Jackpot as an instrument to win new players
Everyone plays to win. Most players hope for major amounts of money. Smaller wins are often considered as intermediate junctions on the way to the Final Big Win.
In other words, to hit a Jackpot.
It's not easy. It is essentially pure luck. And players know it. But noone is interested to hear about a loser who's been playing for years with very little return, while the lucky one that hits a jackpot becomes an instant celebrity. And every time someone does that, it fuels everyone else's high hopes. They think: “if this guy could win, why couldn't I be the next?”. The bigger the jackpot, the more interest there is in the Gaming System that offers it.
For example, when last summer the Taiwanese lottery jackpot reached a whopping $30 million, thousands of people rushed in to buy lottery tickets, even if it meant standing in a line several miles long. Workers abandoned their workplaces, students forgot about their studies. Something similar happened in Hungary: when the national lottery's jackpot reached $18.1 million, tourist inflow increased manyfold and the number of tickets in just one week exceeded country's population. When an Iowan won $100,000 twice in a row, intrigued neighbors started flocking into Iowa to try their luck.
It is important to note, that the player must be confident in the attainability of the Jackpot, that it is not just a bait for the simple-minded.
Of course, Russian casinos and gaming halls also use progressive jackpots, which could be divided into three kinds:
1. Jackpot for a single gaming hall, connecting at least two slot machines.
2. Jackpot connecting more than one gaming hall within the same city.
3. Jackpot connecting hundreds gaming halls across the country.
First kind has pretty low jackpots, typically no more than $2000, slow recovery. This is only competitive with the gaming halls that don't have progressive jackpots at all.
Second kind can connect from two to dozens gaming halls. Jackpots are much higher, 5 to 20 thousand dollars. Recovery is much faster due to larger number of players. Accordingly, the probability of the jackpot happening is also higher.
Third kind is a large network that connects hundreds gaming halls. Such networks have the most attractive jackpots and fastest recovery, as well as several jackpots for different games and different bets. So far the biggest Jackpot in Russia is $144,000, won in the Moscow entertainment center “Metelica” on 12/23/2003. Such events not only benefit the winner, but also provide good PR.
Connecting a large number of gaming halls, scattered all over the country, in one network is a daunting task, logistically as well as financially. The Moscow Gaming System “Jackpot” currently connects 9,986 slot machines located in 388 gaming halls (191 halls in Moscow region and 197 halld elsewhere). The company that owns the system had to launch its own Earth sattelite in order to achieve this. But it also made them the leader in their market segment.
Benefits are obvious: larger network and higher jackpots lead increase the number of players, which means higher volumes, which in turn allows to increase jackpots even more.
There are many similarities between the existing Jackpots and Internet-casinos. They could be classified into three kinds:
1. Those that exist within one Internet-casino.
2. Those that exist within Internet-casinos with the same owner.
3. And those that exist within Internet-casinos that use the same software.
First kind is practically identical to the real casino, small size, slow recovery.
Second kind typically connects several casinos and has higher jackpots than the first.
Third kind can connect dozens of Internet-casinos with thousands of online players. Average bet in such systems is typically higher than in “real” gaming halls, following are a few jackpot numbers, per software vendor:
Boss Media - $1,678,531
Microgaming – $1,231,006
Odds On – $660,344
Playtech – $1,252,527
RealTime Gaming – $538,296
Wager Logic - $1,265,651
Such high numbers become possible due to remote access to games over Internet. In the largest gaming networks, a major jackpot happens every 6 to 8 weeks. For instance, in the Playtech network, this year's jackpots: $603,212 in April,$645,319 in June and $971,145 in November. The latter jackpot was won by a Japanese player, who was playing Gold Rally 8-line Slots in the Club Dice Casino. In the Microgaming network, year 2004 saw several Major Millions Jackpots, which pay over $1M. Smaller jackpots happen much more frequently: Mega Jacks jackport has been won 565 times (25 cent bet), Safecracker jackpot – 359 times (also 25 bet).
Brandy Casino is one of the world's most popular online casinos, owned by the Playtech group. Opened in 2001, Brandy Casino released a Russian version in March 2003 and now is very popular across the country. In fall 2004, the new Brandy gaming system became available to the “real” casinos and gaming halls.
Brandy's jackpots are an order of magnitude higher than what's been available before, which of course attracted many new players. In addition, players are offered an option to be payed 97-99% plus over 60 plays, 4 of which with a live dealer and 21 plays with Progressive Jackpot. All this only further contributes the popularity of the Brandy Jackpots.
Brandy marks a new phase in the evolution of gaming business and increasing competition. Of course, main benefitiaries are players, who get more choice and better service.
Good luck!
Vadim Ioffe