.

The arithmetic is simple. If a game adds 1% of each stake to the pot, £100,000 of play across all players adds £1,000. When someone triggers the prize, it's paid out and the pot restarts from its seed, the minimum amount the operator or studio has committed to.

Because the money in the pot comes from players' stakes, a progressive isn't a gift from the casino. It's part of the game's return, set aside and paid to one player in one go rather than spread across ordinary wins.

Progressive jackpot types: single game, linked and network

Progressive prizes come in a few shapes, and the shape decides how quickly a pot grows.

• Single-game (local) pots. Fed only by the one game. Yggdrasil's Holmes & the Stolen Stones, for example, has five local progressive jackpots won by collecting five diamonds of one colour.
• Linked studio pools. One studio links many of its slots to shared prizes. Blueprint's Jackpot King is the best-known UK example.
• Network jackpots. A pool shared across many casinos. Games Global runs Mega Moolah and the four-tier WowPot! network, and WowPot!'s top tier is seeded at €2 million.

Network pots grow fastest because thousands of players feed them, which is why they produce the headline numbers. The trade-off is that a very large share of everyone's stakes is reserved for a prize very few people will ever win.

Progressive jackpot RTP: what the headline figure includes

This is the part most players miss. A progressive slot's published RTP often includes the jackpot contribution, so the everyday base game pays back noticeably less than the headline suggests.

Here's what that means in pounds. On Divine Fortune, £100 of spins returns about £92.52 on average from ordinary wins, an expected cost of £7.48, while roughly £4.07 goes towards the jackpot that one player eventually collects. On Mega Moolah, £100 of spins returns about £88.12 from the base game; OLBG quotes about 93.42% including the jackpot, so around £5.30 of every £100 feeds the pots.

Because the effective return rises as a pot grows, some analysts publish break-even jackpot values. That doesn't make a big pot a sensible way to make money: the chance of winning on any one spin stays tiny, and the base game still costs you money on average. Our volatility entry explains why jackpot slots feel so streaky.

UK rules for progressive jackpots in apps

The Gambling Commission's technical standard RTS 9 on progressive jackpot systems (opens in a new tab) sets out what UK-licensed apps must do. In plain English:

1. The jackpot rules must be easy to find before you commit to play, and must describe how the pot is funded and what its seed and any ceiling are.
2. The jackpot's RTP should be shown, and if you aren't eligible for the jackpot at your stake or in that game, the app must make that clear.
3. Eligible players should be able to see current jackpot values, updated as often as practicable.
4. The chance of winning should rise in line with the amount contributed, and a winner must be told immediately.
5. If a jackpot is withdrawn, the money in it has to be returned fairly, with priority to the players who paid in.

Progressive slots are still slots, so the online slot stake limits apply: £5 a spin if you're 25 or over, £2 if you're 18 to 24. The usual design rules apply too, including no autoplay and at least 2.5 seconds per spin. The RTS entry explains how these standards fit together.

Since the chance of a jackpot rises with the amount contributed, a 10p spin normally has a smaller chance than a £1 spin. That's a fairness rule about proportion, not a reason to stake more than your budget allows.

Record progressive jackpot wins

The largest online pots have come from network games. These figures were reported by the trade press and the developers; they weren't necessarily won in Great Britain.

Games Global said in January 2024 that WowPot! had paid more than €225m across its linked games and tiers. Wins like these are extremely rare, so treat any jackpot spin as paying for entertainment. You can read the WowPot! record report (opens in a new tab) for the background, and the progressive jackpot history (opens in a new tab) for the land-based origins.

Checking a progressive jackpot slot in a casino app

Most UK casino apps group these games in a jackpot section of the lobby. The PlayOJO app's store listing, for instance, names jackpot slots among its games; for Coral and Ladbrokes, check the app's game lobby. Before you spin, it's worth a minute in the game's help screen:

1. Open the game and find its information or help screen.
2. Check whether the RTP shown includes the jackpot contribution or excludes it.
3. Read the jackpot rules for the seed, any ceiling and whether every stake level is eligible.
4. Set a budget for the session first, using the deposit limit option in your account settings.
5. If you're using bonus spins, check the offer's list of eligible games, because jackpot titles aren't always included.

Our guide to finding a game's RTP in an app shows where this information usually sits, and jackpot slots on mobile looks at how these games play on a small screen. For apps ranked on their jackpot range, see the best jackpot slot apps.

Terms related to progressive jackpots

• Drops and Wins: a network promotion from Pragmatic Play, separate from a progressive pot.
• Stake limit: the per-spin cap on UK online slots.
• House edge: the long-run cost of play, which a jackpot share doesn't remove.
• Seed: the starting value a pot returns to after it's won.
• Ceiling or must-win cap: a maximum a pot must be won before reaching, where a game has one.

The rest of the jackpot vocabulary is in our casino app glossary.

Partner apps for jackpot slot players

None of the partner welcome offers below is a jackpot offer, and none promises spins on a progressive slot. All three are slot spin offers with no wagering on spin winnings; 18+ and terms apply.

• Coral Casino: for new players, bet £10 on slots after a qualifying deposit to get 100 free spins worth 10p each on selected games. Accept them within 48 hours and use them within 7 days. Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Skrill, prepaid cards and certain debit cards are excluded, and the offer runs 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027.
• Ladbrokes Casino: deposit and spend £10 on slots to receive 50 free spins a day for your first 10 days, up to 500 in total, at 10p each on selected games. Claim each day's batch before 23:59; each lasts 7 days. Prepaid cards, PayPal, Paysafe, Neteller, Skrill and Moneybookers deposits don't count.
• PlayOJO: a first deposit of at least £10 brings 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p each, with winnings paid as cash. New UK customers only, excluding Northern Ireland; it can't be combined with other offers and is only available through the designated offer link.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.