Whether gambling online or off, the most important question players must ask themselves before placing a bet is “Can I win?” Assuming the operation is legitimate, as most are nowadays, the next question is “How much can I win?” Most casino table games have caps on their payouts. Even the most rewarding slot machines limit their top combinations to a few thousand times the initial wager.
In the early days of online gambling, the biggest prizes anyone could win over the Internet were state sponsored lotteries. Essentially, the web sites that sold entries were just clearing houses for existing terrestrial sweepstakes. But in 1998, that situation changed as Microgaming introduced the Internet’s first “progressive jackpot slot.” It was called “Cash Splash,” and it featured three reels with a single payline.
Unlike most games of chance, which have fixed odds and payouts, a progressive jackpot keeps growing larger and larger until someone eventually wins it. A tiny percentage of each bet made on the game is set aside to fund the jackpot. Over time, these small sums can easily add up to six figures or higher.
In 2001, an online casino player hit the first truly huge jackpot online, winning $414,119 while playing a progressive jackpot slot game at a Caribbean online casino’s version of “The Sands.” Then, in May 2002, the first ever multimillion-dollar online casino jackpot was awarded when a lucky player at Captain Cook’s Internet Casino hit a Microgaming progressive slot game called “Major Millions” for a massive $1.59 million payout.
Today’s online casinos include slots and progressives as a major part of their operations. The cost of playing is low and the potential rewards are enormous. The very latest online slots have themes, patterned after movies, television shows and comic book characters. The number of spinning reels has increased from three to five or seven, while the number of paylines has leapt from just one to 15, 20, or even more. And the audio/video components are so realistic that it is easy to forget the computer screen is not an actual slot machine.
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