1. A method for distributing a progressive jackpot among players at progressive linked gaming machines comprising providing a plurality of gaming machines, each of said gaming machines being capable of a) accepting a bet of an amount of money from a player, b) after accepting said bet, performing a play cycle initiated by said player, and c) generating an outcome of said play cycle, said outcome being one of a plurality of possible outcomes, at least one of said outcomes being a progressive jackpot-winning outcome; collecting betting data from said gaming machines, said betting data representing said amounts of money bet by players at each of said machines, determining from said betting data the value of a progressive jackpot, detecting the occurrence of said progressive jackpot-winning outcome at one of said gaming machines; and upon the occurrence of said progressive jackpot-winning outcome, distributing at least a portion of said progressive jackpot among a plurality of eligible players, all of whom will receive a portion of said jackpot, selected from among said players playing at said plurality of said gaming machines, said eligible players being selected independently of any of said outcomes at said plurality of said gaming machines.