Mega Moolah Slot by Microgaming Reviewed

A trip to the savannah is always a good idea if you want to experience a close encounter with wild animals in their natural habitat. Well, imagine having that trip, plus the opportunity to scoop one of the world’s biggest cash prizes ever. No, that’s not a dream, it’s reality thanks to Micgoraming and their incredibly popular progressive slot Mega Moolah. Sleep with the lions, play with the monkeys and feed the zebras. Who knows, maybe if you’re lucky, the machine will surprise you with one of the four massive jackpots that often turn players into millionaires.

Just like all other reviews featured on this site, this one will provide valuable information about the Mega Moolah slot such as bet sizes, the number of paylines and symbols. In addition, I will tell you all about the special features of the game and some of its main disadvantages. At the end of this review, I will make a short comparison between Mega Moolah and other well-known progressive jackpot slot machines so you can decide whether this game suits your needs or not.

Basic Information and Features

Generally speaking, Mega Moolah is just another savannah-themed video slot, which was developed by leading game supplier Microgaming. The game features 25 paylines and 5 reels in total. The betting range accepted on Mega Moolah is pretty low; players can wager anything between 1p and £6.25, which makes it a good choice for casual players and a no-no for those that want to bet large sums per spin. When it comes to bonus features, there’s nothing too amazing there; nevertheless, what makes Mega Moolah special are the massive multimillion jackpots that always attract lots of players and thus grow extremely fast.

I must confess that Mega Moolah is far from satisfying when it comes to graphics, special effects and animations. The game is as simple as it gets and lacks amazing 3D graphics, for example, or real life-like characters. I believe that there’s a certain charm even in the current design of the game, but those looking to be mesmerised by high-quality graphics should try some other progressives for sure. The sounds are ok, but considering the theme is savannah, the provider didn’t have many opportunities to include innovative effects in that section either.

Pays and House Edge

Since Mega Moolah is not a brand new slot, it’s not surprising to see that five out of the total 12 are card symbols. They are coloured in different shades and have different payouts with the highest one for the ace. The other standard symbols are images of animals that can be found in savannahs: antelope, zebra, giraffe, bison, elephant and lion. The first three are lower paying symbols whose payouts vary from 10 to 500 coins. The latter three animals are the highest-paying symbols in the game. Hitting two to five of them in an active payline can earn you anything between 4 and 15,000 coins.

Mega Moolah by Microgaming

Mega Moolah has a pretty unfavourable RTP. The most commonly found return to player percentage of 88.18% is by far worse than RTPs over 95%. As was mentioned before, there are games by Playtech, for example, whose RTP is around 98% or 99% and thus, anything below 90% is quite negative. This return to player percentage puts the house edge at pretty high 11.82%. Such a high house edge means that the house has quite the advantage and makes it unlikely for the player to often hit winning combinations. Combine the house edge with the relatively standard number of 25 paylines and you can expect few losing spins.

Free Spins and Progressive Jackpots

Newly developed games offer a wide range of special symbols and features. Mega Moolah, however, is a simple game that offers one wild symbol, one scatter and four progressive jackpots. The wild symbol on this slot is the king of all animals. This lion not only substitutes all other symbols except the scatter, but it also doubles the wins it creates and/or enhances. Aside from the wild, there’s also a scatter symbol. This icon is represented by a monkey and two such symbols have a payout of 2 coins, whereas 3-5 symbols earn you 3-100 coin payout and free spins.

The exact number of free spins during the bonus game is 15 and they can be retriggered by other scatter symbols. All free-spin wins come with a 3x multiplier and players can win up to 225,000 coins on this feature. Obviously, when talking about the game that holds the Guinness World Record for largest jackpot payout, the top feature is its progressive jackpots. Mega Moolah offers a randomly triggered bonus game where you get to spin a reel and, depending on the outcome, you can win mini, minor, major or mega progressive jackpot of £10+, £100+, £10,000+ or £1,000,000+. Higher bets have a higher chance of activating this rewarding bonus round.

Playing on Smartphones and Tablets

Playing Mega Moolah on smartphones and tablets is as entertaining as playing it on desktops and laptops. Even though the RTP could be a lot better and there could be more special features, I have to praise Microgaming for the development of this fantastic mobile friendly title. First of all, I would like to point out that the graphics are satisfying. Although the game lacks mesmerising special effects and animations, but the things that are there are carefully designed and developed.

Secondly, I enjoy playing Mega Moolah on any of my mobile devices because it always runs smoothly. There are no glitches while the reels are spinning, navigation is easy and every second screen (paytable or free spins) is loaded fast.

Final Thoughts

Well, I might have started too harsh on Mega Moolah, but that’s because I respect Microgaming a lot and I know the capacity they have to produce amazing online slots. However, that doesn’t mean that this progressive jackpot game should be avoided, quite on the contrary. Mega Moolah has proven itself as one of the most generous slots and anyone hoping to hit a multimillion jackpot simply has to try their luck on this game. Additionally, the slot has a simple free spin feature where you can win up to mouth-watering 225,000 coins with a low bet of £6.25.

Mega Moolah and Similar Slots

I would say that comparing Mega Moolah to other slots is a bit unfair because this game exists for a long time and it’s normal for it to lack some exciting features new games have. For example, Marvel-themed slots by Playtech such as Spiderman and Iron Man 2 also come with a randomly triggered progressive jackpot game but have better graphic effects and sounds. Millionaire Genie is another popular progressive jackpot slot with a randomly activated progressive jackpot. This game, however, is hard to find and comes with cutting-edge graphics. Thus, its top prize doesn’t grow as fast as the one on Mega Moolah, but the overall experience is a bit better and enhanced with cool animations.