Play Online Slots for Free or Real Money – Best Casinos & Game Overview
CasinosHub gives you the chance to enjoy the most entertaining and profitable online pokies by playing for free in demo mode or for real mony at the best online casinos for slots. Whether you are interested in classic fruity pokies, action-hero-themed games, or regular pokies you would normally find in a pub near your home, we have it all covered. We have found for you the best real money casinos to play online pokies at.
Best Casinos When Playing Slots Online
How to Win Real Money Playing Online Slots
Online Pokies are a game of chance. There is no strategy that will ensure that you win every time you make a bet. Even so, understanding the mechanics of the game you play, including the variance and the RTP will definitely increase your chances of winning. Have a look at our top tips for winning online slots guide for more ideas and info.
Choose Real Money Slot Machines With the Highest Payouts
Online real money casinos do not have any overheads, so players can enjoy higher payout percentages compared to brick-and-mortar casinos. Online pokies feature their payout percentage, with the best games displaying the largest RTP. By becoming familiar with these percentages, you will get to maximize your chances of winning.
Return to Player or RTP defines the percentage of the wagered money that a slot machine will return to gamblers over time.
- Wagering $100 on a pokies machine with a 96% RTP means players can expect to receive around $96 in wins.
- RTP is determined over longer periods of time, according to certain factors like the total wins or the total losses in the casino.
- In the short term, the best strategy is to only wager money you know you can afford to lose.
Pokies machines are usually programmed to pay out between 82% and 98% of the wagered money, with the minimum RTP varying according to gambling locations and laws.
A 96% and above RTP is considered an advantageous one. To increase your odds of winning a real money pokies game, make sure you find out the RTP percentage of the casino you want to play at. The higher the RTP, the better it will be for you. You can read our blog where we feature the top five highest-paying online casinos.
Top 10 Slots Based on RTP (Return to Player)
| Slot | RTP | Paylines | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackpot Jester (NextGen) | 99.90% | 5 | N/A |
| Ooh Aah Dracula (Barcrest) | 99.00% | 10 | Medium |
| 1429 Enchanted Seas (Thunderkick) | 98.50% | 25 | Low |
| Swindle All the Way (RTG) | 98.50% | 25 | N/A |
| Joker Strike (Quickspin) | 98.11% | 10 | Med-High |
| 777 (RTG) | 97.00% | 1 | Medium |
| Immortal Romance (RTG) | 97.00% | 243 | Medium |
| Jackpot Raiders (Yggdrasil) | 96.30% | 20 | Low |
| Book Of Dead (Play'n Go) | 96.21% | 10 | High |
House Edge in Slots Explained
The house edge is the flip of the payout percentage. When a real money online pokies game displays a 30% house edge, the RTP should be around 70%, on average. The casinos will keep 30% of the wagered money on the game and return the rest of it to gamblers, over time. The results of a game of pokies are completely random as they are programmed by computers. Random Number Generators are responsible for the randomness of all slot games you can currently find online. Keep in mind the casino will always have an advantage on real money pokies, as the odds are preset this way.
Slot Combinations and Game Variance
With millions of possible combinations on slot reels and random amounts designed for each winning combo, the odds of a game vary from one title to the next:
- A 3-reel pokies game featuring 10 symbols/reel has 1,000 potential combinations.
- A game with blank spaces between the lines in the form of stops has 8,000 combinations.
- A game with 20 symbols and 20 spaces between the lines can potentially display up to 64,000 combinations.
- The 3-reel Megabucks game that brought a very lucky player more than $39 million (world record jackpot) features 50 million combinations.
- 5-reel video pokies that have 100 symbols on each reel count more than 10 billion possible combinations.
How to Choose the Best Online Slots
Selecting the best slot game to play online is not as easy as you might think. Unless you are a seasoned player and you have a couple of favourite titles, you could get easily lost in the sea of choices displayed by thousands of slot-friendly casinos.
To help you out, here are a few factors you should consider:
Select games of slots online based on your bankroll
Depending on the size of your initial bankroll, you will need to understand which games are more suitable. A small budget is more compatible with smaller bet pokies as a means of protecting your money. You will get to play for longer and gradually aim for bigger payouts.
If your budget is larger in size, you can choose a game that asks for higher slots wagers/spin. These games are more suitable for high rollers and they usually generate the maximum returns on their bets. To play a progressive jackpot game of pokies online, you will need to wager the maximum bet amount.
Choose slots based on their layout
To keep things simple, select slots with a minimal number of reels and pay lines. Simple symbols and a basic payout structure with a limited number of bonus games are a good start. Microgaming’s Bejewelled and other crush-style pokies are accurate examples here.
3 or 5 reel pokies that feature more options also boast free spins, multipliers, bonus rounds, and wild and scatter symbols for higher payouts.
Consider the type of bonuses you would like to come across and choose accordingly.
Choose a slot game with a theme you like
Slot machines can be artistically themed to offer a calm and relaxing gaming experience or have advanced graphics to spike your adrenaline. Given the amazing richness of the online pokies available today, you should have no problem choosing a game with a theme you enjoy. Tens of thousands of pokies have been given unique designs and themes. You can find anything from arcade games or romantic-themed slots to more of a rob-the-bank kind of theme.
The games can also be based on blockbuster movies you like, popular sports, foods, music, adventure, TV shows, and anything else you can think of. The possibilities are endless - imagine the Emoticoins pokie created by Microgaming together with Slingshot Studios. The game is emoji-themed and it features 5 reels and 30 pay lines.
Types of Online Slots
If you are new to the universe of pokies online, you might feel overwhelmed by the large number of games you can choose from. Here are a few different types of slots that can be played at virtual casinos, each with its own particularities.
3-Reel Pokies
The games are similar to traditional slot machines and they boast three reels that rotate and one, three, or five pay lines. If you enjoy straightforward action, 3-reel pokies online are what you need. They are medium- to high-volatility games, with significant payouts that do not occur very often.
5-Reel Pokies
These games are fully equipped with modern game technology and they feature excellent themes and lots of captivating sound and image effects. They can also bring players nice winnings and they come with multiple pay lines, bonus games, free spins, and other winning opportunities. They are low-volatility games and they tend to be more entertaining than 3-reel pokies. Good for players who want to keep playing for as long as their budget allows them to, without necessarily aiming to hit a big win.
7 Reel Pokies
Rare to come across, these games boast all types of wild symbols and huge jackpots. They are more difficult to keep up with given a large number of reels, so you might only come across them in the form of gimmicks.
Progressive Pokies
The novelty here is the chance to win large amounts of money, with some progressive games reaching millions in jackpots. The jackpots are cumulative and they grow every time someone plays the game at any online venue on the planet. These games require players to wager the maximum bets in order to become eligible for the whopping jackpot.
3D Pokies
The most advanced types of video pokies you can currently play, the games rely on 3D graphics to showcase incredible storylines and characters that turn these games into genuine movies online.
Video Pokies
All slots that use video graphics such as animations and videos can be called video slots. They are highly interactive and they have popular movies, comics, and TV shows as themes. Players can interact with the screen on their phones or computers to reveal the prizes they’ve won.
Free Pokies
Excellent for checking out demo versions of the games you are interested in, free online pokies are played at no charge, oftentimes without having to create a new player account or download a casino online. Great for risk-free pokie sessions and beginners.
Understand the Pay Tables
Modern-day video pokies games are more complex than classical or mechanical games found in land venues. They can introduce players to a larger number of pay lines, along with scatters, wilds, and other special symbols, together with bonus rounds. Each game has its own rules responsible for establishing the way the respective game will be played. Gamblers must be familiar with this critical information in order to grasp how to play the game in order to make a profit. All the necessary information is found on the paytable.
- Pay tables can be launched by clicking or tapping an icon usually found at the bottom of the screen.
- The pay chart lists all the winning combos together with the money that the game will pay out when the player lands these combinations.
- It also defines the scatter and wild symbols, provides information on their functions during the main game and bonus games, and shows players what bonus rounds are available.
- Minimum and maximum prizes are displayed clearly.
- The paytable of a progressive slot game also lets gamblers know what to do to increase their chances of winning the jackpot — for example, playing all paylines to qualify.
