Online Slots

Online slots have taken the world by storm, and it is easy to see why. Playing slots online is easy, fun, and offers fast-paced entertainment. Unlike a land-based casino, online casino slots are always accessible, and players can play wherever they prefer. Play in the comfort of your home or on the go using your mobile device.

Online Slots – A Brief History

Since the first gambling machine came into existence in 1887, slot machines have evolved tremendously. Slots improved from purely mechanical to electromechanical in the late 20th century, and with the boom of the internet in the mid-’90s, the first online casinos were developed.

Today, online casinos are far more popular than traditional land-based casinos as they provide more game variety than a casino floor can ever carry. In 2021 the global online gambling market was estimated at USD 57,5 billion and expected to reach USD 172 billion in 2030.

Online Slots Today

Improvements to video games introduced a wave of online slot variants with exciting themes, different structures, and unconventional layouts. Players can choose from hundreds of top software providers, each offering an average of over 5,000 slot game variants, with new online slots launching regularly. In addition, thousands of online slots offer innovative game features and special bonus rounds to keep players engaged.

iGaming developers have taken all the favourite slot game variants and recreated them into thousands of modern-day versions. This guide covers the basics of online slots, how it works, and explains the types of slots available. We will help you choose the best online slot and provide valuable tips to give you the best chances of an overall winning gaming experience.

With the thousands of online casino slots to choose from, finding the online slots that are best for you may seem like a daunting task. There are many factors to consider, especially if you play online slots for real money. Below we offer some guidelines you could follow to assist you with your choice to find the best online slots.

➡️ Safe Online Casino

A safe online casino is crucial when choosing the best online slot. You should only play at licensed and regulated online casinos as it is the only way to ensure safe play with fair outcomes. The casino licensing info should be visible on the website, and the T&Cs must be easily understandable.

A safe online casino should offer 24/7 customer support and have an extensive Q&A section to address all frequently asked questions. Transparency is crucial, and you must be able to make an informed decision when choosing the online casino that is right for you. Choose from our recommended legitimate casinos tested for a safe online gaming experience.

➡️ RTP

RTP stands for Return To Player and will determine your overall chances of winning. It is always displayed as a percentage (%) and will give you an idea of how much money is given back to players over time. Regulated casino sites must constantly monitor the performance of their game RTP rates to avoid a gradual increase in their favour.

Slots with a low RTP range below 95%, while anything higher than 98% is a slot with a very high RTP. The industry standard for any slot is 96% and is considered a fair RTP rate. The higher the RTP, the higher your chances of winning. Progressive jackpots will generally have a lower RTP than non-progressive slot games. Low RTP slots may result in bigger player wins if you add variance and volatility to the equation.

➡️ Variance/Volatility

Slot games come in three volatility settings – low, medium, and high. The game variance (or volatility) will influence the RTP of the slot. Slots with low volatility will provide constant small wins, while games with high volatility will provide less frequent (but more significant) wins. The variance (or volatility) refers to the likelihood of a player winning and determines the winning compared to the stakes.

The key is to choose a slot with the best RTP and volatile setting based on your playing preference and avoid slots described as high paying. High volatility may mean bigger wins but also increases the risk of losing big. Conversely, slots with low volatility decrease your risk of losing over time and can ensure smaller wins more frequently.

➡️ Bonus Features

In-game bonus features are what will set one slot apart from another. Bonus features may include expanding wilds, free spins, bonus games, and cascading reels, and the slot bonus features make a slot game exciting.
Some slots have in-play bonus features like mini-games, bonus wheels, instant cash, progressive jackpots, and many other features to boost your bankroll. Refer to our online slot features below for more info on the different bonus features available and what they offer.

➡️ Theme

The theme of an online slot adds to the fun! Software providers use colourful graphics, high-quality software, lively soundtracks, and popular themes to create an immersive gaming experience. The themes range from the classic fruity to outer space!

Movie slots, ancient Egyptian slots, oriental slots, and adventure, horror, or mythology slots are some examples of themes you can expect to find. In addition, you will have various Christmas, Easter, and New Year-themed slots during the festive seasons.

➡️ Jackpot

A slot game with an attractive jackpot is hard to resist, but this should not be the determining factor when choosing the best online slots. A massive jackpot is designed to draw you in and may cause you to take more risks with your bets than you should. Playing a game for the winning jackpot is a common mistake online slot players make.

Choose an online slot that offers the best overall benefits while giving you an enjoyable gambling experience. Then, consult our section on the Biggest Payout Slots for the best jackpot slots that are famous for big and regular payouts. Online slot jackpots include standard jackpots, network-wide progressive jackpots, and non-network progressive jackpots.

Only classic casino games such as roulette and blackjack were available when slot games first hit the online scene. Now there are a variety of slot types with unconventional configurations and layouts. Online slot types included Video Slots, 3D Slots, Classic Slots, Vegas Slots, and Asian Slots.

Some players enjoy the simplicity of the classic slots, while others prefer more complex slot games with multiple ways to win. Below we discuss a few online slot types and styles you can expect to find in the casino slot library.

Numerous top software providers have a reputation for creating some of the highest payout slots. These games have a higher-than-average RTP and are famous for setting record-high headline-grabbing payouts.

Mega Moolah

Mega Moolah was launched in 2006 by Microgaming and is still one of the most popular video slot games online. This progressive jackpot slot game has made more millionaires online than any other jackpot slot. Mega Moolah is an African safari-themed slot with a classic design and features wilds, scatters, free spins, and jackpots galore!

Mega Fortune

The Mega Fortune video slot is a five reels slot with 25 paylines brought to you by NetEnt. This luxury-themed progressive slot focuses on wealth and riches and has a feel for the life of the elite in Monte Carlo. The game is filled with yachts, limousine rides, and the coveted champagne symbol that triggers the Free Spins round.

Jackpot Giant

Meet the friendliest giant online in Jackpot Giant, a progressive jackpot slot game from Playtech. Help uncover the Giants Jackpot for huge wins, and find the hidden treasures of the Volcanoes. The slot has a stone age theme and is played on a grid of three rows and five reels that offer 50 paylines.

An online slot’s features make it more exciting to play and ultimately boost your wins! Bonus games, free spins, scatters, cascading reels, cluster pays, and expanding wilds are some of the features that keep players engaged. With today’s technological advances, software providers can create some of the best features in the iGaming realm.

Below we list the most popular features added to top online casino slots and explain the jargon to give you a better understanding:

✅ Free Spins

A free spins round can be triggered any time during base gameplay and offers you a free chance at wins. Free spins are a special feature commonly found in most online slot games. During a free spins bonus, a player is granted a specified number of spins that do not deduct cash from their bankroll.

Within the free spins round, special added features like wild symbols or multipliers will often increase your potential wins. Free spins are usually triggered by the bonus symbol known as scatters and will activate if a certain amount of scatters land on the reels. Each slot game with free spins will award 5, 10, or more free spins, depending on the game.

✅ Scatters

Scatter symbols are unique icons that are effective anywhere on the reels. These are valuable icons that will usually lead to the primary win of a slot game. Scatters usually trigger a bonus round but can also lead to a scatter payout as a bonus. In addition, landing multiple scatters usually activates a free spin game or free spins within the base game.

Scatter symbols are the magic key that unlocks most other special features and bonus rounds. Unlike the symbols in a base game, scatters can be ‘scattered’ across the reel and do not have to appear in a row across a payline. Scatters could also activate unique bonus games like Wheel of Fortune or a Pick Game, where players can win instant cash prizes.

✅ Cascading Reels

Cascading reels, also known as tumbling or collapsing reels, is a bonus feature that appears each time you land a winning combination of symbols. What makes this feature so popular is its multiple chances to win. Cascading reels allow traditional symbols to be replaced with different ones that can trigger a bonus round or game.

Software developers have designed numerous creative ways of including this popular feature in your favourite slot or video slot game. They all have one feature in common: cascading reels only trigger after landing a winning combination. After that, the symbols disappear and are replaced with a new set of symbols, allowing another potential win. Sometimes the cascading wins are accompanied by a multiplier, making each subsequent one more lucrative.

✅ Jackpots

Jackpots are usually the game’s main feature and set one slot apart from the next. There are two types of jackpots – fixed jackpots and progressive jackpots.

Fixed jackpots are the grand prize that will pay out when a particular combination of symbols lands on the reels. This jackpot is a fixed amount that does not increase the more your play.

Progressive jackpots increase based on wins or specific criteria of a game. The jackpot amount is not fixed but increases in size each time a player makes a bet. In addition, some progressive jackpot slots can run over a network, which means the same jackpot runs across several casinos offering the same jackpot slot. Once the jackpot is won, the jackpot resets for the next play and resumes increasing under the same rule.

✅ Wilds

Wilds are special symbols and are the most sought symbol while playing online slots. It compares to the joker card in a regular deck of cards that can act as another card of the player’s choice. Wilds in a slot game will substitute for most standard game symbols and can appear at random to help produce a winning combination. Should you land one, two, or more wilds across a payline, they will change to match other symbols to form a winning combo wherever possible.

There are multiple variations of the wilds, and below, we discuss the most popular types:

The types of wilds above often combine to form more exciting wild combos like Expanded Sticky Wilds and Sticky Stacked Wilds. These combinations of wilds can lead to generous payouts.

✅ Gamble Feature

Some slot games will include a gamble feature that typically offers players the chance to double their winnings or lose it all. When this feature is triggered, the player can take a chance with a 50/50 outcome – double or nothing.

Slots with a gamble feature allow players to double up on the winnings already accrued. The only downside is that you can make the wrong prediction and lose all your winnings. The gamble feature is an exciting but nerve-wracking feature to take advantage of.

✅ Megaways

Megaways slots were invented by Big Time Gaming and offer a unique way of playing slots. It plays out on shape-shifting reels that produce a random number of symbols on each spin, usually between two and seven. As a result, there are many possible combinations and hundreds of thousands of ways to win.

To win on a Megaways slot, you must land identical symbols on adjacent reels from left to right. The numbers matched, and the placement on the reels is irrelevant; it’s all about the size of the symbol and the winning line the symbols create.

✅ Bonus Games

Most casino slots will feature bonus games within the base game of a slot. It is the best part of any slot game and adds an extra dimension to the game. Bonus games are usually triggered when several scatters, wilds, or other special symbols land within the base game.

Bonus games are in-game rounds like Mini-Slot, Pick a Bonus, Jackpot Bonus, Hold & Spin, Wheel of Fortune, and Bonus Wheel. Read the slot and player reviews, and play the slot in the demo version (if available) to get a feel for the bonus games within the base game.