Why Slots?

Hey Yellowboots, welcome to the site! I myself am not a huge slot player as I like to stick to things that require a bunch of skill, but there are some slot games out there that are a ton of fun to play.

Finding a great slot to play online can unfortunately depend a lot on where you live. I myself being from the USA have a hard time getting in to play any of the large casinos that are exclusive to places like Europe or Australia. Many times those casinos have slots with cool themes to them like movies and other pop culture references that can boost enjoyment at a slot.

One brand of slots that I do recommend is Net Entertainment. They have great games to play and even better, you can play them online here. I would recommend playing Jack Hammer (as recommended to me by Ed). It is great fun and when you win, the game freezes your win and spins the losers again, giving you more chances to win. I have included some links that will show you where you can play NetEnt casinos (if you don't live in the USA), and where you can play Jack Hammer on this site for FREE!

Casino Listings NetEnt info page: http://www.casinolistings.com/software/net-entertainment-online-casinos
Jack Hammer FREE Game: http://www.casinolistings.com/games/net-entertainment/free-jack-hammer-s...

Hope you like em!

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I guess the aim of the game is to win the jackpot but how often does that actually happen, and what are the odds of winning smaller jackpots as you go?

Unfortunately that is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions. Every slot machine is different, and the odds of winning a jackpot vary with each game - but the odds of winning the top jackpot on any slot machine are always slim!

Slot machines have different mathematical characteristics that can make the gameplay feel totally different between machines. One of these is the variance. Generally speaking, on a low variance machine you would expect the difference between the smaller wins and the bigger wins to be less - so lots of small and medium sized wins are spun regularly. A high variance machine will often have a huge top jackpot but the small and mid-sized wins are tiny in comparison and less frequent. Thats not to say one is better than the other though - a low variance machine that just sucks your money away slowly can be worse than a high variance machine that throws out a really big win once in a while.

The other main one is the payout rate which is the proportion of money wagered that is returned to players as wins. Obviously it is always less than 100% as that is how a casino makes money. Slot payout rates can vary dramatically. Some are as high as 99%, while some can be set in the low to mid 80s. From what I have seen over the years, based on audited payout percentages, and even documentation for some online slot machines that specifies the payout rates, I would say the average payout rate online is around 95%.

I agree with you in general terms that slot machines can be boring, especially to a player that likes a bit of skill or strategy in their games (like me), and especially the old style 3 reel ones. Some of the newer machines we are seeing are quite innovative though. Jack Hammer is a great example, and also some of the ones that have the cascading wins feature which allows you to win multiple times on the same spin - eg Fruit Case, Gonzo's Quest, Paco and the Popping Peppers, or Germinator. At the end of the day though, it is all window dressing for what is essentially a mathematical lottery ticket on each spin!

Slim has the right advice - try a few games in free play mode and see if you like them.

In theory the games at casinos that use the same software should be identical, at least with the large and well-known software developers such as Microgaming, Playtech, Wagerworks, RTG, Net Entertainment, Cryptologic etc. Most individual casinos do not have the ability to tweak the games at all, or change the payout rates. So if you're onto a winner then yes it should work everywhere, assuming of course that you didn't just get lucky.

That of course means that for example, one Microgaming casino is much the same as every other one. The thing that sets the casinos apart is the service offered, the speed of payment processing, promotions etc.

I know of these exceptions:

• RTG allows casinos to alter the payout percentage of their slot machines by making a request to RTG. They cannot change the settings whenever they feel like it. There are believed to be 3 settings which correspond to 92.5%, 95%, and 97.5% payback.
• Rival software allows individual operators to change various game parameters like blackjack rules.