Is there such a thing as strategy when playing online slots?

As is often the case with all things casino, the answer is both yes and no. On the one hand, slots are a game of chance, you can’t ‘trick’ an online slot into paying out. On the other, slots work thanks to mathematics. If you understand things like RTP, volatility – and even the right bonuses – you can extend your playing time and improve your chances.

The house ‘edge’

Every casino has operating costs. They have to pay for a website, pay a percentage on all transactions, pay for licensing, and pay for customer support staff – to name just a few things. On top of this, they also need to make a bit of money – or what’s the point?!

Casinos do this by building in an ‘edge’ to all of their games. The house edge is a percentage of wagers that the casino, statistically, will keep. In some games it’s less than others, but in slots, there’s always a house edge.  For some slot games it could be 1%, for most it’s around 4%.

To keep things fair, it’s the game studio that builds in the house edge using an RNG (random number generator). This is a mathematical model that ensures every spin is truly random and there are independent audits to check that it’s working correctly.

Choose slots with a high RTP

The house edge brings us onto, in my opinion, the single best strategy for improving your chances at slots. That is, with maths!

The RTP stands for Return To Player and it’s essentially the opposite of the house edge. If the house edge is what the casino keeps, then the RTP percentage is what the player keeps – on average. 

RTP is calculated over hundreds of thousands of spins, that means it’s accurate, but over sessions shorter than hundreds of thousands of spins i.e. all of them, it isn’t precise. 

For example, you stake €/$10 over 10 spins on a slot with a 95% RTP. If it was precise, you’d expect 95¢ returned to you on every single spin – not very exciting. Instead what happens is 1,000,000 players stake €/$10 each over those 10 spins, some of them win, some of them lose, some of them break even, but the casino ends up keeping 5¢ per spin and paying out 95¢ per spin, on average.

What is a good RTP?

As a rough guide to what’s considered high or low, these are my rules of thumb:

• High RTP: over 96.5%
• Medium RTP: between 94.5% and 96.5%
• Low RTP: Under 94.5% (unless attached to a progressive jackpot)

Be aware of jackpot slots

Jackpot slots are hugely exciting, who wouldn’t want to walk away a millionaire? But, they tend to have poor RTPs. In order for progressive jackpot pools to continuously grow, a small percentage of every wager is taken and immediately added to the pool.

To recoup that cost, the game studios set the RTP of these slots to be lower, often below 94%. 

Best high-RTP slots

Bonus rounds are your friend

Playing bonus rounds is another way that you can improve your wins, here’s why. 

Bonus rounds are the place where you usually achieve the most lucrative wins. In fact, in a lot of slot games, they’re the only way to achieve the advertised max win. This means if you want to hit those high numbers, you’ve got to make it to the bonus round. 

During the bonus round, features like multipliers, additional free spins (and all kinds of other things) can be triggered. While there’s no strategy to trigger them, as the saying goes ‘you’ve got to be in it to win it’. This means that playing for low stakes (to manage your bankroll) until you get to the bonus round can be a good way to improve your chances of hitting that jackpot.

Consider Volatility

Volatility is how big the swings are:

• A high volatility slot will dish out big wins, infrequently
• A medium volatility slot will dish out some big wins, some small wins, occasionally.
• A low volatility slot will dish out small wins, frequently.

How volatility interacts with RTP is interesting and there are different schools of thought about it, but on the whole:

• If you’re on a tight budget and want a small bankroll to last as long as possible go for high RTP slots with low volatility. This way you should get consistent wins that keep you spinning predictably.
• If you have a slightly bigger bankroll and you’re keen to make bigger wins, choosing a high RTP slot with high volatility could help to get you there. This way you’re more likely to make it to the bonus round and hit the big win, before you run out of cash.

Managing your bankroll

Bankroll management is key to achieving those bigger wins and extending your game time. In general when playing slots, aiming to bet no more than 1 to 2% of your bankroll is good management.

This means that as your bankroll shrinks and grows, your bet size can shrink and grow too. You cut back when things are tight and bet bigger when you can afford to. This alone is a good way of extending your game time without depositing any extra cash.

Playing the long game

Lots of slots fans swear by playing low stakes on high volatility slots games – and sticking at it for long sessions. Why?

• Low Stakes: Makes it easier to keep your bankroll going for a long time without needing to deposit.
• High Volatility: Makes the chance of landing a big win more likely.
• Long Sessions: Increases the chance of reaching the bonus round, where you’re able to hit the max win or rack up big multipliers.     

These 3 key things together help you to reduce your losses, whilst increasing your likelihood of reaching a point where you could hit the jackpot. Potentially, a winning combination.

Improve your chances of winning

These notes are only some of the ways that you can improve your chances of winning, but there are lots of other tips to try and pitfalls to look out for. Here are a handful.

Tactics

It’s tempting to go all in on massive progressive jackpots, but these are often the hardest to win. If your goal is to extend your playtime (and hopefully score a few wins along the way), you’ll generally do better with smaller, fixed-jackpot games or standard high-RTP slots.

Gambler’s fallacy

One of the most common pitfalls for players is believing that a machine is ‘due’ a win. This is known as the gambler’s fallacy. Every spin is determined by a random number generator, meaning your next spin is no more likely to win than your last. If you find yourself thinking “it has to land soon,” it’s probably time to take a break.

Take advantage of bonuses

Casino bonuses can be great for stretching your budget, but always read the bonus terms carefully. Look for offers with low or no wagering requirements. Free spins on high RTP slots are particularly valuable, since you’re getting spins on mathematically superior games – for free.

Know when to stop

This might be the hardest tactic of all, but it’s arguably the most important. Setting deposit or loss limits can help stop sessions from spiralling. Remember: slots are designed for entertainment, not as a get-rich-quick scheme.

Final words

Slots are great fun and it is impossible to improve your chances of winning over an extended period of time. Remember, slots are a game of luck. With that said, learning how to keep your bankroll going for longer is a way to increase the fun - and that should be what it’s all about.