While certain online casino games are associated with skill rather than luck, the prevailing opinion over slots is that there’s nothing more than luck involved and it just depends on how fortunate you are on any given day.
Playing slots online is popular for those who want the thrill of gambling without having to use too much brain power, while there are also players who aren’t interested in the financial side and just look to play the best free online slots instead.
While skill may feel limited, it’s important to remember that there is a strategy to slots and making the most of the money you are willing to wager, so let’s take a look at our advice when it comes to playing slots online, especially if you’re on a limited budget.
Strategies for playing online slots
Here are some strategies to remember when playing slots and not losing all of your money.
- Do not go for jackpots – When you play slots, there is no guarantee you will win big. You may reach a point where you have lost three games in a row, so now it may be time to either switch games or take a break. Digging deeper into the hole is the easiest way for you to end at the end of the night owing the casino money other than walking out with something in your pockets.
- Look into online casino bonuses – Online casinos want people to continue playing because the common theory is the more you play, the more likely you are to lose. Whether or not that is true is debatable, but casinos offer cash incentives to keep people on slot machines. Look into casino bonuses, as these could prevent you from losing money under the best circumstances.
- Play at the lowest coin level – Depending on the machine you choose, you can wager one or seven coins. The benefit of wagering seven coins is if you win, you win seven times the money you would win if you only bet one coin. But again, just as you should not chase the jackpot, you must take the slow game route. Ultimately, playing at a higher coin level also means you will run out of money faster. If you are slow and methodical, you could walk out of the casino with just as much money as you would wagering seven coins with only one coin.
- Switch up the machine – never get stuck in one room on one machine. Sometimes the best strategy is to switch machines and try to find luck on another machine. Another common myth is the more you play on one machine, the more likely, in the end, you are to lose money. Remember the phrase “The casino always wins,” so you want to switch machines to increase your odds of winning.
- Return to player percentages – This percentage number represents the hypothetical amount of money a machine will give to the players throughout its lifespan. However, over time, no machine will give out more money than it receives. You can get a pretty close machine if you research and search for machines with any RTP number in the 90% range. If you see a machine with a 100% RTP, this is likely a scam and should get looked at with skepticism.
- Practice! There might be a school of thought with luck-based games that there’s no need to practice because you might just use up your good luck on a free machine. The truth is, honing your strategy by taking advantage of the best free online slots is actually a savvy strategy, especially if you want to feel fully prepared before you play for real.
How to work with a limited budget?
Most people are casual online casino players and do not log into the casino with thousands of dollars and do not expect to walk out with thousands of dollars. So it’s essential to understand how to make the most of your limited budget. Some tips mentioned above will help you expand your money, but other ways to make your budget go further include the following.
- Play older games
- Stick with the games with lower top payouts
- Do not try and be a big player; stick to your lane
- Play slots with higher denominations
Ultimately if you follow these tips and the ones mentioned in the previous section, you will be able to make that money go further and hopefully end your session with more than you started with.
Playing slots is supposed to be fun, and losing high levels of money is never fun. Sure, there may be isolated examples where some players have managed to turn a small wager into a monumental return like the $24m that still goes down as the biggest win in the history of online slot games. The truth is that you probably won’t win that much and you shouldn’t be expecting to either, but it shows what can be possible and why slots can be so much fun if you’re organized and in control.
