Slots are typically the first game that online gamblers turn to when they want to win big. Internet slots offer both simplicity and huge jackpots—two aspects that the average gambler loves.
However, jackpots are only one way to win big with online slots. In fact, three different routes exist for chasing serious money:
- Progressive jackpots
- Betting big on games with large stake-based prizes
- Finding a glitch and exploiting it
In some cases, you can win $1 million or more using any of these methods. Here’s more on how each route can result in $1 million.
1 – Progressive Jackpots
Progressive slots take a small amount out of each wager to fund a jackpot. The jackpot steadily grows as more bets are made and only resets to the starting value after being won.
The manner in which progressive jackpots pay out varies based on the game. Here are some different ways that progressive slots pay their top prize:
- Lining up specific symbols in a payline.
- Triggering a bonus round, which can deliver the jackpot.
- The game randomly deciding that the jackpot will be paid—regardless of what symbol combinations land on the reels.
The size of a jackpot largely depends upon two factors:
- Seed amount
- Odds of the top prize hitting
The largest jackpots begin with a large seed amount. Mega Moolah, which has paid the biggest jackpot in online slots history ($21 million), begins with a $1 million seed.
Regarding the other factor, longer odds increase the chances that a jackpot won’t be won for a while. The longer that a jackpot goes unclaimed, the bigger it grows.
When you find huge online slots jackpots, it’s because they’re seeded at a high value and are unlikely to be hit any time soon.
The Biggest Online Slots Jackpots
Here are the largest internet slots jackpots at the time of this writing:
- Jackpot Giant (Playtech) – $5,454,554
- Jackpot King (Blueprint/PaddyPower Betfair) – £3,891,138
- Aladdin’s Lamp €5 (GTECH/Casino Club) – €3,780,663
- Hall of Gods Mega (NetEnt) – €3,458,868
- Aztec’s Millions (RTG) – $3,994,008
- Funky Fruits (Playtech) – $2,917,051
- Mega Fortune Mega (NetEnt) – €2,436,716
- Leprechaun’s Luck (Ash Gaming/Playtech) – €2,176,817
- Joker Millions (Yggdrasil) – €2,124,374
- The Big One Colossal Cash (PartyGaming) – $2,340,016
The Chances of Winning Are Quite Low
You might be excited by the prospect of so many different multimillion-dollar payouts in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, your odds of winning any of these prizes are poor.
As explained before, the biggest jackpots also come with the worst odds of winning. Otherwise, they’d be hit right away and not grow very large at all.
Mega Moolah only gives you 1 and 50 million odds of winning its progressive jackpot. You can’t expect much better from most other online slots.
Of course, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t play progressive slots if they interest you. After all, they give you an opportunity to win serious money for a small bet.
But you should definitely be realistic about your prospects of winning. You’ll most likely be spinning the reels a very long time before hitting a life-changing payout.
2 – High Roller Play
Playing for high stakes is a good way to increase your win potential in any casino game. The same holds true for internet slots.
Many online games provide betting ranges that run from $0.20 to $100. Anything close to the latter range is what you should target when playing high stakes.
Some slots even provide maximum bets worth up to $1,000. Assuming you’re a really well-funded player, then you may consider such games.
The obvious benefit to high-roller play is that it lets you cash in on big prizes. Assuming you only bet $1 per spin and win a prize worth 20x your stake, then you’ll collect $20.
Of course, $20 is a nice slots payout under normal circumstances. But if you’re looking to win real money with online slots, then $20 is nothing more than slight bump in your bankroll.
Assuming you wager $50 per spin and win a 20x prize, then you’ll collect $1,000. These are the type of wins that can eventually help you reach six or seven figures during a hot streak.
Look for Slots with Large Stake Prizes
Most modern online slots don’t offer progressive jackpots. Instead, their maximum wins are worth a certain multiple of your overall stake.
They usually pay their highest wins in the bonus round too. For example, a certain slot might offer a maximum bonus that’s worth 10,000x your stake.
Depending upon how much you bet, this prize could be significant or merely a solid payout. Here’s a comparison between two bet sizes to show the difference:
Scenario #1
- You bet $10 per spin.
- You win a 2,000x payout in the bonus round.
- You collect a $20,000 prize.
Scenario #2
- You bet $10 per spin.
- You win a 20,000x payout in the bonus.
- You collect a $200,000 prize.
You can win big payouts on any slot when wagering enough. However, you stand to win a lot more when playing games that have really high stake-based prizes. The best-paying games typically offer a top prize worth between 20,000x and 50,000x your overall bet.
Volatility on Such Slots Is High
High volatility is the biggest potential drawback to playing slots that offer huge payouts. This term refers to when slots don’t pay out very consistently in the short term.
Of course, these are the types of games you want to play when looking to win $1 million. But they’re definitely not easy on your bankroll.
You’ll experience bigger dry spells when playing highly volatile slots. You might also pick up tiny wins that aren’t even worth anything close to your bet size (a.k.a. losses disguised as wins).
Watch Your Bankroll
Continuing off the last point, you really need to keep an eye on your bankroll with volatile, high-paying slots. These games will drain your bankroll much faster than low-volatility slot machines.
You probably won’t last very long when playing these games with a bankroll worth between $20 and $100. Therefore, you’re better off playing high volatility slots with $500 or more.
3 – Find a Slots Glitch and Exploit It
The first two methods for scoring $1 million discussed here are the most common. You don’t need to do anything special to choose your bet size and spin the reels.
The third method, however, only happens under rare circumstances. Assuming you can find some sort of glitch and take advantage, then you have a chance to make lots of money.
Online slots developers are rather good at ensuring that such glitches don’t exist. They run their games through countless test to ensure that they hold the edge—not you.
Nevertheless, slots players occasionally find faulty slots that they can exploit. Such a case happened with a group of New Jersey gamblers who almost won $1 million.
How the New Jersey Slots Players Won Big
A New Jersey gambler was playing an online slot called Ocean Magic in 2018 when they noticed a strange occurrence.
Ocean Magic features a “rising wild” symbol that goes up one row after every spin. It exits the screen after climbing all of the rows.
Nothing is unusual about rising wilds. However, Ocean Magic had a glitch whereby the wild symbol would reset to the lowest row if one changed their bet size.
The player who discovered this glitch knew that they could gain a big advantage. After all, they’d essentially have permanent wild symbols just by adjusting their wager once every few rounds.
The player called some friends up who opened accounts just to play Ocean Magic. They collectively made nearly $1 million before the casino operator removed the slot.
Such Occurrences Are Quite Rare
As mentioned before, you’re highly unlikely to find a faulty online slot that provides an advantage. You need a combination of developer negligence and right timing to pull this off.
Regarding the latter, you need to capitalize on a glitch before the provider knows what’s happening. After all, they’re going to pull a game and rework it as soon as they notice people winning lots of profits.
You may play slots for countless hours and never gain such an edge. But if you’re lucky enough to spot an anomaly, then you can win guaranteed profits.
How Likely Are You to Get Rich Through Online Slots?
You probably don’t know anybody who’s gotten rich through internet slots. The reason why is because this feat is incredibly difficult to manage.
No matter which route you take towards chasing $1 million, you’re unlikely to actually be successful. You’re relying on an incredible amount of luck to win big.
If I had to recommend one method for making seven figures in slots, though, I’d suggest that you play progressive games.
The downside to this option is that you’ll be facing astronomical odds. You’re probably not going to win the jackpot unless you spin the reels countless times.
But the upside is that you assume less risk. Most progressive games don’t require you to wager any more than a dollar to qualify for the jackpot.
Contrast this to high roller play, which can really hit your bankroll hard. You might have better odds of winning big win when wagering high stakes. However, you also run the risk of losing all your funds during a cold streak.
As for slots glitches, they’re so uncommon that you shouldn’t count on winning through this method any time soon.
The first problem is that developers rarely mess up on their games. The second drawback is that you might not find a particular glitch before somebody else does.
In this case, the gambler will take advantage of the situation first. When the game provider notices, they’ll take these slots offline immediately
Conclusion
You’re better off choosing safer routes to make $1 million, such as investing over time or trying to enter a high-paying field.
Nevertheless, slots are still exciting because they give you the opportunity to win big money instantly. Progressive jackpots are especially famous for delivering huge wins immediately.
You can also save up a large bankroll and play for high stakes. By playing slots with large stake-based prizes, you have a better chance to net $1 million.
As covered before, slots glitches aren’t very common occurrences. However, they do happen occasionally and can result in big winnings when available.
You can weigh the advantages of each route covered here and decide which is best for you personally when chasing the elusive million dollars.
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …