Link Jackpots Link Jackpots
A structure that adds tiered jackpots such as Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand to a respin bonus where you collect money symbols. It spread from the land-based slot Lightning Link, and online games often use fixed jackpots set as bet multiples.
| English | Link Jackpots |
|---|---|
| Classification | Game Features |
| English name | Link Jackpots |
| Category | Jackpot structure |
| Original example | Lightning Link (Aristocrat, around 2015) |
| Common tiers | Mini, Minor, Major, Grand |
| Combined feature | Hold & Spin (money symbol respins) |
| Online example | Wolf Gold Mini 30x, Major 100x, Mega 1,000x |
Overview
Link Jackpots are a setup where a money symbol respin bonus, like Hold & Spin, comes with several named jackpot tiers. During the respins, jackpot symbols such as “Mini” or “Major” can land in place of money symbols, or filling the whole screen with money symbols awards the biggest jackpot.
“Link” originally referred to a casino floor setup where several machines were tied together to grow a jackpot jointly. Today the “respin + tiered jackpots” structure those machines used is often called the Link family.
Lightning Link and Land-Based Slots
The game that popularized this structure is “Lightning Link” from the Australian provider Aristocrat. It first appeared on casino floors around 2015, and Aristocrat says it created the Hold & Spin mechanic for this game. It uses four jackpot tiers (Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand) and mixes a linked jackpot that several machines build together with a standalone progressive (SAP) that a single machine builds on its own.
Lightning Link has grown to 16 versions, and similar series with “Link” in the name have followed from several companies. Most money respin bonuses in online slots follow this pattern.
Examples of tiered jackpots in online slots
| Games | Highlights | RTP | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf Gold | Respins with 6 or more moon symbols, Mini 30x and Major 100x, and a Mega 1,000x if all 15 positions are filled | 96% | 2,500x |
| Chilli Heat | 3 respins with 6 or more money bags, fixed Mini and Major jackpots, and the top jackpot for filling all 15 positions | 96.52% | 2,512x |
| Great Rhino Deluxe | A Grand jackpot of 500x your bet if rhinos fill every position | 96.5% | 6,242x |
| Wolf Gold Power Jackpot | Mini, Minor, Major, and Power jackpots from the Power Wheel, with the top one being a progressive that several casinos build together | 95.5% | 2,500x |
A jackpot set as a multiple of your bet, like in Wolf Gold, is called a fixed jackpot. If you raise your bet, the jackpot amount grows by the same ratio, and this payout is already included in the game’s RTP. The top “Power” jackpot in Wolf Gold Power Jackpot, on the other hand, is a progressive that grows from a portion of players’ bets, so its amount keeps changing.
Fixed vs. progressive
| Category | Fixed link jackpot | Progressive link jackpot |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | A set multiple of the bet | Keeps changing as part of the bets builds up |
| Relation to bet | Proportional to the bet | Varies by game |
| Typical example | Wolf Gold Mini, Major, and Mega | The Power jackpot in Wolf Gold Power Jackpot |
For a general breakdown of jackpots, see the Jackpot Types article. For how the respin bonus works, see the Hold & Spin article.
