Question of the Day - 25 May 2024

Actually, neither the casino where the big progressive is hit nor all the casinos linked up to the progressive system are responsible for paying off the jackpot. 

Rather, as in the case of both Megabucks and Wheel of Fortune, the slot maker, International Game Technology (IGT), pays the jackpot.

That said, in a real sense, people who play the big progressives help pay the winners in a big way. 

IGT leases these machines to the casinos. IGT covers the jackpots, in annuities or lump sums, from the casino lease payments, the percentage of coin-in that goes toward the reset amount and progressive, and whatever other financial deals are involved. 

According to WizardofOdds.com, of every dollar played through Megabucks, 11.4 cents are held by the casino, 6.7 cents are earmarked for the meter reset ($10 million after the progressive is hit), and 3.5 cents go toward the jackpot amount. That's why we say that, to a large degree, progressive players subsidize the jackpot. 

Certainly, IGT invests and gets a nice return on its 10.2 cents from every dollar played on Megabucks, so all in all, even though the giant slot manufacturer has paid out well above $1 billion in jackpots since Megabucks was introduced in 1987 (the largest of which was $39 million, hit at Excalibur in March 2003), it does fine for itself with its progressives.