The present invention relates to a method of determining the value of a jackpot award. The method entails operating a main game to obtain an outcome, at least one of the outcomes providing an initial award amount and enabling a secondary game. A player is then allowed to wager the initial award amount in the secondary game. The secondary game then identifies a winning or losing outcome. The winning outcome results in an increase of the initial award amount by some incremental amount. The player may continue to wager all or a portion of the won amount until the player has achieved the full jackpot award.