Slots

Never get between a serious slot player and his or her machine. Slot players are much like the mother bear with her cub I once met mountain biking. — Mark Pilarski

The allure of winning a big slot machine jackpot is every slot players dream. Watching the wheels line up and change your destiny in the blink of an eye is a real possibility, even if a slim one at that.

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This section of GoodCasinos.org will focus on the short list of good slots casinos and show you where and how to play slots on the internet safely and securely. One of our hopes is that we provide information to you to become a better slot machine player.

List of Slot Machine Games

Just a small selection of the slots available at slots.lv

We review slot machine games that offer jackpots when playing them. If you are looking for a slot machine game that has a progressive slot machine jackpot, then take a moment and read a slot game title that interests you from the ones listed below. We show you screen shots of the slots, best casinos to play each slot game and the details on what triggers the jackpot, the scatter symbol and the bonus round details. You can play all of the slots listed here for free or for real money.

This is just a little taste of the slots we have reviewed. For the full list, click here.

We will add more slot games as we complete their reviews.

Why Play Slots?

Different slot enthusiasts gravitate towards slots based upon a number of factors. Some enjoy certain thematic elements (i.e. Egyptians, sports, etc.). Others look specifically at each game’s pay tables. Still others only play progressives.

When slot machines first debuted, they relied upon an assortment of mechanical gears and other moving parts. A lever (or “arm”) was positioned on the right side which players would pull in order to spin the reels.

Most slots during that early developmental stage had only 3 reels and each reel was decorated with a number of symbols.

You would win if a winning combination of symbols on the 3 reels lined up on a payline. The amount you would win would be displayed on the slot machine’s pay table.

Slots have evolved dramatically over the years.

They no longer rely upon moving gears and levers. Instead, a computer chip, algorithm, and a random number generator (RNG) do the heavy lifting. In fact, both land based and online slot machines are ran from similar random number generators. The days of the mechanical gears controlling the outcomes are long gone, replaced by the microchip.

We’ll then explain how a random number generator controls the reel stops. Finally, we’ll provide an example to clarify the concept.

How Slot Machines Work

Online slots are pretty much exactly the same slots you play at a brick and mortar casino. They both are driven by computers and are entirely dependent upon mathematical probabilities. They use a random number generator (RNG) in order to ensure a reliable level of randomness in the spinning reels.

When you hear slots players say that a particular machine is about to pay out, they’re referring to the number of plays that have already occurred without a payout. That is, they’re saying the machine is “due” to hit.

As long as an RNG is dictating outcomes, a slot machine jackpot game cannot be “due” to hit. To explain, think about a series of coin tosses. Just because heads comes up 5 times in a row doesn’t increase the chances of tails coming up. It is a completely random event.

The key to maximizing your winnings on slot jackpot games is to first determine how many credits you’ll bet on each spin. Some jackpots require that you bet the maximum number of credits. Then, consider how much risk you’re willing to absorb in order for a chance to win the progressive jackpots (when they’re available).

Often, the number of credits that you bet on a spin plays a key role in the amounts of the various jackpots. Every online casino for USA players has their own inventory of slot machine jackpot games. The pay tables can vary between casino.

The reason these slot might still be profitable to play is because of the chance to hit a progressive slot jackpots.

Below, we’ll give you a brief tour regarding how slot machine jackpot games work, including those with progressive jackpots. We’ll also provide a list of the best online casinos that not only offer thrilling jackpot slots, but also exciting bonuses with which you can get started playing online slots for real money.

An Example Of How Slot Machines Work

Let’s suppose that you are playing a 3-reel slot machine with a dividing factor of 64. You press the “Spin” button and the reels begin turning.

At the moment you triggered the reels, the slot’s computer selects three numbers generated by the RNG (one number for each reel).

Each of the three numbers is divided by the factor 64.

Let’s assume the RNG-generates the following numbers.

1,300,000
2,500,700
7,967,257

Once they are divided by 64, the following numbers result (in order):

Reel 1: 20,312 with a remainder of 32
Reel 2: 39,073 with a remainder of 28
Reel 3: 124,488 with a remainder of 25

The remainders (32, 28, and 25) are the stop numbers. They’re compared to the computer’s lookup table in order to determine the symbols which should appear for the corresponding reels.

If it produces a winning combination of symbols, you win.

Pay Tables And Slot Machine Payout Percentages

Each slot machine has a pay table. As noted, the pay table describes how much you’ll win for a variety of winning symbol combinations.

Each slot also maintains a predefined payout percentage. That is, for each $100 that a machine’s collective pool of players bet, a given percentage can be expected to pay out. For example, a slot with a 96% payout percentage will pay out $96 for each $100 bet over the long-term.

The key to understanding a slot’s pay table and payout percentage lies with its random number generator.

The Slot Machine Random Number Generator

The moment you make your bet and spin a slot machine’s reels, a computer algorithm decides the outcome of your spin. It does this through a computer program called an RNG which randomly generates thousands of numbers each second.

One of those numbers is selected for each reel and is already plotted with the algorithm to each reel’s stop position.

This plotting is the result of dividing the random number generated by the RNG by 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, or 512.

Once the RNG-generated number has been divided by one of the factors listed above, the remainder of the resulting value represents the “stop number.”

It is compared with the slot machine’s lookup table. That table lists the symbol for each reel that should appear given a particular stop number. There are not any game theory strategies or ways to improve your chances of winning a slots machine. Once the symbols for each reel have been determined by the stop number, the slot’s computer chip checks the internal pay table to determine whether there is a winning combination. If there is, the computer further checks the appropriate amount of the winning combo’s payout.

Progressive Slots – Slots With Huge Jackpots

A clip from the popular “progressive jackpot” game, Megasaur, available at Slotocash among others.

A lot of slots enthusiasts are content to play for the bonuses and multipliers based upon each game’s pay table. Others want a chance to win the big prize: progressive slot machine jackpots.

Progressive slot games have been responsible for turning ordinary gamblers into millionaires. As a result, these staggering jackpots have become one of the most seductive attractions for many online casinos.

Below, we’ll explain how progressive slot jackpots grow and describe the different types of progressives that are available. We’ll also explore the odds of winning a huge jackpot as well as where you can enjoy playing progressive slots.

How Progressive Slot Jackpots Build

You likely already know how conventional slots work. Each game comes with its respective pay table and pays out based upon symbols that match various paylines. Progressive slot machines also have pay tables that work in the same manner. However, the reason they lure slots fans is due to a progressive slots jackpot that continues to grow until a player wins it.

Before we explain how progressive jackpots grow, it’s important to understand the different types that exist. In land-based casinos, there are three main types of progressive slot machine jackpots:

individual machines
linked banks of machines
multi-location networks

An individual progressive slot has a jackpot that grows exclusive of every other game. A linked bank of machines has a jackpot that is based upon bets wagered on every game within that bank. The progressive jackpots for multi-location networks can be shared across multiple casinos.

That’s how you can get the huge progressive slot jackpots you see advertised across casinos in Vegas (and online). Each time a player bets on a spin, a portion of that bet goes directly into the progressive slot machine jackpot pool.

For example, a slot game that has a maximum $5 spin might contribute $.25 of each player’s maximum bet to the pool. When a player finally hits the right symbols on the right paylines, he or she is awarded the entire jackpot. When that happens, the jackpot resets to an established minimum from which it begins to build again.

How Online Progressive Slots Work

Online progressive slots work in the same manner as those in land-based casinos. There’s no physical bank or network of machines, obviously; everything occurs online. In some cases, an online casino will have a perpetually-growing progressive jackpot that is only available to those who play a specific slot.

Other times, the jackpot may be available to players across a dozen or more slot games at that particular casino. Sometimes, a gambling site may use software that is used by several other online casinos to pool the progressive slots together to have some really huge jackpots. Just look at the chart above for some of the million dollar plus jackpots available online.

In that case, a progressive slots jackpot may be made available to players across several casinos that use the same software.

Understanding The Odds Of Progressives

First, let’s clarify a common misunderstanding about slots odds. A lot of slots fans believe that a slot machine is “due” to pay out simply because it hasn’t paid out in a long time.

However, that’s not true.

A random number generator is used to ensure that the odds of hitting the progressive jackpot (or anything on the pay table) are the same for each spin of the reels. The chance that you’ll hit the progressive jackpot depends upon the number of symbols per reel and number of reels; in effect, it’s based entirely on math. That being said, every slot machine has a given return. It’s a number that represents the ratio of how much money is paid out compared to how much is wagered. For example, a slot game with a 98.5% return keeps $1.50 for every $100 that is wagered.

While it’s seldom easy to identify a slot game’s individual return, the most dependable online casinos hire accounting firms to audit their numbers.

You can learn more about how slots work or different ways to play slots like in slot machine tournaments.

Progressive slot machine jackpots give you an opportunity to win enormous sums based upon the contribution of other slots players over time. Each time a person bets on a spin, a portion of their bet goes into a jackpot pool.

This collective jackpot grows bigger – or, “progresses” – with each play. Rather than winning several hundreds of dollars on a single slot machine, you can potentially win hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of a progressive jackpot.

Types of Online Slots

“Question: “What’s your favorite game?”
“The new slot machine with monkeys and bananas that goes bloop, bloop, bloop!”
–Wendy Liebman (comedian)

There are many different types of slots out and about. These are the ones offered by GTBets

Slots continue to rule the roost in the gambling world. More than ever, online and land-based casinos have come to rely upon different types of slots games to deliver the majority of their revenue.

The old-fashioned, simplistic 3-reel straight slots (those that pay solely based upon a pay table) have largely been replaced by more complex games. In fact, slot machines have enjoyed an explosion of creativity and innovation over the past few years. Below, we’ll take you on a brief tour of the main types of slots games that you can enjoy playing online.

Straight Slot Machines

Straight slots pay out for any winning combination of symbols that are listed on the pay table. They are not linked to any other slot games, so the jackpots are exclusive to each machine. There are four basic types of straight slots, though it’s worth noting that some types offer a blend of features found on other types.

Multiplier Slots

– The payouts offered by multiplier slots are based upon the number of coins bet on a spin. For example, suppose a slot machine pays 10 coins if you bet 1 coin and 3 cherries appear on a payline. This type of slot would pay out 20 coins for the same symbol combination (in this case, 3 cherries) if you were to bet 2 coins. And it would pay out 30 coins if you were to bet 3 coins. If effect, your payout is multiplied by the number of coins you bet.

Bonus Multiplier Slots

– These slots work in the same manner as basic multiplier slots. The only difference is a bonus that boosts your payout for a winning combination if you bet the maximum number of coins. Let’s return to our previous example. Betting 1 coin would pay out 10 coins for 3 cherries on a single payline. Betting 2 coins would pay out 20 coins. However, betting 3 coins (or, the maximum bet) might pay out 50 coins due to the bonus multiplier.

Multi-Payline Slots

– When slot machines first became popular, most of them offered only one payline. Today, many straight slot games offer multiple paylines. Each coin that you bet activates one payline. If a winning combination appears on an activated payline, you win the payout listed on the pay table. However, if a winning combination appears on a payline that is not activated, the slot machine will not pay out.

Multipliers And Bonus Multipliers

– Multiplier slots award the player for betting more credits on each play. For example, the pay table on a traditional multiplier might pay out 10 credits for a given combination if you bet one credit. However, if you bet 2 credits and hit the same combo, the machine might pay 20 credits. If you bet 3 credits, you’ll earn 30 credits.

A bonus multiplier works similarly with an added twist: if you bet the maximum number of credits and hit a pay table combo, you’ll receive a bonus. For example, if you bet one credit and hit three cherries, you might earn 20 credits. Had you bet 2 credits, the three cherries would have paid 40 credits. But, had you bet the maximum 3 credits, you might have earned 100 credits.

Multiple Payline Slots

The “5 Reel Circus” slot machine showing 15 lines in play.

In the past, most types of slots games offered only one payline. Today’s slots can have dozens. In most cases, you’re not forced to play all of the paylines, you can bet additional credits in order to activate them.

If any combination that is listed on the pay table hits one of the paylines, the machine pays out. Keep in mind that a payline that you haven’t activated will not pay out, no matter how big the bonus item.

Buy-A-Pay Slots

This type of slot game lets you pay for the symbols you’d like to match. For example, a game’s pay table might list 3 cherries, 3 gold bars, and 3 monkeys as payable combinations. If you bet one credit, the slot might only pay on the cherries. Betting two credits pays on the cherries and gold bars. Betting the maximum three credits lets you collect on all three combinations. The only time you should play a buy-a-pay slot game is when you intend to bet the maximum credits.

This type of slot machine is often misunderstood, even by long-time slot enthusiasts. Buy-a-pay slots offer a number of winning combinations, but will only pay out if you have “bought” a combination. For example, suppose a slot machine pays out for 3 cherries, 3 gold bars, and 3 sevens. Betting 1 coin activates cherries. Betting 2 coins activates cherries and gold bars. Betting 3 coins activates all winning combinations. If you were to bet 1 coin and 3 gold bars appeared on a payline, you would not win. You would need to bet 2 coins in order to collect for that symbol combination.

Progressives

Progressive slots pay according to their individual pay tables. However, they also pay out a jackpot that continues to grow each time a player places a bet on a contributing machine. These types of slot games allocate a small portion of each player’s bet to a pooled jackpot. The slots can operate individually (where only bets placed on a particular machine contributes to the jackpot pool) or within a linked network.

It’s not uncommon for progressive slot jackpots to reach in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Progressive slots offer a potentially life-changing jackpot that can climb into the millions of dollars. These types of slot machines are linked with other slots.

The linked network of machines can be small or large; they might consist of slots that are near one another or those located in different casinos. Each time a player makes a bet on any of the linked slot machines, a small portion is allocated toward the jackpot pool. The pool continues to build until a player hits the winning combination. When that happens, the jackpot is paid out and the pool is reset to its floor from where it begins to build again. Because a portion of each bet is allocated toward the jackpot pool, the payouts for all other winning combinations are slightly lower than would otherwise be the case.

Real Series Slots

Real Series slots were developed by Real Time Gaming (RTG), the gambling software developer for Rushmore Casino, Cherry Red, and iNetBet Casino. The slots are brilliantly colored and come with “free spin” triggers, bonus rounds, and random progressives. Plus, many of them start with a minimum bet of only $.01. The Real Series slot games have enjoyed immense success since they were released and RTG is currently developing additional titles.

i-Slots

These types of slots are the latest innovation for online casinos. Each game comes with a unique storyline that unfolds as you play. If you successfully reach certain levels, you’re rewarded with special video clips that continue to flesh out a storyline and its characters. Rival Software developed i-Slots in order to integrate slot games with entertaining film, providing a new and exciting experience for slots aficionados.

As you can see from these 3 scenes from “As The Reels Turn”, we get introduced to characters before loading up the next part of the story.

3-Reel And 5-Reel Slot Machines

The original Liberty Bell slot machine developed by Charles Fey was a 3-reel slot game. This is how the history of the slot machine began, with 3-reel slots.

Slots with only 3 reels have since become a staple in both land-based and online casinos. Depending upon the game you’re playing, the 3-reel machine might offer a single payline, multiple paylines, multipliers, and other bonuses. 5-reel slot machines were created as an extension of traditional 3-reel slots. The addition of two extra reels allowed for more paylines and winning combinations. As a result, the pay table and corresponding payouts grew exponentially. Casino operators enjoy far more flexibility with their payout percentages and slots enthusiasts enjoy the excitement of playing for a greater number of possible jackpots.

Slot Tournaments

Slots tournaments are popular for several reasons. First, the buy-in is usually low, which lets slot fans with a limited bankroll participate. Second, players know ahead of time how much of their money is at stake; the amount they might lose is limited to the buy-in.

Third, unlike poker tournaments, slots are mostly about chance. There’s no need to watch other gamblers’ betting strategy or note how aggressive they’re playing. Hitting the “Spin” button in order to keep the reels moving (especially important in timed slots tournaments) is the only task to fulfill. So, anyone – even beginners – can enjoy participating in online slots tournaments. In this section, we’ll explore slots tournaments and explain how online slot tournaments work; there are a few types and we’ll describe each of them.

We’ll also discuss how to create your strategy and where you can play slots tournaments online.

How Slots Tournaments Work

As already noted, you’ll first need to buy into the slots tournament. The amount of the entry fee may be zero and potentially climb past $100 (though that’s rare). The entry fees for all of the participants are normally placed into a collective prize pool. Each player is provided with the same number of credits with which to play and assigned a slot machine.

Then, the playing session begins. All of the participants will have the same amount of time during which to spend their credits. In most cases, hitting the “Spin” button automatically places the maximum bet. Once the playing session is over, the player who has won the highest credit value is declared the winner and given a portion of the prize pool.

If any participant’s original credits are not played, they are forfeited (they are not added to the number of credits won). Each slots tournament will typically produce several winners. The slots player with the highest “won credits” value is awarded the largest portion of the prize pool while other winners are given smaller slices. Some online slots tournaments award cash prizes to thousands of participants.

Types Of Slots Tournaments

Land-based casinos will occasionally organize an ‘invitation only’ slots tournament. They’re usually reserved for a casino’s best customers. On the other hand, in order to interest casual gamblers and passersby, casinos will often hold free slots tourneys that are open to anyone.

Even though they don’t require a buy-in, cash prizes are awarded to the winners. Other types of slots tournaments include those which return all of the buy-in fees to the participants and those which provide a profit for the casino.

A casino will often organize a tournament in order to attract customers to other services. They’re not interested in making money from the entry fees. Instead, they hope players and spectators will spend money on food, rooms, or at the table games.

Mapping Your Strategy For Slots Tournaments

First, it’s worth noting again that winning at slots tournaments does not require skill. The only items to worry about are luck and your ability to focus. The tourneys are usually timed with playing sessions as short as 15 minutes. As mentioned above, you must bet all of your original credits during the session.

That requires focus, kind of. Within minutes, slots players will often become distracted and start looking around, which slows their playing pattern. Before you participate in any slots tournaments, avoid drinking alcohol, it will only slow you down, but honestly if you can’t handle pushing a button non stop then I don’t know what to tell you.

If you’re competing in online slots tourneys, turn the television off to avoid distractions. Remember, time is usually critical and playing quickly can often make the difference between betting all of your credits and having to forfeit some of them.

Just push that ‘spin’ button, right?

Can I Really Play Slots Online For Real Money

Yes, but please be careful and only play them at a good casino. Remember it is entertainment and treat it as such. Good luck spinning the wheels!

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1 Bovada	98
2 Sloto Cash	96
3 Slots.LV	95

Slot	Rating
1 Gnome Sweet Home	98
2 Instant Inferno	98
3 Goodfishes	96
4 Faerie Spells	95
5 Oasis Dreams	95