Online slots award several of the biggest jackpots that the gambling world has ever seen. While slot machines in land-based gambling venues are quite generous, progressive slots within the online casino market make players into multimillionaires frequently. This is as a result of the sheer range of players in the online gambling market and also the vastness of online progressive slots networks.

In the online casino world, you will discover three types of jackpot networks, the most frequent of which is the wide-area progressive network. This kind of jackpot network links the prize pool of a particular game across a range of online casino websites. Consequently, hundreds of players at dozens of online casinos contribute to the prize pool, ensuring that the prizes climb very quickly.

At land-based casinos, this kind of jackpot network is very rare. Technology limitations restrict operators from linking jackpot pools unless the slot machines are physically connected via a 'game bank'. In contrast, in recent times, companies like International Game Technology have invented technological solutions that allow land-based operators to link games on a wide-area basis. At this point, there are actually only some of these networks, including IGT's 'MegaJackpots' network.

The number of players within the online casino world also contributes to the truth that jackpots are a lot easier larger at gambling sites. Multiple players can wager on the same game at once, driving up the jackpot prize pool to lucrative levels. Within the land-based casino world, just one player can sit at a game at any point in time, so jackpots climb quite slowly when compared with online slots jackpots.

The biggest jackpot networks in the online casino world belong to Microgaming and PlayTech. Microgaming's progressive jackpot network has been around since the turn of the century, so the company has had over ten years to add new games and expand its prize pools. In recent times, Microgaming slot machines have paid out over $400 million in progressive jackpot prizes. The company's most generous game is Mega Moolah, which offers up prizes worth more than $5 million frequently.

The WinAJackpot network from PlayTech has not been around for as long as Microgaming's network, but it has been very generous for the duration of its existence. The network was established in 2003 and it has paid out over $126 million in winnings over the course of the decade. The biggest jackpot ever awarded by PlayTech was worth an amazing $7.5 million from the game Beach Life.

Some newer playing online slot jackpot networks are also proving themselves to be quite generous. As an example, International Game Technology's MegaJackpots network offers prizes worth at a minimum $1.5 million. Net Entertainment has also proven its worth by paying out a $22 million jackpot last year, smashing the record for the biggest jackpot ever awarded within the online casino world.