Progressive jackpots have likely been around for as long as humans have gambled. It’s impossible to trace progressive gambling to its roots, but there are key moments in time that stand out. Prior to the widespread prevalence of gambling houses, one of the most common types of progressive pots occurred during dice games in the street. Since games like craps are generally played between two players, a progressive pot attached to a side bet was a way of involving the small-timers in the crowd.
Gambling Houses
As gambling houses and then casinos became widespread, these entities applied similar concepts to their own games. In addition to craps, progressive jackpots became relatively common, particularly in the 1800s, on games like baccarat, blackjack and roulette. Solitaire was a popular game in the gambling houses of 1800s New York, and proprietors would often add a progressive pot as an enticement. Solitaire was quite lucrative for them, and as the progressive pot grew, it became harder for players to walk away.
Lotteries can be traced as far back as ancient China, and lotteries were popular in North America and Europe as far back as the 1800s. The modern progressive lottery, however, didn’t take shape until the 1960s. This is when the concept of the rollover came to the forefront. If there was no winner for the big prize, the jackpot would simply carry over to the subsequent drawing. This feature is the main draw of Powerball, which is played in both the U.S. and Australia. In the United Kingdom, the National Lottery is similar.
Slot Machines
but it wasn’t until the 1970s that they became prevalent and the 1980s that they surpassed mechanical machines. In the 70s, the computer-based slot machines were becoming sophisticated and the first progressive jackpots started to appear. In the 80s, technology allowed for the linking of machines, which allowed for huge jackpots that were very enticing to clientele.
Video Poker Machines
Video poker machines were slower to develop because they required sophisticated software and a full-blown monitor. They first started appearing in the late 1980s, and the 1990s is when their heyday occurred. It was during this time that the first progressive video poker machines became available, and in cities like Las Vegas, London and Paris, it wasn’t unusual for the lines for these machines to stretch out the front door and down the sidewalk.
Online Progressives
The Internet has transformed the way we consider progressive jackpots. The first online casinos appeared in the mid-1990s, but it wasn’t until the 2000s that they became widespread. When this happened, casinos had larger volumes of concurrent players than was ever possible before, and with that came bigger and better jackpots. In fact, brick-and-mortar casinos throughout the world have entered into progressive network agreements in order to compete with their Web-based counterparts.