After a jackpot hits, the seed is the next meter, not a missing prize

Seed values after a progressive jackpot hit are the amount the meter is built to show once the prize has been won. The pre-hit meter was the prize. The seed is the floor of the next cycle. Readers who refresh the game and see a much smaller figure sometimes conclude the casino deleted the payout. The design did the opposite. It paid the large figure, then restarted the meter at the seed published for that level. The winner’s credit is a cashier event. The seed is a display event. They are supposed to happen together.

The pre-hit figure was the award

Wide-area and local meters both use seeds. A wide-area seed can still be a large number because the network funds it. A local seed can be a small multiple of the stake. Neither seed is the pre-hit meter with a digit missing. If you captured the meter at 120,000 and it now shows the seed, the 120,000 was the cycle that ended, provided the hit was real and the help file lists that seed. If no hit occurred and the meter dropped, that is a different complaint, and the jackpot history or the pay record is the evidence, not the suspicion alone.

A lower number is the published restart

When you write the hit up, put both numbers in the sentence: the meter immediately before the award, and the seed immediately after. Name the level, because a game with minor, major, and mega seeds only resets the level that hit. The others keep growing. Then point at the cashier of the casino where the spin was placed. That is where the prize is credited, subject to the usual withdrawal checks. A seed on screen is the game working. It is not a voided jackpot.