Microgaming progressive game comparison: How much does it cost to play?

George Orwell once wrote in his seminal allegorical work Animal Farm "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," and while the paradoxical nature of that statement was intended to apply to Stalinist Russia, it has stood as a maxim for our time in many ways.

One such way in which such sentiments can be used is in the arena of progressive jackpot gaming, where one progressive jackpot is very much not the same as the next.

This is the case with any progressive jackpot network of games, even games that share the same jackpot prize. However, some networks extend well beyond a single progressive prize and instead offer many different progressives to be won. One such example of this is the hugely popular Microgaming Progressive Jackpot network that you will find at a wide range of casinos, including those part of the Casino Rewards Network.

The Microgaming Progressive Network

Currently, Microgaming is in the process of giving its progressive jackpot network of games something of a revamp. We have already seen two new games linked to the Mega Moolah's Mega Jackpot released in recent times. First was the Casino Rewards exclusive slot Mega Vault Millionaire, and this was followed a short time later by Mega Moolah Atlantean Treasures, and there's one new Mega Moolah powered game coming later in the year called Absolootely Mad.

We have also seen one game replaced with another, with a much larger progressive jackpot prize. Microgaming stopped the small progressive game Wowpot and instead used the Wowpot progressive jackpot engine, greatly increasing its seed value to 2 million, and used that as the top progressive prize in the new Wheel of Wishes slot.

These new additions add to what is an already extensive selection of Microgaming progressive jackpot slots and in the table below, we are going to take a look at each of the games available from the company and how much it will cost to play them.

Interpreting the data

What does this data tell us about Microgaming's progressive jackpot network? Well the first thing we need to note is that in terms of the number of jackpots won in 2019, the reason Mega Vault Millionaire, Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah and Wheel of Wishes all have zero winners is that these games were either released very late on in the year, or in 2020, so they actually weren't in operation for vast chunks of that year.

However, the data in this section is very telling and it shows that Cash Splash and Treasure Nile were the slots that paid out most often across the year, with the Lots A Loot slot just pipping Mega Moolah top jackpot winners into third spot.

There are a number of games that did not record any winner in 2019 and again, this is not a fault of the game. Some of the progressive jackpot prizes in this network are designed to pay out a lot more frequently than others. Similarly, some games are played more often by players than others for a variety of reasons which means that they are more likely to be won.

If you discount the newer slots, there are just four slots that have not been landed since 2019 and the vast majority of games have paid out a winner in 2020 already, which is a positive note for those hoping to land one of the progressive jackpot prizes available.

What are the best value progressives to play?

What we need to do with this data though is work out which slot games offer the best value for players in terms of their bank balance, the value of the progressive jackpot prize on offer and of course, the chances of a jackpot being won at least at some point of the year.

When it comes to value, there are six slot games that offer a chance to win a progressive jackpot prize from 1.00 or less per spin. In order from the cheapest game per spin those games are:

Considering that the Mega Moolah jackpot prize (which can be won on Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah, Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire) is usually the largest progressive prize on the network it certainly appears that Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah and Wheel of Wishes have the prize for best value progressive game sewn up.

However, it should be noted that both of these games do not offer an automatic chance to win on every spin. In both of these games, you only have a chance of triggering a bonus round on each standard spin, and it is from this bonus round alone, you can trigger the progressive jackpot bonus game.

In Wheel of Wishes for example, a standard spin costs 0.10 per game and from that you can trigger the Power Spin mode. However, you can play every spin as a Power Spin if you elect to pay 10x the standard bet (in this case 1.00 per spin). This does offer you a chance to trigger the jackpot bonus wheel on every spin but is of course more expensive.

Similarly, in Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah, you need to hit one of the Progressive Jackpot Trigger symbols overlaid across the middle three reels. This doesn't happen on every spin, however.

If you compare that with Mega Moolah or Mega Vault Millionaire, then while the cost per spin on these games may be more, it is possible on each spin to trigger a shot at the jackpot game even when you make the minimum bet of 0.25.

So this is not as cut and dried as it seems. Sure, in terms of cost per spin, Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah and Wheel of Wishes can be cheaper, but do they offer the same chance of landing the bigger jackpots as a 0.25 spin on Mega Moolah or Mega Vault Millionaire? I'm not so sure.

However, my gut feeling is that the chances of winning each game when you compare the prices together is such as to make playing any of the four games pretty much the best value option when you want cheap progressive jackpot gaming.

Where can I play Microgaming progressives?

Go to our Where to Play page to get a cracking deal and start playing the best jackpot slots!