Nine new Microgaming millionaires won Mega Moolah progressive and others in 2018, sharing €155 million in prizes.
Every slot machine player dreams of one day winning the ultimate jackpot prize. What would it be like to see those flashing lights; to hear the chiming of bells and clanging of coins; to be surrounded by a crowd of congratulating onlookers as the dollar signs spin in your head?
The latest report from Microgaming confirms that their trademark progressive slot machine, the Mega Moolah, and other networked progressives, created nine new millionaires in 2018. And yet, their prizes accounted for less than a third of the network’s total progressive payouts on the year.
Microgaming Dishes Up €155 Million in Network Progressives
A press release last week from the Isle of Man-based software group verifies that nine players of its esteemed online progressives became instant millionaires last year while spinning the reels of its networked jackpot slots. Counting all payouts—not just the 7-figure variety—Microgaming boasts an impressive overall progressive network prize pool of €154,954,249 in 2018.
The Mega Moolah progressive guarantees a pay out of no less than $1,000,000 per strike, accounting for the majority of those millionaires. Of the nine lucky reel spinners, six were playing one of the linked Mega Moolah jackpot games. One of those players got so lucky, his feat is now emblazoned in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Congratulations to all the lucky winners in 2018. We are proud to host the industry’s largest progressive jackpot network, which paid out more than €150 million last year, setting a number of payout records in the process,” extols Microgaming CEO John Coleman.
“It is remarkable to see total payouts nearing €1 billion, which really highlights the strength of the network, and we are excited to be working on a series of developments aimed at taking our progressive jackpot offering to the next level.”
Mega Moolah Progressive Alone Pays €40 Million in 2018
The overflow of payouts began just two weeks into the new year, and kept on making magical memories right through the Fall. Here’s a run down of all the jackpot strikes in 2018.
– On January 14, the Mega Moolah was struck at Zodiac Casino for a prize of €2,424,117.20.
– Then, on February 27, just before the month twinkled its twilight finale, a very lucky member of my favorite iGaming haunt, Royal Vegas Casino (no, it wasn’t me), collected an enormous jackpot worth €4,769,344.11.
– On March 8, barely a week after the previous score, another whopper-sized jackpot of €4,365,843.63 was awarded to a mobile-gaming member of Captain Cook’s Casino.
– A few more weeks went by before Grand Mondial Casino celebrated the fantastic payout of €4,603,056.85 to one of its most fortunate players on April 19.
– The very next day, lightning struck again, this time awarding £1,777,725 to an anonymous player of the Mega Moolah online slot.
– Approximately 5 weeks later, the bells chimed once more as another Mega Moolah player from Sweden received a jackpot payout of €4,931,205.46 from Jackpot City on June 24.
– Then on Friday, September 28, the real magic happened. Once more, it was Grand Mondial Casino that celebrated the enormous payout, this time so colossal it was worthy of documentation as a Guinness World Record. The player has elected to remain anonymous, but his prize of €18,915,872.81 will forever be etched in stone—that is, until someone else comes along to win an even larger world-record online progressive jackpot.
Remarkably, that moment could come sooner than later. The Mega Moolah progressive has not released its bounty since that memorable day. At time of writing, it’s worth about CA$24.9 million (US$18.7 million / €16.4 million). The larger it climbs, the more people will play it, further increasing its rate of growth until its wealth spills over.
For the record, since its inception in the mid 2000s, the Mega Moolah has paid out, on average, once every 9 weeks. It hasn’t been struck now in 16 weeks and 5 days. Food for thought…
