For many players at an online casino, the slots section is the one they will head straight for, as these games will offer the most excitement, variety and fun they will find. Online slots have improved immeasurably in the almost 20 years since online casinos first appeared, the sound and graphics becoming almost cinematic at times, while the large Jackpot payouts have become more and more regular.
In this article I look at five ways that you can maximize the enjoyment of real money online slots gaming. A number of players will simply deposit money, head to the slot section, choose a game almost randomly and start playing with no real thought about the session ahead. Take heed of these five pointers and you’ll find your slot sessions more enjoyable, more exciting and possibly even more profitable.
Play the Right Slot
Before you pick a slot, actually have a think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to grab the chance of winning a jackpot? Are you a fan of slots with lots of features, or do you like a more straightforward game? Do you want to minimize your losses when you play? Slots come in many shapes and sizes and can offer completely different gaming experiences. A large jackpot slot for example, will obviously give you that chance of that win, but in the shorter term, you are probably more likely to have a losing session. Whereas a lower variance game, which can usually be spotted by additions such as stacked wilds or ‘all ways to win’ offer the chance for many much smaller wins, meaning that in the short term, a winning session is much more likely. Choosing the right type of slot for you gets you off on the right foot.
There are plenty of guides here at Sit N Go Planet to help you find the latest and greatest slots. I recommend you try out the different software houses one at a time - playing a broad selection of their games before moving onto the next one. All of them offer something unique, and which you end up with as a go-to slot maker will often depend on your personal taste. There are now more than 40 software houses, the links below are for some of the biggest and best known:
- RealTime Gaming Slots (Popular and solid range of games available at many US friendly casinos)
- MicroGaming Slots (original and biggest range online, their titles include a lot of progressive jackpot games)
- PlayTech Slots (another big player with a lot of slots, I recommend the 'Marvel' movie tie-in titles)
- IGT Slots (live slots which are coming online, movie / TV / music tie-ins and some very innovative / imaginative games)
Money Management
If you are going to play a slot, you want to ensure that you can play it for a while to give yourself the best chance of enjoying some bigger wins and hitting those features. Fortunately the majority of slots can be played for a variety of stakes. Before you start, decide how much of your bankroll you are willing to risk at a session and then choose an appropriate coin size. For example, you might decide that the maximum you are willing to lose is $20. Now at this point, the thing you don’t want to do is play for $5 a spin – the session could be over in seconds. With $20 to play with, a realistic figure would be something like 50c a spin. The very worst case scenario would see you play just 40 spins, however the session will most probably be much longer than that. Why not give yourself a set time limit and then cash out at the end of the session (maybe set an alarm on your phone or tablet) – even if it goes badly you probably won’t lose the whole $20, but if it goes well your bankroll might receive a nice boost.
Know the Rules of the Slot
It’s very easy to play blindly at a slot, just hitting spin with no real idea of exactly how it works. Why not take a look at the pay table first and gain an idea of exactly how it plays. You’ll find out which of the symbols are the ones that you really want to hit, you’ll know exactly how to land the bonus features and you’ll also know what these bonus features are. Now, when hitting spin, you’ll see when you’ve hit that big win before the slot tells you, you’ll immediately know that the wild symbol has just won you a nice bonus amount and you’ll feel that added buzz when the first two scatters of three appear on the reels. This can bring much greater excitement to a game as there is no better feeling than those ‘COME ON!’ moments when that perfect symbol hits on reel five or you’ll know you are heading into the bonus feature – simply saying ‘Oh, I’ve hit the bonus feature, how did I do that?’ isn’t quite the same!
Mixing it Up
You might have noticed that the slots section of any online casino is growing year on year. This means that overall you’ll find a choice of thousands of games online. It would be fair to say that some of these are not actually very good, but there are a large amount of top end games which will blow you away! So ensure you take full advantage and play a range of them. Yes, everyone has their favorite game, but if you play that game continually you’ll eventually get bored, in the same way that if anyone had the same favorite dinner every night they would soon move onto something else (it might take me a while to get bored of steak, chips and mushrooms every night, perhaps even a long while, but I would move on eventually!). Play a range of games and your favorite ones will remain fresh for much longer than they would otherwise.
Bonuses and Promotions
Online casinos want players to play slots and because of this they will offer a large number of promotions for slot players. These might come in the form of deposit bonuses, free spins, tournaments, leaderboards or added loyalty points. Check out the terms and conditions of any bonus at an online casino and you’ll quickly realize that slot play offers one of the quickest ways to actually clear a bonus, whereas other games such as blackjack and roulette might require wagering much more money. Always check the promotions page of any online casino to see exactly what they offer and then take advantage – if they are offering you free money, why not enjoy some of that free money? There is no better feeling than having a winning session and then realizing that the casino has given you some free cash on top!
Recommended Slots Casinos
The table below shows the top rated casinos for slots gaming as we go into 2024. My tip for players new to this area is to go for the casinos with a big range of software providers, that way you will not need to change casino when you are ready to check out a new selection.