Progressive jackpots have a tendency to provoke visions of large sums being paid out. This tendency explains why online slot machine games offering progressive jackpots are extremely popular, in particular among new players.

As the way in which progressive jackpots are hit, the frequency of hits and the amounts paid out vary from game to game, it is important – specifically for beginners – to learn about the various possibilities and combinations available.

One way to get a hit is for an enabled payline to contain 5 of a specific symbol, as is the case in the majority of online games. The corresponding pay table will show which symbol is required in order to make the hit (more often than not this will be either the so called wild symbol or, as is the case in some games, a symbol which is closely related to the prevailing theme of the game in question). If the player has used the largest coin denomination for his bet and enabled all paylines, the jackpot will be paid out; otherwise only a pre – set amount is paid for getting the same symbol 5 times in an enabled line. There are variations within this – some games, for example, will have only a few hits per year, but pay out very large sums. Others may have several hits each week, but the payouts are much smaller.

More recently, random jackpots have arrived on the gaming scene. Here, as offered in various online slots, it is not necessary for a line to contain symbols in a specific combination. Jackpots are simply hit at random during a spin, the player is informed of the win and his balance is credited.

One software provider has developed a completely new concept of jackpot for their newest game. In this game, a spin will not trigger the progressive jackpot itself at random, but a bonus game resembling a wheel of fortune, which then may result in a very large sum to be paid out. This particular slot also offers more than one jackpot per game (as do some others) – one with a very high payout, which is hit only occasionally, and some with smaller payouts, which can be hit more often.

Many providers also use networking, where several slots are linked to one common progressive jackpot. In one of these networks, four games are linked. As players bet on the various games, the jackpot amount continues to increase. Once a player meets the conditions required in a game (this can be any of the games involved), he wins the entire jackpot, which will then be reset in all of the linked games.

To get more detailed information on slot machine games in general and those with progressive jackpots in particular, it may be a good idea to have a look at some of the available review sites for online casinos and games.