First of all, let's see how progressive slots work from the point of view of the house owners. The most popular form of progressive slots is a network that connects several slot machines. The principle of such network is exactly the same as of a single progressive slots machine, but the progressive jackpot is accumulated from several machines and therefore the sum looks more impressive. Such format does not affect the statistics of the game, because with a larger sum there is a larger chance that a player at one of the connected machines will hit the jackpot.

It is known that progressive slots can provide positive expectations to the player. Does that mean that they provide negative expectations for the house? Not at all. The house has everything well calculated, and the sum that goes to the progressive jackpot is only a part of the house edge it constantly earns. So, if the house edge of a certain slot machine is 5%, the house puts 2% into the progressive jackpot. The other 3% still go to the house, so it does not care who, when and how many times will hit the progressive jackpot. It earns its house edge and uses the progressive jackpot to attract more players without profiting or losing any money above the designated limit.

If you pay attention to progressive slots and normal slot machines of the same type, you will notice that the pay-outs of a normal slot machine are higher than those of the progressive one, except, the progressive jackpot, of course. So, earning a higher percentage on lower combinations, the house can manage to designate a certain percentage of it to the progressive jackpot, especially if the progressive jackpot attracts more players.

Does it mean that progressive jackpots are as disadvantageous for the player as all other slot machines? Not exactly. There are a couple of progressive slots effects, a player can take advantage of. There is a so called break-even point, a certain sum that the progressive jackpot must reach in order to provide positive expectations to the player. It sounds very attractive, but it is still very difficult to take advantage of this effect. First of all, the effect is temporal. You need to hit the progressive jackpot in order to realize your positive expectations, and if there are several machines in the network, another player at another machine may hit the progressive jackpot before you and ruin all your plans. If this happens, you should stop playing and start again when the progressive jackpot reaches the break-even point again.

Another effect of progressive slots is based on the fact that most progressive slots pay out the progressive jackpot only to players who insert the maximum number of coins, while players who insert fewer coins still contribute into the progressive jackpot. So, playing progressive slots with maximum coins is often more profitable than playing a non-progressive machine.

In any case, you should remember that as far as the positive expectations of progressive slots are based exclusively on the highest combination, you must hit it to profit form progressive slots. As long as you do not hit the progressive jackpot, you lose even more money than you would at a normal machine. In other words, if your goal is to profit, you should prepare a lot of patience and coins.