Best Online Slots Real Money Games 2024 Guide
Online slots are the most popular type of game in any casino. Whether it’s in Asia or anywhere else, slot games have millions of fans. That’s because of their numerous shapes and sizes and the fact they’re so easy to play. Unlike blackjack or poker, real money online slots need no prior knowledge, so you can just start spinning them without much effort.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about online slots. From their beginnings and definitions to finding the top slots and slot sites, we have everything right here on this page.
What are Online Slots?
Online slots are the most popular type of gambling game at today’s casino sites. These are virtual variants of slot machines from back in the day that could be found in Las Vegas, Macao, and even bars around the world. Things have changed a lot since then. Online slots have brought a more competitive edge with the introduction of new specifics and features that make them all the more exciting to play and ever more rewarding.
Slots have evolved a lot in the past couple of decades. Gone are the lever and fixed reels, and in their place, we have other mechanics that keep the ball rolling. Below we’ll talk more about the types of online slots you’ll find at most casino sites today.
Types of Online Slots
There are several types of online slots. Unlike in the past when there were only 3- and 5-payline slot games with a lever, modern slots have drastically changed. They’ve introduced new ways to win beyond the standard paylines. New ways of forming wins have also been introduced. It’s safe to say that slots have been revamped inside and out. Below you can see the most common types of modern slots you’ll meet at most online casinos.
3- and 5-reel classics
These are the classic slot games reimagined for the modern era. Also known as vintage or old-school slots, they usually keep things simple. Wins are formed from left to right for 3-5 matching symbols, and more often than not, there are no bonus rounds in these games.
Multi-reel and multi-payline slots
Most modern online slots have way more than 10 or 20 paylines. Multi-reel setups mean you’ll find slots with 50, 100, or even more winning ways.
Megaways slots
A special slot mechanic with up to 117,649 ways to win. The number of winning ways is directly affected by the number of symbols per reel (usually up to 7).
Progressive jackpots
A new variant of jackpot slots with an ever-growing prize pot. Progressive jackpots are fueled by small parts of bets everyone makes on them. The progressive jackpot can be won randomly by one lucky winner.
Online Slot Specifics
When you take a look at a slot’s info table, you’ll find many technical terms that may be hard to comprehend. In reality, these slot specifics can say a lot about the game itself. We’ll break all of them down in detail below. Once you learn all the specifics of online slots, you’ll know how to choose the right one easily.
- RTP: stands short for return to player and is shown as a percentage. This term describes how much money you can expect in return over a longer period when playing slots. For example, if the RTP is 96%, you can expect $96 in return for every $100 you place. This is just in theory, as you can still lose that $100 whole. But, you may win more on the next session, which brings the RTP to the number specified.
- Volatility: the volatility explains how often you can expect wins in a slot. Low volatility means the slot pays often, but smaller sums of money. Medium volatility offers varied wins. Dry runs are common for highly volatile slot games, but when you hit a win in these slots, it’s usually a large one.
- Paylines: the number of lines symbols land on. The higher the number of paylines, the better the winning potential. Paylines can go horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, and you usually need 3 or more matching symbols on a line for a win.
- Paytable: the paytable shows what each symbol pays. It’s usually accessible via the guide every slot possesses and gives an overview of the features too.
- Special symbols: wilds and scatters are the most common special symbols in a slot game. The former substitutes for other symbols in winning combinations. The latter triggers the bonus round.
How to Play Online Slots
Playing online slots is easy. It’s much easier than playing skill-based games such as blackjack. Players in Asia love the fact they don’t need any particular skills or prior knowledge before they try slot games. Plus, most slots are available for free, so you can always practice and learn the mechanics. It doesn’t take a lot to learn how to play a slot. However, for your convenience, we’ve constructed a step-by-step guide on playing online slots below.
- Step 1: choose a slot
Visit a trusted casino and open the game lobby. Find a slot that suits your budget and preferences. Use filters to narrow down your search. Make sure to check the specifics such as volatility and RTP. When you’re ready, fire up the slot for free.
- Step 2: check the features and paytable
Always check the paytable and the slot’s features. This is best done when playing in demo mode, as you won’t be spending any money if you lose.
- Step 3: check the bets
Next up is checking the bet range. Remember – you can fine tune it to your budget and needs, so do that before you hit the spin button.
- Step 4: hit spin and enjoy!
Ready to rock? Hit the spin button to make the reels turn and have fun with the slot.
How to Choose the Best Slots
The online gambling industry is mostly slot-powered. This means you’ll find thousands of slots at Asian online casinos. It’s not uncommon to find more than 5,000 slots at a casino site, which makes choosing harder than you think. Everyone’s looking for the secret to choosing a winning slot game. To be fair, there’s no such thing as a slot-winning formula. However, we’ll share a few tips from our experience that will help you find the slots that are most likely to hit.
Choose Slots with the Highest RTP
Many popular casino sites display the RTP for their games. When choosing slots, it’s important to pick the ones with the highest RTP. While there’s no guarantee you’ll win, high-RTP slots pay more. You can look for such information online. Forums, boards, and social media threads might specify slots with the highest RTP. You can also browse a trusted casino and find the RTPs yourself. Check for the volatility as well. A low volatile slot with a high RTP is more likely to deliver wins than highly volatile slots with a low RTP.
Always Play Online Slots for Free First
Unlike land-based casinos, you can try online slots for free. And you should always do it. Demo variants will give you a clear overview of how a slot works. It will show you what each symbol pays, and how the features play out. More importantly, you get to have fun with the slot before you splash the cash. Use this to your advantage to see how often the slot pays and what it does before you’re ready to play for real money.
Choose Modern Over Vintage Slots
Modern slot games have thousands of winning ways. Compared to vintage slots with 10, 20, or even less, that’s a lot. Modern slots also change the mechanics. Instead of matching symbols across lines, you win by matching symbols on adjacent reels. It improves the payout potential significantly. Modern slots come with modern themes too, and that makes them more appealing and rewarding than old-school slot games.
Advantages of Free Slots vs. Real Money Slot Machines
We’ve mentioned that playing slots for free is a must before you play with a deposit. That should always be the case. You’ll learn more about the slot’s internals and specifics, without spending a cent. That’s not something you can do in Macau or anywhere else, where you must pay to play.
Free slots are a fun way to spend some free time. Below we’ll cover the advantages of both variants of slots so you can see for yourself why they’re so important.
Free Slots Real Money Slots
Play for fun without financial risks + You must spend money to play –
You won’t pay to check out slot features + May be costly to check out a slot –
Have fun with slots for as long as you want + Your play time is limited by your budget –
How to Win at Slots?
Top-5 Online Slots of All Time
While the slot industry releases hundreds of new games every month, there’s only a handful of these games that can truly be called iconic. In our experience, the slots below can rightfully be inducted in the top-3 online slots of all time. They’ve been picked for their popularity, winning potential, and gameplay features, all of which combine to deliver loads of fun and amazing wins.
Book of Dead
- RTP: 94.25%
- Volatility: High
- Paylines: 10
- Provider: Play’n GO
Book of Dead by Play’n GO is based on one of the most iconic slots of all time – Book of Ra. Book of Ra was popular way before the invention of online casinos. It ruled the land-based gambling landscape with its jackpots and the formulaic expanding symbols in the bonus round. Book of Dead is almost a clone of this slot. However, its great graphics, modern gameplay, and the obvious throwback to the expanding bonus feature made it a fan-favorite for the ages. With Play’n GO’s fingers all over the game, it’s safe to say it’s exciting to play. It stands the test of time after all these years, with players citing its simplicity and great winning potential as the main reasons for its popularity. It’s one of the most iconic Egyptian slots and a must-try for every slot fan.
Starburst
- RTP: 96.09%
- Volatility: Low
- Paylines: 10 (bothway)
- Provider: NetEnt
NetEnt’s Starburst is the most-played slot game of all time. It’s a low volatile gem bonanza with the iconic Starburst wilds in the lead role. Every time one of these colorful symbols graces the reels, they expand to cover them while awarding up to 3 consecutive respins. The combination of low volatility with a decent RTP and the expanding wilds make Starburst such a great slot game. It is a must for any slot fan and offers a glimpse into how rewarding modern slots can be.
Mega Moolah
- RTP: 88.12%
- Volatility: Medium
- Paylines: 25
- Provider: Microgaming
Mega Moolah is a Microgaming progressive jackpot released in 2006. Despite its age of almost two decades, it’s still proving to be a decisive slot game. It may not impress visually and it may not offer the top returns, but the progressive jackpot is what makes it such a great release. More specifically, it has 4 jackpots in total, of which the largest one called Mega seeds at $1,000,000. Fueled by each bet placed on it, this particular jackpot often grows much larger than the initial sum. On top of that, it can land randomly on any bet, although higher bets do tend to increase your winning chances. The medium variance promises varied returns, and the RTP is intentionally set lower because of the progressive jackpots. Overall, it may not impress on many fronts, but the incredible winning potential is the reason why Mega Moolah is one of the best slots of all time.
Gates of Olympus
- RTP: 95.51%
- Volatility: High
- Paylines: Pay Anywhere
- Provider: Pragmatic Play
Gates of Olympus is one of the top ancient Greek mythology slots of all time. It can also be classified as one of the most popular slots of all time. Pragmatic Play has created an ageless hit with this one, pairing the popular Pay Anywhere system with high volatility and an RTP of 95.51%. It’s a beautifully crafted slot that takes place on Mt. Olympus. The thunder god himself, Zeus, watches over the action from the right side of the reels. Each win causes a tumble with new symbols dropping in to replace the ones used in winning combinations. This process can go on and on as long as there are winning symbols on the screen. Multipliers can spice up your wins randomly up to 500 times the bet, and in the bonus round, their values add up for even bigger wins.
Immortal Romance
- RTP: 96.86%
- Volatility: Medium
- Paylines: 243
- Provider: Microgaming
Immortal Romance is a vampire love story like no other. It’s one of the best slots with the 243 ways to win engine. What’s peculiar about it is the unusually high RTP of 96.86%, which makes it appealing to all kinds of players. On top of that, it’s a medium volatile slot game and has 4 bonus rounds that correspond to each one of the characters. Of course, they all come with different modifiers. There’s a catch, though – each new bonus round is unlocked by a retrigger. But, it’s still fun to see all the characters in action and their unique powers which make the bonus rounds so exciting to play.
The Allure of Slot Jackpots
When talking about online slots, it’s worth mentioning a few things about jackpots. Jackpot slots are getting increasingly more and more popular thanks to their life-changing rewards. We’ve had jackpots before in Las Vegas, but online, they’re pretty different. Developers have incorporated big jackpot prizes in their slot games to the delight of players. They come in two forms – fixed and progressive jackpots.
Fixed Jackpots
Fixed jackpots are more common and much easier to hit than progressive jackpots. They can be found in many slot games nowadays. These jackpots are much smaller than progressive jackpots and can be won during the base game or a mini-game. It all depends on the developer, including the jackpot’s size. In most cases, fixed jackpots go as high as 5,000x the bet, which is usually the maximum possible win in a slot game.
Hitting these jackpots can happen randomly or by collecting (landing) special jackpot symbols. In some slot games, you may play a mini-game where you match 3 or more matching jackpot symbols to win the corresponding prize. More often than not, these games have a few jackpots that you win by landing the right coins. For example, you might need 3 mini jackpot symbols to win this particular jackpot, or 3 Mega jackpots for the bigger prize. Refer to a slot’s guide to check the paytable and the jackpot mechanics.
Progressive Jackpots
Progressive jackpots are jackpots that rarely stop growing in size. Many of them seed at millions of coins, and can grow 10 times that size. These jackpots are fueled by small parts of each bet placed on them. While the amounts that contribute to the progressive pot are low, they can add up, which often results in life-changing rewards.
Mega Moolah, for example, has made several players millionaires. In most cases, progressive jackpots are not available in demo mode, and can only be won if you max out your bet. There might also be other special conditions to win the progressive jackpot. You can check out the guide to see how it all works and how to win it.
What Are the Chances of Winning a Progressive Jackpot?
If you’re wondering if there are any strategies to win jackpots, there aren’t. You shouldn’t believe what random players on the Internet are saying. Instead of trying out strategies that never work, you should focus on keeping your bankroll in check. Jackpots were never designed to be easy to win. Those prizes are simply higher than what average slot games offer, so the winning curve is more challenging as well.
What you have to understand is that slots are a game of chance. Unlike games of skill, you can’t practice your way to surefire wins. You can, however, keep an eye on your bankroll and stay in the game for longer. This is the only recommended tip we have on winning jackpots or slots themselves. We’ll talk more about slot winning tips in the paragraphs below.
Tips on Winning at Online Slots
No formula that increases your chances to win on slots drastically. Not just slots – but any game of luck like them. If you want to optimize your winning chances and minimize losses, it’s best to stick to general slot playing tips instead of following shady strategies. There’s no beating slots in the long run, but what you can do is stay in control of your bankroll and play smart, which should keep your losses at a minimum.
- Manage your bankroll: this is a crucial tip when playing online slots – always keep your bankroll in check. Decide on a daily or weekly budget and never go over it. Managing your bankroll is a key aspect of playing responsibly. If you don’t keep an eye on the money you play with, you’ll lose it all in just a few tries.
- Choose medium variance slots: you’ll have better chances to win at medium variance slots with a decent RTP than progressive jackpots. Those prizes may look alluring, but hitting jackpots is never easy.
- Choose modern slots with bonus rounds: why go for classics with just a few paylines when you can play slots with thousands of winning ways? Always choose modern slots with exciting bonus rounds that offer better winning potential. Old-school slots are charming, but they can’t match the payouts modern online slots offer.
- Don’t always go for jackpots: progressive jackpots may have bombastic prizes, but your chances are almost one in a million. It’s never easy to win those rewards, so it’s best to stick to slots with more frequent and adjusted payouts.
- Never chase your losses: this is a pro tip for any online casino game. Never chase your losses as you won’t get anywhere – you’ll only lose more money.
- Only play at safe casino sites: if you want a decent shot at claiming your winnings, you should only play at safe and reputable casino sites. Make sure your choice has a proper license. Additional security measures such as a valid SSL certificate are also a must in 2024.
The Best Online Slot Providers
The best slot sites have games from the top industry slot providers. If you’re looking for the latest or greatest online slots, keep an eye out for these providers.
NetEnt
NetEnt is one of the greats in the slot industry. It’s the studio behind several major hits such as Gonzo’s Quest and Starburst. Its games are known for innovative and high-paying gameplay features as well as cool aesthetics and fantastic animations.
Microgaming
Microgaming is one of the original slot developers. It was launched in 1994 and credits itself as the first developer of online gambling software. The studio is now rebranded as Games Global. Over the years, Microgaming has released numerous slot hits, including Thunderstruck I and II, and the iconic progressive jackpot Mega Moolah.
Play’n GO
Play’n GO is one of the best storytelling studios in the industry. It’s the studio behind Book of Dead and Legacy of Dead, two slots that single-handedly revived the Egyptian niche. Play’n GO is not afraid to experiment, developing cool cluster pays slots such as Reactoonz.
Pragmatic Play
Pragmatic Play is one of the newest hit-makers in the slot industry. While it’s younger than Microgaming or NetEnt, it certainly doesn’t feel like it. The developer has a hard-working team that knows what players want and need. So far, it has released a slew of hits, including the likes of Gates of Olympus, Big Bass Bonanza, Wolf Gold, and Sweet Bonanza.
Big Time Gaming
Big Time Gaming is an Australian studio and one of the most respected in the industry. Its innovative team invented the Megaways mechanic which many other studios use today. BTG’s Megaways slots are known for their great special features and incredible winning potential. Some of its top slots include Bonanza, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and Extra Chilli.
How to Find the Best Slot Sites
Finding the best slot sites can be challenging. After all, online gambling is a very lucrative business, and new casino sites are popping up every day and week. The best slot sites will always offer something extra over the competition, and in the paragraphs below, we’ll tell you what to pay the most attention to.
Always Check the License
Never choose slot sites without a proper license. Scroll down to the bottom of the website and check for the license number online. If it checks out, you can join the casino.
The More Slots – the Merrier
In the digital era of online gaming, it makes no sense to choose a casino site with only a few hundred slots. Go for the ones with the highest game variety and thousands of slots from dozens of providers. The more slots it has, the merrier.
Bonuses and Promotions
Check the bonuses and promotions page too. The best slot sites will start with a welcome bonus. Make sure there are offers for existing customers too, and plenty of free spins on the top slots.
Slot Bonuses and Promotions
Online slots are available for free, real money, or with bonuses and promotions. The best slot casino sites always aim to deliver enticing bonuses and promos to both new and seasoned players. We’ll cover the most important and common slot bonuses you can claim at the top slot sites.
Welcome Bonus
Always choose a casino site that has a generous welcome bonus on sign up. In most cases, it’s a 100% first deposit bonus that may or may not be paired with free spins. Make sure you can wager it on slots by reading the terms in depth.
Deposit Bonuses
Deposit bonuses will boost your deposits as a regular customer. It’s an offer for loyal players and their continued support. The most common deposit bonuses are offered in cash, although you may come across deposit free spins bonuses as well.
No Deposit Bonuses
No deposit bonuses may come in the form of cash or free spins too. As the name suggests, they don’t require a deposit. Due to that, they’re usually smaller in size than deposit offers.
Free Spins
Free spins are the most popular type of slot bonus. They usually come in big batches and are often attached to welcome bonuses.
FAQ
Are online slots rigged?
No, they aren’t. Slots at reputable casinos are controlled by Random Number Generator (RNG) software. It randomizes the result of each spin and guarantees a slot game’s fair outcome.
Do online slots pay real money returns?
Yes, they do. However, in order to play for real money returns, you will need to make a deposit first. Choose real money mode afterwards and have fun.
Which slots pay the most?
If you want a slot that pays more frequently, choose medium volatile slot games with an RTP over 96%. There’s no guarantee you’ll win anything, but your chances are better than highly volatile slots with a lower RTP.
What’s the best slot to play?
That depends on what you prefer. There’s no shortage of slot themes nowadays. You should try slots in demo mode to see if you like them before you play for real money.
Can I use slot strategies to win more often?
Slot strategies don’t work because slots are a game of chance. That being said, you should always play with a smart strategy such as responsible gambling. Manage your bankroll, never chase your losses, and remember to have fun.
Is there a best time to play slots online?
There’s no such thing as a best time to play online slots. Slots don’t pay more or less during the day or night. Their outcome is fair and random thanks to the RNG software that controls them, so don’t believe wild Internet rumors.