In addition to reading slot machine reviews, there are many other ways in which players can find slots with the best payouts. Always check a slot machine’s paytable before placing money. This will tell you the maximum payout you can win with symbols, as well as any maximum limits a casino may place on the jackpot amount.
Players should always check what kind of slot machine they are playing. This is not to say that Vegas slots will never offer payouts as big as progressive jackpot slots. However, players expecting to win millions on a penny slot will be disappointed. Finally, players should always check the payout percentage of a game. Find a slot title with an RTP of 90% or higher; these games will usually pay out more often than slots with an RTP below that.
| Ranking | Slots Game | RTP | Jackpot value |
| 1 | Gladiator | 91.50% | 2,000,000€ |
| 2 | Cleopatra | 95.02% | 2,000,000€ |
| 3 | Mega Moolah | 88.12% | 1,000,000€ |
| 4 | Gold Fish | 96.00% | 1,050,000€ |
| 5 | Book of 99 | 99.00% | 500,000€ |
| 6 | Lucky Leprechaun | 96.83% | 500,000€ |
| 7 | Carnival Cash | 95.96% | 500,000€ |
| 8 | Buffalo | 94.85% | 405,000€ |
| 9 | Book of Dead | 96.21% | 250,000€ |
| 10 | Wheel of Fortune | 94.22% | 250,000€ |
Play Slots With Record Payout Percentages
As a smart player, you know that you need to find the slots with the best odds. It’s nice to play for entertainment, and that’s usually a priority for slot players, but it’s also more fun when you have the best chances of winning and you know you’re getting the best value for your money.Read more as well as more about how to win on the slots.
In the next section we will explain how to find the best games and how to give yourself the best chance of hitting a big jackpot. Or, if you’re itching to get in on the action right away, browse our in-depth online slots reviews to find the best games the internet has to offer.
How To Find The Payout Percentage In Slots
Online and offline games operate on the same basic principles in terms of how slots are paid. Remember, it is equally important to know the numbers whether you are playing online or in a brick and mortar casino.
Online Slots
If you are looking for online casinos that actually pay, a closer look at the payout percentages is a great place to start. You’re probably wondering where you can look to find the statistics. With online casinos it’s usually quite simple.
The payout percentage is sometimes published in the rules or on the information page for the game itself or as a list either in the online casino or on the game developer’s website. If you have trouble finding where the payout percentage of slots is posted, try a quick Google search with the name of the game and either “payout percentage” or “return to player”. If that doesn’t work, a good last resort is to contact the casino directly using their live chat or customer support tools.
In general, online casinos offer better payout rates compared to brick and mortar casinos. This is because they have lower overheads and an unlimited number of people can play the same game at the same time. It’s common to see slots with payout percentages in the high 90s, which is much harder to find in real life.
Slots in land-based casinos
When it comes to payout percentages, it all depends on how the slots are programmed. To make things more difficult, casinos and game developers don’t always publish the numbers for specific machines. However, there are ways in which players can figure out which machines have more favourable payouts.
Fortunately, other people have already done most of the hard work for you. There are tons of great forums and resources for bettors online, and the best place to start is a quick Google search to find the numbers for the game you’re looking for.
Geographical location can also tell you something about payments. In the US, casinos must meet a minimum payout percentage which is set by the gaming authorities of that particular region. It varies from state to state, but is usually 80% or higher. It’s also true that payouts vary even within the same game, depending on how much you bet. Usually the more you bet, the more favourable the payout percentage.
Why You Can’t Cheat A Slot Machine
Payouts are random – In land-based casinos many players spend their time trying to predict the payout patterns of slot machines. The truth is that if the machine is working correctly, the odds are the same on every spin. The same applies to online slot machines.
Advanced security – In both online slots and slot machines, payouts are controlled by computers equipped with very high security. This essentially makes them impossible to hack. Casinos spend a lot of time and money protecting their games so that they pay fairly. And where their security stops, law enforcement takes over.
Criminal prosecutions – Most jurisdictions have passed special laws making it illegal to cheat or steal from casinos. The history of gambling is filled with stories of cheaters who were caught and lost everything. These charges come with huge fines and in some cases significant jail time.
Explanation of return to player (RTP)
Another name for the payout percentage is RTP. This stands for “Return to Player” and just as the name suggests, it is the average amount returned to the player in the form of winnings compared to the amount the player has wagered. It is represented as a percentage, with 100 meaning an even money game with no casino advantage.
Let’s look at an example:
- Your favourite slot machine has an RTP of 95%.
- Over the course of a year you play your favourite slot every weekend and bet a total of €1,000.
- On average, this slot should return you €950 in the form of winnings.
The most important thing to remember is that RTP is a statistical average. The larger the sample size of spins on a particular slot machine, the closer to the RTP the actual results will be.
Although RTP cannot guarantee results, choosing machines with a higher RTP is always a smart move. The more you plan to play, the more important it is to find a game with a high RTP.
House Edge explained
When you hear players talk about “the house edge”, they are actually referring to the same thing as RTP and payout percentage. The house edge is the statistical advantage of the casino that is built into the rules of the game.
The house has an advantage in almost every casino bet, but the size of this advantage varies dramatically depending on the game or even between different bets on the same game. The house edge is represented as the average percentage of your bet that the casino will keep. A game with a 95% payout percentage, for example, has a house edge of 5%.
Variance In Slots
Whenever players discuss the payout percentage on slots, the topic of variation usually follows. Also known as variability or payout frequency, variance refers to how often a slot machine pays out jackpots and the size of the payouts. Slot machine variance can be divided into three types:
- Low variance slots – these games often pay out, but the amounts are usually small token jackpots.
- Medium variance slots – with these slots, players can expect to hit wins quite often, with a combination of small token wins and larger payouts.
- High variance slots – players may experience big breaks in winnings with these slots, but when they pay out, the payouts are huge.
Casinos and slot machines do not usually list the variability of a game in the paytable. However, players can find this information online or themselves through free slot machines. Simply spin the reels 100 times in a free game and record the winnings you get. If you activate the paylines frequently, but the amounts mostly did not exceed 2 times the initial bet, then the game is a low variance slot machine. If the opposite happens, then it is a high variance slot machine.
In general, low variance slot games are found in penny slots and games with small jackpots, such as Quick Hit. Most progressive jackpot slots, such as Mega Moolah, are high variance, which is not surprising given the huge jackpots they offer.
Lowest Losing Slots
When people call slot machines “loose” and “tight”, they are referring to the payout percentage. A looser machine pays more often and at a higher rate, while a tighter machine has a lower RTP and pays less often.
The more relaxed the slots are, the better for the player. This is why you will often see casino billboards advertising “The most relaxed slot machines in town!”
In addition to RTP, another important statistic to look for is called “hit rate”. This number is also a percentage and refers to how likely each spin is to result in a winning outcome for the player. It says nothing about how much the player wins, just how often the player will win money on a spin compared to losing. A game with a 20% hit frequency will result in a winning combination one in five times on average.
How To Find Loose Slots
If you are looking for the most relaxed slots, the best answer is the internet. Online casinos can offer the highest RTP because they have much lower overheads than brick and mortar casinos. When it comes to slot machines at land-based casinos, players have developed a few theories about how to find the loosest games.
Some players believe that the looser slots are always placed in the most visible areas of the casino, as the company wants new customers to see people winning and be inspired to get in on the action. Machines located near cash redemption machines are also considered loose, as the casino wants redeeming players to see people winning and be attracted back to the games. The same theory says to avoid slot machines near lines like the buffet and shows. The casino knows that people here are just killing time waiting and won’t play for long.
Slots payouts by state
As we mentioned earlier, casinos and game developers are not required to publish payout percentages for specific games, but they still publish some valuable information about slot machines. First, most states set a minimum and maximum payout percentage that casinos must follow. Second, they publish average payout percentages that include all casino gaming machines. Using these numbers, we can get a general idea of which states have the loosest slot machines and the highest RTP.