Must Drop Jackpot Must Drop Jackpots (Daily Drop)
A jackpot built so that it must be paid to someone before a set time runs out or a set amount is reached. Red Tiger's Daily Drop, which hits every hour or every day, is the best-known example.
| English | Must Drop Jackpots (Daily Drop) |
|---|---|
| Classification | Game Features |
| English name | Must Drop Jackpot / Must Hit By |
| Category | Jackpot structure |
| Payout condition | Within a set time or before a set cap |
| Payout timing | Picked in advance by the RNG within the window |
| Major networks | Red Tiger Daily Drop (2019), Relax Dream Drop (2022) |
| Note | Paid to someone on the network, not a guaranteed win for any one player |
Overview
A Must Drop Jackpot is different from an ordinary progressive jackpot that hits “someday”. It has a set deadline or cap. For example, a daily jackpot must pay out within that day, and an hourly jackpot must pay out within that hour. In land-based casinos it is called “Must Hit By”, and online it goes by names like “Daily Drop” and “Hourly Jackpot”.
What is guaranteed to be paid is to someone among all the players connected to that jackpot. The most important point is that it does not mean you are guaranteed to win it.
How amount-based Must Hit works
The explanatory material on Must Hit By published by the Nevada gaming authority in the US shows the structure clearly. The operator sets the jackpot’s starting amount (minimum), the amount at which it must hit (maximum), and the share of each bet that goes into the jackpot. Then the RNG picks a point between the minimum and maximum in advance, and the payout happens the moment the jackpot meter passes that value. After the payout, the jackpot resets to the starting amount (Nevada Gaming Control Board).
Time-based jackpots work on a similar principle. The payout moment is picked in advance somewhere within a set window, and the closer you get to the end of the window, the less time remains.
Major Must Drop networks online
| Period | Providers | Details |
|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Red Tiger | Announced the shared “Daily Drop” jackpot used together by Malta-licensed casinos |
| April 2019 | Red Tiger | Daily Drop network goes live, paying out every day. Over £2.5 million paid in the first 4 months |
| 2019 | Red Tiger | Hourly Jackpot added, paying out every hour |
| May 2022 | Relax Gaming | 5-tier (Rapid, Midi, Maxi, Major, Mega) “Dream Drop” jackpot, with Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop as the first game |
Red Tiger said Daily Drop is attached to all of its own slots. In July 2019, £61,500 was paid on a £2 bet in Dragon’s Luck, and in August, €78,429 was paid on a €2 bet in Dragon’s Luck Power Reels. Relax Gaming explained that every tier of Dream Drop must hit, and that the Mega jackpot’s maximum was designed to rise in stages up to €10 million.
Related games on AI Slot
| Games | Highlights | RTP | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon’s Luck | The game that produced one of the top early Daily Drop payouts | 96.24% | 1,380x |
| Dragon’s Luck Power Reels | August 2019 daily jackpot of €78,429 | 96.1% | 3,888x |
| Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop | The first game to carry a Dream Drop jackpot (May 2022) | 94.8% | 10,045x |
| Money Train Origins Dream Drop | The Dream Drop version of the Money Train series | 94% | 10,000x |
| Dream Drop Diamonds | A classic-style game carrying the Dream Drop name | 93.98% | 10,640x |
A jackpot is only attached when the casino operator connects it to the network. In AI Slot free demos, no real money changes hands, so jackpot amounts do not build up or pay out, and you can only try the base game and bonuses. Even with a Must Drop, the odds of any single spin of yours hitting it are still very low (Jackpot types).
