By 2005, on the 25th anniversary of being a publicly traded company, IGT released Fort Knox, its first multi-level MegaJackpots slot machine as well as opening new offices in the burgeoning casino markets of Macau, Mexico and Russia. IGT releases MegaJackpots versions of their most popular slots – adding slight changes and Progressive big wins to machines that would otherwise be retired. Popular Online Casinos like Slotty Vegas have a separate «Progressive Jackpot» tab on the game selection screen. 'This MegaJackpot (TM) is nearly $5 million more than the previous world record slot jackpot amount of $34.9 million,' said John Sears, vice president of MegaJackpots (TM) for IGT, the creator of Megabucks (R). 'This one goes into The Guinness Book of Records.'
International Game Technology (IGT) announced it has launched IGT MegaJackpots, the first wide-area progressive (WAP) product in the United States. IGT is known for having huge progressive jackpot slot machines like MegaBucks Slots and Wheel of Fortune Slots.
IGT MegaJackpots Slots will be featured on four New Jersey online websites: CaesarsCasino.com, MoheganSunCasino.com, ResortsCasino.com, and HardRockCasino.com.
The jackpot pool starts at a base amount of $500,000 which is seeded by IGT. As players wager on the game (and do not win the progressive), the jackpot increases.
Progressive jackpot slots have no upward limit, though game designers with knowledge of mathematics and probability can guess a likely range of when an accumulated jackpot game might hit. Much like multi-state lottery associations like Powerball and Mega Millions, progressive slots are designed to hit the jackpot often enough to give players hope they can win the pot, but also reach a critical mass when word of mouth reaches the gaming community of the huge jackpot.
What Are Wide-Area Progressives (WAPs)?
Wide-area progressives link many slot machines in the same network, so each gaming machine feeds into the same pot. Since the gaming network is linked over a wide area and dozens of gaming machines, the accumulated jackpot grows faster than local-area progressives.
MegaJackpots could be a game changer for the online casinos involved, because buzz about the game will be spread on the Internet and in New Jersey’s gaming community. The game is also a major step forward for IGT, which has been a leader in electronic slots design since they first became possible in the late 1970s.
Enrico Drago on MegaJackpots
Enrico Drago, SVP of IGT’s PlayDigital line, said of MegaJackpots, “Launching the first cross-platform online WAP games in the U.S. reinforces IGT’s commitment and leadership in delivering ‘industry-first’ innovation that elevates the player experience across multiple channels.”
“IGT’s MegaJackpots games continue to entertain players in the U.K. and other mature digital gaming markets around the world, and we believe our customers in New Jersey will benefit from incorporating life-changing jackpots on proven themes such as Cleopatra and Siberian Storm into their digital content offerings.”
Igt Megajackpots
IGT has two slot machines in the WAP: MegaJackpots Cleopatra and MegaJackpots Siberian Storm. Over time, MegaJackpots’ designers will add new games with much different themes to the wide-area network. While slots players are drawn to progressive jackpots, not all gamblers like the same themes.
IGT’s Progressive Jackpots
IGT was the inventor of progressive jackpots. Its Wheel of Fortune Progressive Slot is the most popular slot machine of all time. Wheel of Fortune Slots not only launched the craze for licensed slots, but it also began an mass escalation in progressive slots when it got popular in the 1990s.
Later in the 1990s, MegaBucks was designed by IGT to put all other progressive slot machines to shame — and it did. As late as 2012, the 8 biggest progressive jackpots in the history of slot machines were MegaBucks jackpots.
MegaBucks Curse?
Megabucks’ prize money was so legendary that an urban legend grew that the people who won the progressive jackpot suffered from a curse. The urban legend seems to have sprung from the sad case of Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress who won $34,955,489.56 on a MegaBucks slot machine, then was hit by a drunk driver 6 weeks later — leaving Cynthia paralyzed and her sister dead.
Of course, similar urban legends sprang up about the Mega Millions and Powerball lottery winners. Such things happen often enough that a few winners will have tragedies or misfortune happen to them. In either case, one or two people’s misfortune does not make a curse.
IGT MegaJackpots Urban Legend?
Igt Megajackpots Winners
IGT’s MegaJackpots game in New Jersey has the potential to produce jackpots large enough that it might produce an urban legend or two. Many New Jersey online gamblers are going to play MegaJackpots on the Caesars, Resorts Casino, Hard Rock Casino, and Mohegan Sun websites. A lucky handful will win a progressive jackpot.
Those who don’t will talk about what might have been, and perhaps take a small amount of satisfaction from thinking those who won suffered misfortune. What is certain is that few who hear the MegaJackpots legends and like to play for big jackpots will be scared away from giving the game a try.
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As is often the case with the overused theme of Ancient Egypt and its majestic rulers, there is very much going on in this game. The screen will greet you with an abundance of colors and fine details. Though this is an IGT game and we typically have high expectations for slots offered by one of the best providers in the field, we really can’t say there’s much to please the eye here. As you can tell from the title already, the main highlight of this slot is its jackpot. That much said, we should still assess the other aspects of this game and first up are the visuals. As we already mentioned, there’s quite a bit happening on the reels here. There are Ancient Egyptian symbols, such as the famous scarab and the Eye of Horus. Other images include hieroglyphs and the depiction of a sphynx. Other than that, the reels appear to be pretty packed with gold and jewels, as one might expect. However, the graphics don’t really answer to our expectations for an IGT slot. They didn’t exactly blow us away, and there’s no consistent soundtrack to keep you in that distinct atmosphere you would want a game like this to provide.
There is a total number of 20 fixed paylines in Cleopatra MegaJackpots. The layout features the traditional 5 reels and 3 rows. As for the symbols, they include the regular playing card symbols: A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9. Each is embellished with all sorts of jewels and other fine details, to relay that luxurious, antique feel. Following them are the Eye of Horus, the Crook and Flail and a gold plate with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Stepping up the stakes are the higher value symbols of the Egyptian Blue Lotus and the Scarab Beetle. Each of these last ones can offer you payouts of up to 750 times your stake! The lesser symbols also offer pretty impressive winnings of up to 125, 250 and 400 times your stake, depending on the symbol.In addition, you can also play this game on your different portable devices, apart from your desktop computer. IGT has made this game available for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, but also for Kindles. Cleopatra MegaJackpots also has a customary Wild symbol, which comes in the form of the Mega Jackpot logo. It will substitute for any of the other symbols to create winning combos. However, it won’t be able to substitute for the game’s Scatter symbol, which is in fact the Sphynx. Furthermore, the Wild will also double the amount of any payline it appears on. In addition, if you can land 5 Mega Jackpot symbols, you score the Prograssive jackpot. In real terms, this means that you can earn up to 10,000 times your stake!