Undoubtedly the most popular casino game, slot machines are the backbone of the gambling industry and so naturally, as casinos have moved online, so have slots. On this page I’ll teach you all about the mechanics and features of online slots, and show you some of my favorite online slot games.
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Casino Name |
Best Feature |
Lucky Koala | Biggest free spins welcome bonus |
10Bet | Best Megaways slots |
Ritzo | Most software providers |
Lucky Spins | Best mix of slots mechanics |
Casino Days | Largest online slots collection |
Jackpot City | Best progressive jackpot slots |
Cashed | Most weekly slots challenges |
Casino Infinity | Biggest free spins reload bonuses |
Bets.io | Best crypto-compatible slots |
Trip2VIP | Widest variety of Slot Themes |
RTP
First, the games need to have high Return to Player. I don’t want you wasting your time and money on low-paying slots. Related to this is the number of paylines or other ways to maximize wins, like cluster pays or megaways slots. More money is better, simple as that, so high-paying slots always impress.
Mechanics
Second, the game mechanics themselves need to stand out from the crowd while delivering on value. Free plays, bonus rounds, multipliers, and other mechanics that increase your average payout are easy additions that improve online slots. I want to see a mix of synergistic mechanics that keep things fresh whenever you sit down to play.
Software Providers
Third, I always look for reputable software providers with a solid reputation for fair, well-made slots. These studios also tend to be large enough that they deliver polished, stylish aesthetics that offer immersive experiences. Half the fun of online slots is letting yourself get caught up in the thrill, and tasteful theming helps with that immensely.
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Why Get Excited About New Slots
When I find that I’m in a rut, always playing the same games, the newest slot games promise novelty and convenience. New slots are often optimized for smooth gameplay and mobile compatibility, while also offering new bonus features or paylines for extra ways to win.
The Impact of New Casino Slots on the Market
New and trending slots are one of the biggest drivers in the gambling industry. They attract new players and retain veteran players. The industry chases the money, and new slot games are proven to draw in many gamblers.
Innovations in game design also tend to either kickstart or solidify trends—take Megaways slots, for example. Once a few leading games become popular, a slew of new games hop on the bandwagon to claim a piece of the pie.
What Makes New Online Slots Stand Out
Cutting-edge slots boast appealing features like innovative graphics, tailored bonus rounds, or tie-ins with recognizable franchises. You’ll see dozens of new mechanics and aesthetics as developers try out new ideas and push boundaries, which equals infinite variety for gamblers!
How to Find and Play the Newest Slots
Most online casinos love to prominently feature the newest slots in Canada on their main page. Another option is filtering a casino’s games library to sort out new games or to list games by release date.
Getting out there yourself and exploring a casino is obviously the best way to find new slot games—I love taking a few games for a trial run to see if the mechanics and aesthetics appeal to me.
Best Minimum Deposit Slots
Not all online slot casinos offer the same experience, as they cater to many different kinds of slot players. To help you balance the price of minimum deposits versus premium slots features, check out this guide:
$1 Slots: Some online casinos will let you play slots for cheap, but expect a no-frills experience. Purists can get a lot of bang for their buck, but these slots will be bare-bones with few bonus mechanics and basic aesthetics.
$5 Slots: Moving up to moderate minimum deposits opens the doors to much more slot variety. These casinos offer a happy medium of security, style, and slots selection, including a handful of the most popular online slots.
$10 Slots: This is the tier where slot bonuses really come into play. In exchange for larger minimums, you’ll be rewarded with free spins to play slots for free, as well as thousands of polished slots games to explore.
$20 Slots: These are premium casinos that ask you to pay more up front, but offer the best selection of slots, combining top providers with indie studios. You’ll also receive bigger bonus rewards in exchange for larger minimum deposits.
Highest RTP Slots
The best payout casinos are full to the brim with high Return To Player (RTP) slot machines. High RTP games attract plenty of players and are built by the top casino software providers, so they’re both popular and reliable. If you’re looking for big payouts, check out a few of the highest RTP slot games:
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| Sugar Rush 1000 |
Pragmatic Play | 97.50 | Candy | Scatter symbols, multipliers, bonus buy |
| Big Bad Wolf |
Quickspin | 97.34 | Fairy Tales | Tumbling symbols, free spins, Scatter symbols |
| Aztec Clusters |
BGaming | 97.00 | Mythology | Tumbling symbols, sticky Wild symbols, multipliers |
| Immortal Romance |
Games Global | 96.86 | Supernatural | Free spins, Scatter symbols |
| Gem Elevator |
Pragmatic Play | 96.53 | Jewels | Tumbling symbols, Wild symbols, bonus buy |
Classic Slot Machines
The majority of online slots are typical reeled slot machines, only virtual. Each spin generates a unique combination of symbols which can align to pay out real money proportional to your wager. Some slots keep it simple, but others add in mechanics like Wild symbols, bonus rounds with free spins, or multipliers to increase your winnings.
Megaways Slots
To keep slots fresh, Megaways introduce randomized reel sizes, often stuffing somewhere between 2 to 7 symbols on each reel. This opens the door for thousands of new paylines that make it easy to score a big win, or to line up bonus symbols and claim a handful of free spins. Megaways are a hot trend at the moment, with many big-name developers like Skywind or Eyecon joining the fun.
Progressive Jackpots
Rather than just offering big jackpots based on one play session, progressive jackpot slots keep bumping up the jackpot whenever anyone plays at a given online casino. This makes for a constantly growing jackpot that tops out at insane levels! Some casino networks even shared progressive jackpots across several casinos to raise the prize payout even further as more and more players keep wagering.
Video Slots
Compared to traditional three-reel slots, virtual video slots offer more paylines and therefore pay out more frequently. You will also see more variation in reel and symbol quantity. Most online slot machines these days are video slots.
Penny Slots
With each spin costing only a few cents at penny slots, you get many more games per play session. It’s a great way to stretch your bankroll if you enjoy playing for thrills rather than big payouts.
3D Slots
Some online slots use 3D models for a more immersive experience, bringing the slot machine’s aesthetics to life. These slots often display elaborate animations when you win to help you celebrate.
Vegas Slots
Vegas slots try to emulate the famous Las Vegas casinos, either through aesthetics that bring plenty of glitz and glamour, or through mechanics. Slots that fall into the latter category are often traditional three-reel machines with few gimmicks.
Free Spins
A free spin gives you one play on the slot machine for free. They are often awarded through bonus mechanics, or in bonus rounds, and usually default to the lowest possible wager value for that particular slot game.
Multipliers
As you line up symbols on a slot machine, you can earn new multipliers. These apply either to your next win, or to jackpots attached to certain symbol combinations. Multipliers have the power to turn small wins into big bucks.
Wild Symbols
Appearing on slot reels, wild symbols count as all symbols at once. They help connect up strings of other symbols along a payline. And since they can apply to multiple paylines at once, a few wild symbols can help you win several times in the same spin.
Scatter Symbols
Instead of having to connect up paylines, scatter symbols let you win no matter where they appear on the reels. So as long as three or more scatter symbols are visible, you’ll receive a payout, even if they aren’t adjacent to one another.
Cascading Wins
In some real money slots, winning symbols disappear after they pay out and new symbols fall into place. Known as cascading wins, this mechanic can set off multiple wins in a row as new symbols join the party and complete paylines.
Bonus Rounds
Lining up certain combos of symbols or maxing out a bonus mechanic will earn you bonus rounds. Here, you get several free spins, often with better paylines or a bonus multiplier attached, for a chance at massive payouts.
Random Number Generators (RNGs)
RNG’s are the algorithms used to pick a completely random sequence of numbers whenever you take a spin in a slot game, which translates to the totally randomized alignment of reels. In this way, online slots are balanced to be fair and unbiased.
Crucially, RNGs generate a new number every single pull, with no relation to the previously generated number. This is why streaks of good or bad luck are just that, with no possibility of being “due” for a change in outcome. RNGs are entirely objective and are inspected by regulatory and review bodies to ensure they stay that way.
Reels, Paylines, and Symbols
Each reel in a slot machine is decorated by symbols that determine your payout when they align in a payline. A payline is one pattern that needs to be filled with matching symbols to trigger a win, often in a straight or zig-zag line. Some special symbols include Wilds (which count as whatever symbol you require to complete a payline) and Scatters (which only need a certain number of matching symbols present across all reels to win, not necessarily in a payline).
Other fun features like free spins or multipliers let you play extra rounds for free or increase the size of your winnings, respectively. All these features help different real money slots stand out from one another and can cater to different playstyles.
Volatility
Sometimes called “variance,” volatility describes how reliably a slot machine pays out big or small wins. Slots that favour small, consistent wins with minor losses are low volatility, best if you’re a low-risk gamblers playing on a budget. Slots that favour huge wins and huge losses in equal parts are high volatility, promising heart-pounding gameplay for thrill seekers.
Volatility doesn’t necessarily affect the overall payout rate of a game—the term refers to the risk-reward proposition of a particular slot machine. Find the right volatility for you to enjoy games with a level of risk you find enjoyable.
Real Money vs Demo Mode
Most of the top online casinos in Canada will let you play online slots in “demo mode,” where instead of betting with real money you use play-money credits. You can’t win any real money playing demo mode, but it allows you to try out new slots for free to see if you like them before investing in real money wagers.
Demo mode also lets you practice your favourite online slots to better learn their mechanics without risking any cash. Using demo mode is a great way to avoid unnecessary spending, exercise reasonable caution around new slots, and gamble responsibly.
Payouts and Return To Player
How much an online slot machine pays out is measured by its Return to Player (RTP). Expressed as a percentage, RTP tells you how much of each wager you’ll earn back as winnings, on average. For example, if an online slot game has an RTP of 95%, you can expect to win $0.95 for every $1.00 wagered.
RTP is a key factor in evaluating online slots. You should almost always opt for the highest RTP slots you can find to ensure you’re getting a good return on your wagers. Keep in mind that RTP is calculated as an average over an entire play session, so any given spin may vary in outcome, but over several spins your wins and losses will average out.
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Slot Games with No Deposit
One way to get the best of both worlds is at no-deposit casinos, which give all the benefits of both free play and real money play.
These casinos offer a promo to play for real money winnings without having to put down a cash deposit. You’ll have a limited number of spins, but you still get paid in real money!
While rare at Canadian online casinos, no-deposit bonuses are a great way to get your feet wet at a new casino and maybe make some money. If you end up not caring for the casino, you can walk away without commitment.
Note that, like any bonus, no-deposit promos can have time limits, betting restrictions, or other clauses in their Terms & Conditions. And your winnings will likely have wagering requirements tacked on. Still, the benefits of playing for free often outweigh the downsides!
Tips for a Better Mobile Gaming Experience
Mobile play is super convenient, but can be even better if done right.
- Play on a fast, stable wi-fi network for a reliable connection.
- Monitor your phone or tablet’s battery so the device doesn’t die mid-game.
- Snag a pair of headphones to enjoy the background music of slot games for a more immersive experience without disrupting those around you.
Security Concerns with Mobile Gaming
It can seem intimidating to make bank transactions or input private personal data on your phone for a mobile casino, but these days mobile play is as secure as playing on desktop.
You can always improve your security, however, by playing on private wi-fi networks like your home internet instead of unguarded public networks. Also, make sure to regularly update your phone OS for the latest security updates, and only download casino apps from reputable sources, like your device’s app store or a licensed online casino site.
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Volatility and RTP are the two most important characteristics to consider. Higher RTP is always better to score bigger payouts, but volatility comes down to personal preference—low volatility equals small, steady wins, whereas high volatility equals unpredictable wins and losses with large jackpots.
Bonus mechanics can help secure big wins, especially Wild symbols or bonus buy. Consistent high-value bonuses are best, but pick games that feature your favourite bonuses, from free spins to multipliers. Certain slots also offer promos from their software provider, for extra in-game bonuses.
Presentation won’t affect your win rate, but will make your play time more enjoyable. Out of the dozens of aesthetic themes, choose slots that match your favourites and software providers like Quickspin or Microgaming who are known for their polished and sleek slots.
Budget is the final consideration. Different slots will offer different minimum wagers or let you blow through rounds of gameplay faster. Pick games that match your budget, so you get your money’s worth.
Conclusion
Hopefully my guide has opened your eyes to the vast variety of online slots available for you to try. With endless options for RTP, volatility, game mechanics, and aesthetics, there’s a slot game out there for every player and every budget.
To really take advantage of this wide selection, keep trying new and trending slot games to see what’s out there. You never know when you’ll come across the perfect mix of mechanics that elevates a slot machine into your personal favourites!