The Merge Gaming Network Bad Beat Jackpot reached a large milestone this morning as the progressive prize surpassed the elusive $1 million dollar mark. The jackpot is currently increasing at a rate of approximately $30,000 per day and is currently hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond the threshold when the jackpot becomes +EV to play.

Update: The BBJ was hit on the evening of January 14th as it stood at $1,014,549.59. Quad Sevens were beaten by Quad Queens. The loser of the hand received a $355,000 prize.

Merge Gaming is no stranger to large Beat Jackpot jackpots. Last summer we anxiously followed a Bad Beat Jackpot on the network that grew to over $800,000. Three years ago, Merge Gaming was home to a record (at the time) $1.2 million dollar jackpot that paid $420,000 to the winner. Carbon Poker posted the YourTube video of that historic hand.

The largest Bad Beat Jackpot ever hit occurred on the Boss Media Network last summer, which ran around the same time as the last big Merge Bad Beat Jackpot. The record progressive prize was €1,265,583.34 at the time the jackpot was hit, or $1,834,426 based on exchange rates that day.

To qualify for a Bad Beat Jackpot on Merge Gaming players must be seated at special Bad Beat Jackpot tables, available at No Limit tables cash games from $0.50/$1.00-$2/$4 and Limit Hold’em tables from $1/$2 to $30/$60. If a player loses with Quad Sevens at one of these tables and meets some other basic criteria they will trigger a Bad Beat Jackpot prize.

Progressive jackpot prizes pay 35% of the total jackpot amount to the loser of the hand, 17.5% to the winner and another 17.5% split between the players that were dealt into the hand. Of the remaining 30%, 20% is used to reseed the next jackpot and 10% is taken by Merge Gaming as an admin fee.

The jackpot is fed via a $0.50 jackpot drop whenever rake is taken from the table. When the jackpot is low it is technically –EV to play, which essentially means the extra “rake” paid by players does not justify the potential prizes, given the odds of hitting the prize. The +EV threshold is open up for interpretation and can vary according to specific jackpot rules but is generally considered to be around the $300k-$400k range at most games.