Slot Machine Tips
Slot machines are games of chance that randomly generate symbol combinations to determine wins. Microgaming, creators of Agent Jane Blonde and Break Away, released the first real-money online casino software and online slots in 1994, and since then this form of gaming has exploded.
Online slots are by far the most popular of all online casino games, with more being released each and every week. Join us as we delve into essential online slot machine tips and strategies needed to enjoy and enhance your experience.
Best Slot Machine Tips List
Here is the summary of the slot machine tips:
Choose the right slot machine
Understand the slot machine mechanics (RTP, paylines, symbols, volatility)
Try playing in demo mode to understand the slot machines
Check in-game details to learn more about online slot game payouts
Set your bankroll and bet amounts
Avoid chasing losses and stick to your bankroll
Check if the jackpot is available and opt in for "LeoJackpot"
Use the bonus buy feature to quickly get to bonus rounds
Take advantage of casino bonuses and promotions
Explore different slot machines
Understanding Slot Machine Mechanics
Online slot machines vary in payout sizes, themes, number of reels and rows, paylines, bet sizes, jackpot types, animation style, and even the use of reels. However, all of these are fairly surface-level elements to slots.
While they have a huge influence on your enjoyment of the slot gaming experience and likely help determine which slots you play, they aren’t key slot machine mechanics.
The true elements that govern how the slot works are behind the scenes and in the programming. These are the return to player (RTP) percentages and volatility ratings. We’ll delve into these slot machine mechanics more below.
Essential Slot Machine Tips and Strategies
Take on these essential online slot machine tips and strategies and you’ll come away from any game feeling entertained.
Playing for Fun vs. Playing to Win
Regardless of which online slots you pick to play, you should always be playing for fun rather than playing to win. If you’re playing to win, there’s a good chance that you’re trying to come away with more money than you started with, which is a dangerous route to take, as you’re more likely to bet more than you can afford.
On top of this, all online slots are completely randomized (they use random number generators), so there’s never a guarantee that you’ll win at slots, regardless of how many times you spin those reels or what stake you place.
If you are in the mindset of playing for fun, you won’t leave disappointed. This is why picking a slot based on the theme, features, and volatility is so important, as they are major parts of the experience.
The Myth of Hot and Cold Machines
Every single spin on a slot machine, be it physical or an online video slot, is completely randomized.
Online slots have programming that determines (on average) what the slot has to pay out as a percentage of what’s paid in, in bracketed amounts (per the RTP and volatility).
Still, to get the thumbs up from licensors and regulators, the programming behind the slots has to be proven as purely random and fair to all players.
Online, people are playing the same game all over the world, so even if 'hot' and 'cold' were factors – which they aren’t – you’d never know when a slot becomes 'hot'.
Bet Sizing and Betting Strategies
It won’t work if you’re attempting to apply betting strategies to a slot gaming session. Every result is completely randomized, so the slots strategy can’t be applied to capitalize on wins or losses.
That said, bet sizing can be a useful tool if you know the core mechanics of a slot and your set bankroll. The key here is to find out the slot’s volatility.
Say you choose a low-volatility slot, which generally pays out more but often in smaller sums. You may want to place larger-sized bets to make the most of the more frequent, but smaller pays. To put this into action, let’s say you’ve set a bankroll of $100 for your gaming session. It may serve you well to plan to place a $5 bet per spin for a planned 20-spin run.
Understanding Return to Player (RTP) Percentages
The RTP of an online slot is an important factor, but deserves nowhere near the weight that many slot aficionados place on its percentage. In online gambling, there’s an industry standard for video slots to have an RTP rating of at least 91%. At a fully licensed and regulated online casino, you’ll struggle to find regular video slots with an RTP lower than this.
Naturally, there will be some outliers, such as the classic Mega Moolah , which levels base play against the hefty progressive jackpot seed. On the flip side, you can also find slots with potentially higher-than-average RTPs, such as Magic Journey.
Still, this doesn’t mean that you will be paid back the exact percentage of what you put in, as the RTP is an average percentage put back across all of the players spinning the slot around the world - not just for your individual session.
Taking Advantage of Bonuses and Promotions
Every online casino in the world knows that slots are the main attraction. As a result, you’ll find copious promotions and bonuses targeted towards slot games and their players.
You’ll often be able to claim or opt-in to a promotion to earn or get free spins on specific games, partake in tournaments for additional prizes, or qualify to hit a local jackpot. All of these can add more potential to your playing time or simply steer you towards a new slot on the house.
Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is an essential part of all gambling, especially when it comes to slot machines. Before you even click on a slot, set your bankroll! Let’s say it’s $50. Do not, we repeat, do not exceed that amount, even if you land big wins. You can help accomplish this by setting a bet size and sticking to it for the duration of your bankroll, such as by doing 50 x $1 spins. This way, you’ve secured your winnings and can walk away without going through them.
Choosing the Right Slot Machine
The right slot machine for you, will always be the one that offers the highest entertainment value through its theme, features, or volatility.
That said, you should always pick a slot from a trusted provider at a licensed and regulated online casino to ensure that it’s both fair and completely randomized.
Understanding Paylines and Volatility
A payline is a line running across a slot machine or video slot game, that determines whether a combination of symbols results in a win. Also referred to as win lines or winning ways, these can vary from slot to slot, and each game can offer as few as one to hundreds of thousands!
A very standard count is ten paylines. While ten can still be found in hits like Big Bass Splash, the standard has since grown in size greatly! Looking back, there was a time when paylines hit a trendy 243, which led to releases like Game of Thrones 243 Ways. These days, new mechanics like MEGAWAYS play every payline possible on each spin, as seen in Madame Destiny MEGAWAYS’ 200,704 ways to win!
The majority of paylines are contingent on lining up symbols from the leftmost reel rightwards, usually needing at least three along a payline in this direction to win. Slots like Queen of Alexandria WowPot stand out for offering both-ways paylines that pay from left to right and right to left. Some slots have even done away with paylines entirely, instead incorporating cluster pays like in Sweet Alchemy 100 or the ‘pay anywhere’ rule showcased by Sweet Bonanza.
Volatility provides the greatest influence on your slot gaming experience. Volatility works on a gradient from low to high volatility game, with many slots fitting somewhere in-between.
High volatility slots are the in-thing right now. While they generally pay with less frequency, the payouts are larger when they hit. Gates of Olympus and Book of Dead have become popular predominantly because of their high volatility and clear-cut features that lead to the highest payouts.
Low volatility used to be more popular. Depending on personal preference, the entertainment value of low volatility slots is perhaps higher, with players receiving cash wins more often, yet generally in small amounts.
Among the top-ranking of low volatility slots is Jackpot Raiders and Star Joker. Sitting in the middle with a balance between regularity and prize size, are medium volatility slots.
Games like Wolf Gold, Valley of the Gods, and Crocodile Blitz Xtreme fall into this space.
Setting Win and Loss Limits
Setting win and loss limits is key to adhering to responsible gambling practices. A loss limit will help you manage your bankroll and stop you from depositing more funds, in an effort that’s often emotionally charged to recuperate losses.
A win limit can also come in handy if you are susceptible to the fallacy of being on a hot streak, allowing you to keep any wins that you may land.
Check in the settings of your online account for availability of bankroll management features such as these.
Knowing When to Walk Away
If you utilize strategies like bankroll management and setting win and loss limits as described above, you’ll have clear-cut lines of when you need to walk away and simply end your session. It’s easy to fall into a mindset of chasing wins or not wanting to lose out on a ‘hot streak’, but slot machines are entirely randomized. ‘Hot streaks’ don’t exist, and it would be foolish to try to recuperate from losses, especially if strong emotions are in play.
Progressive Jackpot Strategies
Progressive jackpots are randomly triggered by whichever player happens to press the spin button at the right moment. It’s as simple as that! With this understood, perhaps the only slot machine strategy that you could apply to any of the progressive jackpot slots is to bet the lowest amount to make your bankroll last longer and give you a greater chance of being in the game when the jackpot drops. That being said, always check each game’s info and rules to see what the bet requirements are to be in contention for the biggest jackpots!
Common Slot Machine Mistakes to Avoid
The main slot machine mistake to avoid is chasing losses. Every spin on an online slot is completely randomized. During your play, the slot is not storing up bets and withholding wins in order to release a big one. It’s all random. Chasing losses is a doomed pursuit.
Another mistake is ignoring the terms and conditions. Always look through the online casino’s T&Cs, as well as those on each slot’s home page as they contain important information like the minimum bet size required to be in contention for a jackpot, the maximum payout cap, and geographical restrictions.
Now you know all the slot machine tips to get the most out of every spin! Good Luck!
Slot Machines FAQs
What is the best strategy to win at slot machines?
There is no guaranteed strategy for winning, however, checking the tips listed at the beginning of this article might help to get the idea of online slot games strategy.
How do I pick a good paying slot machine?
Check the volatility and RTP in slot game details.
What triggers a jackpot on a slot machine?
Slots are a game of luck, run using a random number generator (RNG). So, truth be told, there’s no real strategy that can be applied to beat these machines.
How do you know when a slot is hot?
There is no such thing as a "hot" slot - each spin is completely random.
Which slot machine is most likely to win?
RTP and volatility are the main factors when it comes to determining the winning slot machine. A low volatility slot with a high RTP theoretically going to generate the most frequent wins.
Read more about slot mechanics in our guides: