Many online slots from the biggest developers can be found at the best online casinos. Some developers will have exclusive deals with the casino. Internet to provide their slots portfolio, but keep in mind – not all casino slot are created equal.

How to Play Slots Online

When real cash slots first appeared in the mid-1990s, they only had a few reels and one payline. Today, you can find slots with 3 reels, 5 reels, 1,024 paylines and expensive animation sequences – there are even slots based on the latest Hollywood movies.

Whichever game you choose, they work basically the same way, although there are slight differences in features from developer to developer. Remember, you can often ‘try before you buy’ and there are many websites that offer versions of this game. Many of the major slot developers (see below for a good list of sites) also have free versions of real money games on their websites.

Spin the Reel Slot

After filling in an online slot from an online casino or instant game site, a game screen will be presented to you filled with several reels. Classic slots have three vertical reels but most modern video slots have five (see types below for more).

Each reel usually has more than 20-25 symbols, which is relevant to the theme of the slot, and the goal is to spin the reel and hit the winning combination of symbols when the reel stops. With so many symbols on the reels – and so many paylines – there will be millions of possible combinations to hit.

You will see a ‘Spin’ button at the bottom right of the screen that makes the reel move. Some games will have a ‘Skill Stop’ button so you can stop the reel yourself.

View Paytable

Before you spin the reel, click on the ‘Paytable’ or ‘Info’ icon on the game screen; which will take you to a split screen with all the game info you need. Here you will find the various payouts for each of the different winning combinations, a list of the different symbols, and details of each bonus round, if any. Some, but not all, developers will list a possible Return to Player (RTP) percentage as well. There’s more to it than that below.

Amount of Bet and Paylines

Before you play a real money slot machine, set the bet size and the number of paylines you want to play. For lower variant games – i.e. slots that look appealing to small wallets – you will find bets starting at USD 0.01 per line.

Next, choose how many coins you want to bet on a particular line. You can bet anything from 1 to 10 coins per line. Then choose how many paylines – combinations of symbols on the reels – you want to play. You can bet on one payline or as many as possible – just click on the payline on the side of the game screen.

So, for example, let’s say an online slot machine has 25 paylines, and bets range from USD 0.01 to USD 1.00 per coin. Slots allow you to bet up to 10 coins per line. Therefore, you can play one coin for USD 0.01 on one payline, which means your bet per spin is only USD 0.01, or you can play the most expensive limit which is USD 1.00 per coin, 10 coins per line. , and a maximum of 25 paylines. This means your bet per spin is USD 250.

Look for the ‘Max. Bet’ – every real money slot has this one button – to jump to this option.

Other slots, meanwhile, will have fixed paylines, meaning that you have no choice about how few or how many paylines you can play. This can lead to larger cash outlays over time, but you will also have the opportunity to win more winning combinations.

Gamble / Double Up

Then, once you are ready to play, hit the ‘Play’ button. The reel will spin and then stop. Each winning combination will pay out, but some real money slots give you the option of doubling your winnings (look for the ‘Gamble’ button), usually via a simple ‘red or black’ or ‘higher or lower’ card game.

Slot Game Symbol

You will usually find about 10-12 different individual symbols in real money online slots, and depending on the theme it can be anything from the classic melon and cherry, to superheroes, aliens, bank robbers, pampered bunnies, mythological characters, diamonds, treasures, gold, poker symbols like jacks, queens, kings… actually, if there was a theme on earth, there would probably be online slots created that use that theme.

Wild and Scatters

Winning symbol combinations generally pay out left to right, with consecutive symbols contributing to the winning payline. However, each video slot has a special image/symbol which results in bigger prizes for players.

The Wild symbol can replace the regular in-game symbols to create a winning combo (Wild is the same feature as the Joker in card games, it can replace any other symbol). There will also be a multiplier accompanying the win, meaning that the win can be doubled or tripled if formed with the Wild icon.

Meanwhile, the Scatter symbol pays off if you hit two or more ANYTHING across the reels. Usually, however, hitting three or more Scatters on the reel will trigger a special bonus feature as well as a special cash bonus prize.