[toc]There are thousands of online slots available at legal online gambling sites, so it can feel a bit overwhelming choosing which one to play.
Most people pick a theme or aesthetic that appeals to them and spin the reels to their heart’s content, but if you want to be a bit savvier then you should ask a few questions before you decide which online slot you want to go for.
What is the Return to Player percentage?
This statistic is the be all and end all if you want to really know just how much you can expect to make playing online slots.
Return to Player (RTP) percentage is simply the amount that a player would expect to see returned statistically. For example, if you play an online slot with an RTP of 97.22 percent then you would expect to receive $97.22 back for every $100 you wager.
Now, it’s important to note that this is an average statistic.
Naturally, you could wager $100 and make $759.24, or you could wager $100 and lose $29.12; the RTP of the game is still 97.22 percent and in the long term you will receive $97.22 back for every $100 you bet.
Obviously, the higher the RTP, the better value the slot. Most slots have an RTP of around 95 or so, but some are as high as 98 and these are the games that you should try to hunt down.
Of course, it’s not just useful for knowing which games give you the best bang for your buck, but can actually be used to make slots profitable – in a true, mathematical sense.
Many online casinos, like bet365 for example, will offer forms of cashback as part of a promotion, so if that’s the case then knowledge of RTP is paramount.
Why? Well, because if you’re receiving 5 percent cashback from a casino and playing a game with an RTP of 95 percent or higher, then… well, you can do the math!
Does it have a progressive jackpot?
For many online slots players, a progressive jackpot is a make or break for playing slots.
We’ve all heard about the huge, multi-million-dollar wins that some lucky so-and-so managed to net playing online casino games. Well, you can bet your whole bankroll that they didn’t win playing blackjack or baccarat; it’s online slots that consistently provide the life-changing wins.
However, despite the bonus rounds of many games paying out thousands of times your bet, it’s a progressive jackpot slot that really pays out big.
Progressive jackpots accumulate with each spin from each player around the world, often on different games all pooling together into one pot.
They can very quickly build up to the tens of millions until one lucky player wins the lot!
What sort of volatility does the online slot have?
When talking about online slots, “volatility” describes the nature of the game’s payout:
- A high volatility slot will not pay out wins often.
- A low volatility slot will pay out wins very often.
So, it seems obvious which one is best, right? Not quite! Each type of slot has a pro and a con, because:
- A high volatility slot tends to pay out big wins.
- A low volatility slot tends to pay out small wins.
So this boils down to a choice between infrequent but larger payouts, or smaller and more frequent wins. Neither is necessarily better than the other, and will essentially come down to your own personal taste.
On consideration to make is that for a high volatility slot, one will likely need to be a little more conservative with their bankroll than for a low volatility slot, as the chance of going dozens and dozens of spins without a win is much higher.
