Top ten tips to follow when playing progressive jackpot slots

Playing for progressive jackpots on slot games is hugely popular for many online casino patrons. There is no doubt that networks such as the hugely popular Mega Moolah jackpot network and the Wowpot jackpot network of games have huge attraction for slots fans due to the massive multi-million prizes that are on offer to be won.

However, if you are going to plan an approach to playing these games, there are some simple tips you can follow to do so more effectively and, perhaps, more cost-effectively. While there is no 'strategy' you can follow that will guarantee you success on any slot game, let alone a progressive jackpot slot, what we can do is give you some good pointers to ensure that you get the most for the money you do deposit, and also gain the most enjoyment from your sessions playing the game as is possible.

And of course, if that leads to you possibly making a profit too, then all the better!

Let's start with what I think is definitely the most important of all the tips in this section and which is great advice to follow if you are thinking of playing any type of slot games at any casino.

• Tip 1 - Pick up a great value starter bonus

Without any shadow of a doubt, the first thing you should do when you are thinking about playing progressive jackpot slots (or any slot for that matter), is to sign up at a casino that is going to offer you a great value starter bonus when you join them.

The reason for that is that a starter bonus Is a simple and easy way to increase the amount of money you have available to play with on that site. This in effect means that instead of having just your deposit to play with, you could have considerably more money to use on the site, which of course means more spins to play on the game of your choice.

What are you looking for with a great value starter bonus? Well obviously, the amount you will receive is important, but so is the maximum value of deposit onto which the bonus will be applied and whether there are any follow up bonuses. For example, if you have a 100% Matched Deposit bonus on deposits of up to £1,000 and a 200% Matched Deposit bonus on deposit of up to £500, then with the first option, you would receive £1,000 in bonus cash on top of your £1,000 deposit for a total of £2,000 in funds. With the second, you would have £1,000 in bonus cash plus £500 of your deposit, for £1,500 available in funds.

You can see here to get the same bonus amount of £1,000, you only have to deposit £500 with the second casino instead of £1,000. Which seems to be a much better value deal. However, if that casino only offers that bonus, but the first casino offers a second deposit bonus of another 100% Matched Deposit bonus of up to £1,000 on your second deposit, then in the long term, this first offer is better value.

Some deposit bonuses, such as those at Casino Rewards sites like Zodiac Casino, Grand Mondial Casino and Captain Cooks Casino, offer the chance to play your bonus cash as spins on Mega Moolah slots. Some of these offers, which are aimed more at lower stakes players, can be exceptionally good value and a great way to sign up if you do not have a larger bankroll available to play with, but you still want to maximise out the value of your starter bonus.

The other thing to consider with starter bonuses is wagering requirement. Almost all starter bonuses at casinos have them nowadays and then can be a little restrictive at times, but generally speaking, they are worth putting up with as the benefits of having that extra cash to spend outweigh the negatives of trying to meet the wagering requirement.

I cannot stress how important it is to pick up a great value starter bonus when you start playing progressives as you can get many more spins on the game for your money, sometimes over many deposits with the casino, if you pick a great value deal.

• Tip 2 - Pick the right progressive game to play.

Depending on which casino you have signed up with, you may well have a choice of progressive jackpot games to play. Which ones are the best and most popular and are the ones you should be targeting to play?

For me, there is an easy answer to this question and my first choice is always the Mega Moolah series of slots. You have a great selection of games to play (the original Mega Moolah slot, and the new Atlantean Treasures, and Absolootly Mad slots, plus if you are a member at Casino Rewards you can also play Mega Vault Millionaire too) and all these games offer you a chance to win any of the four progressive jackpot prizes available on the Mega Moolah network.

Not to mention the fact that there are two more titles set to be added to the network over the coming months in the shape of Fortunium Gold and Juicy Joker slot games.

Another great option also from Microgaming is the Wowpot network which features Wheel of Wishes plus two brand new slots, Book of Atem Wowpot and Sisters of Oz Wowpot, all of which offer a shot at the current Wowpot progressive jackpot prize (which stands at around 6.5 million at the time of writing) as well as three other progressive jackpot prizes.

For me though Mega Moolah remains the standout choice having paid out five multi-million jackpot winners already in 2020, including a winner of just over CA$4 million just a couple of weeks ago.

• Tip 3 - Find the 'sweet spot' when it comes to your bet amount

So you've signed up to a casino, got your deposit bonus and now have cash in your account ready to play a top progressive slot. The next thing you need to consider is what your bet size should be for the game you want to play.

While it is the case on the vast majority of progressives that the more you bet, the more chance you have of triggering the jackpot prize (otherwise, there would be little incentive to play more than a minimum bet on each spin), what you need to do is hit the sweet spot with your bets so you are not spending too much per spin to risk losing all your bankroll too quickly, but also betting enough so any wins you do land in a session can help boost your bankroll back up (or if you are lucky, maybe even increase it).

Betting too much per spin is a common mistake players make and as a general rule of thumb, for the majority of new players, I would suggest a bet amount of the minimum bet, or close to it, is a sensible place to start. The only exception to this is higher rollers who may deposit tens of thousands or even more in a new account and so who may be more used to betting much larger amounts per spin (and have the bankroll to accommodate this).

What you are looking for is that key sweet spot where playing the game is exciting and offers wins that can boost a bankroll, but where you won't spend all your cash in a very short space of time.

• Tip 4 - Don't play through your entire bankroll in one go

Unless you have made a very small deposit (such as 10.00), my advice to you is to divide up your bankroll and use them for a number of sessions at different times on your chosen progressive slot or network.

So, if you have deposited say £100 and have a further deposit bonus of £100 to spend on top of that, I'd divide that up into 10 sessions of £20 per spend. And then play these sessions at various times (and sometimes on various slots).

Use the Autoplay feature available on the slot games and you can control how much you spend very easily, rather than clicking on the Spin button continuously which is very easy to lose track of in terms of time and of how much you spend.

By playing multiple sessions, you give the slot a chance to 'pay you back' some of the money you spend in wins and you can then use this incoming cash to supplement your bankroll and receive a lot more spins for your money.

• Tip 5 - Never chase your losses

If you do opt to play in sessions, then what you will notice after a few sessions is that some sessions you will finish with more money than you started, in others it will be about the same, in others it may be a bit less and in some it may be a lot less than what you started with. In this final case, it is imperative that you take this loss on the chin and do not get tempted into chasing your losses.

The random nature of slots means that you can catch them at times when they seem to pay out every other spin and seem to throw money at you, but the flip side of that is you can catch the same game at a different time and it seems like it is never going to let you win again. That's not a fault with the game, it is precisely how slot games are supposed to work.

As such, if you chase your losses on a game when it is playing a little 'cold' then you could just be on the road to losing even more money. Take the loss on the chin, leave the game alone and come back at another time when hopefully the slot gods will be a little kinder!

Chasing your losses is a rookie mistake and one that can cost novice players a lot of money, so do not fall into this trap.

• Tip 6 - Don't be tempted to continue if you finish in profit

The flip side of Tip 5 is also true. Sometimes, you may play through £20 worth of spins and make a significant profit on your spend thanks to the game paying out some big wins for you. That's great and it is also very tempting to think that you should try to cash in while the slot is playing 'hot'.

In general, I don't advise you to do this. Over time, the odds favour the casino and the more spins you play, the more you tip the odds in favour of the casino. So if you have landed a profit in a session, I would always advise that you bank that profit for another day and walk away.

Remember, there is no guarantee that just because the last 100 spins or so have been profitable, that the next 100 spins or so will be too. That is especially true on progressive jackpot slot games which can see players experience really diverse results on their sessions on the same game.

• Tip 7 - Try different games to see which one you prefer

If you are playing for a progressive such as the Wowpot or Mega Moolah jackpot prizes, then the great news is that these games have a number of different options available for you to play for the same jackpot prize.

Remember, regardless of which game you elect to play, your chances of winning the progressive jackpot remain the same, so you are not penalised playing one game over another on any of the networks.

On the Wowpot slot, you have a choice of three games now, but on Mega Moolah, you have at least seven games to pick from (plus two more games being added to that network very shortly).

By mixing up your play across these games, you not only get to experience different types of slot games, but you can decide which is your favourite. Playing the original Mega Moolah is very different to playing Atlantean Treasures, which in turn is very different to Absolootly Mad. That's why we wrote an article Mega Moolah vs Atlantean Treasures vs Absolootly Mad and Wheel of Wishes vs Mega Moolah vs Mega Vault Millionaire.

If you divide your bankroll into sessions, it is easy to then decide which game to play on each session to give you a real feel for the different games and to help you decide which, if any, you prefer.

• Tip 8 - Don't overlook the prizes on offer in the base game

An affliction known as 'progressive jackpot in the eye' can strike players when they play games for the Wowpot or Mega Moolah progressive jackpot prizes. It is easy for players to see their relative success or failure on the game measured only in terms of how they do in terms of the progressive jackpot, but if you do that then you are almost certainly doomed to failure.

Sure it is the aim of every progressive jackpot player to trigger a massive jackpot prize, but the reality is that it is not likely to happen and if that is your yardstick for success, then you are setting yourself up to fail.

Instead, focus on what the base game has to offer for each game you play. Playing the game as a slot first and a progressive jackpot very much second is a much more sensible approach as you can far more easily trigger some of the key bonus features of a slot game and these bonuses can prove to be very lucrative if you are lucky.

• Tip 9 - Keep close tabs on the progressive jackpot values and how much they are increasing by.

It's a great idea to check by a site like MegaMoolah.com to see how the jackpot progressive slots are progressing. These games do become more popular with players as the jackpot grows and as such, you can see the speed at which a jackpot increases pick up as the numbers head northwards.

Of course, a progressive jackpot can be won at any time, so there's no guarantee when a jackpot will be won, but the more spins played on a slot by an increasing number of players means that there are more chances for the jackpot to be won and if that jackpot is for a very large amount, then that makes playing the game even more exciting and enjoyable.

• Tip 10 - Don't think that because the jackpot has just been won, it cannot be won soon again

So that big Wowpot or Mega Moolah progressive jackpot has been won and the jackpot has reset back to a much smaller amount. Does that mean you can forget about this game for a few weeks and come back to it when the jackpot is much more likely to be won?

A large number of players do this but in actual fact, in. both Wowpot and Mega Moolah games, the jackpot can be won at any time, by any player regardless of how long ago the last trigger was.

While we don't have any data for the Wowpot jackpot as yet but there have been many Major Jackpot winners as reported on WheelofWishes.net. The Mega Moolah jackpot has however been won often with just a short space of time between each win. We have even seen the jackpot won twice in the same day on two occasions. We have seen just a few days between winners and we have seen two or even three winners landed in the same month (including this past May 2020).

Just because the jackpot is smaller does not mean that it cannot be won. Indeed, a high proportion of wins have been for jackpot prize amounts of between 1 and 4 million on Mega Moolah, supposedly the 'cold' time for jackpot wins!

So remember these ten key tips when playing your choice of progressive jackpot game and you should be able to enjoy some fantastic gaming, along with a chance at winning a huge amount of money, if you are lucky enough!