There are tons of questions players are asking about casinos around their reopenings post COVID-19 lockdowns. One of them is around whether progressive jackpots will be reset by the casinos before they reopen their doors.
STATUS: No, for similar reasons as to why they don’t reset them at other times.
There are in many locations rules around progressive jackpots that ensure casinos don’t just drain them of the value accumulated as a way to lower payouts and avoid paying out big numbers.
If a machine is decommissioned and the jackpot not awarded, the jackpots are generally reallocated either through movement to another machine, or paid out through some sort of casino promotions. In this way the money is still guaranteed to be paid out in some form.
Now, there are scenarios playing out where invite-only moments happen with high limit players before the casinos reopen. Those players have their pick of machines, and jackpots.
From the post above by San Manuel, for example, it seems like those players targeted, and won, many sizable jackpots during that pre-opening, as an example. The higher-limit players are usually pretty savvy and know what to look for, so they probably knocked down a few choice jackpots, leaving many near the reset mark upon public reopening.
That’s certainly a downer for the average player, but the quiet reopenings are one way that casinos can get data from their most loyal players while rewarding them for being among their top players.
