Online slot machines are certainly one of the most popular draws at any Internet-based casino. From the early days of the famous one-armed bandit, these simple machines have held many a gamer under rapt attention. The simple spinning of reels to match a certain pattern of figures to win cash is certainly one of the simplest games to play, requiring little in terms of skill and strategy and a reliance on luck, but for many people they are the first port of call when they log into their chosen online casino (see bet-ibc.com for more details).

In this article, we will examine some of the most popular types of slot games that are regularly played in online casinos. We’ll examine the different types of slots available, how you can increase your chances of winning on each spin as well as looking at the likelihood of winning ‘big’ on the slots, by explaining what a progressive jackpot is.

The basics

Online slots are simply a number of virtual ‘reels’ that are representations of the famous ‘fruit machine’ or ‘one-armed bandit’ machines that are popular in pubs, clubs and amusement arcades the world over. Just like their real world counterparts, online slots operate by a user inserting a credit, starting the wheels spinning by clicking on a button and then once the reels have stopped, the computer compares the patterns generated by the symbols on the reels to see if the user has matched a winning pattern. If they have, they win some cash, if not, they can slot in some extra credits and have another spin.

Common Online Slots

The most common online slot machines are 3-reel and 5-reel slots, though there are some 4-reel slots also played across the globe. 3-reel slots tend to be simplest version of the game, while the 5-reel slots tend to be a tad more complex. Beginners should ideally start playing the 3-reel slots until they are confident they fully understand how the game works before moving onto slots that offer more reels on each spin.

Themes

In the past, slot machines were often called “fruit machines” as the reels would frequently be decorated with pictures of fruit in order to decide whether the winner had achieved a winning line or not. Nowadays though, while fruit icons are still widely in use, many slot machines are based on a certain theme and the icons used on the reels tends to be based upon that theme. So, for example, a slot machine that is based on a television show, such as Dr Who, would have icons representative of that show.

It’s important to note that regardless of what the icons are on each reel, the aim of the game on each spin is still to match certain pre-defined patterns of icons in order to win cash.

Multiple Lines

Online slots only start to get complex when players start to consider using multiple lines. In the past, fruit machines used to pay out on the middle line only and users had to achieve the pattern of icons on that middle line in order to win.

However, advances in technology meant that designers could now offer additional lines to users to win on, provided they were happy to increase their stake on each spin. The computer age has now taken this to a whole new level, where on some games, there can be up to 25 lines available to win on, on a single spin of the reels.

How these multiple lines selections work is relatively simple. A player can select what their single unit stake will be before they start the game, this may be 5 cents, 10 cents, or 50 cents. Every time they want to spin the reels, they must pay at least one credit to give themselves a chance of winning on a single multiple line.

However, if the user wants to increase their chances of winning on a single spin, they can select multiple winning lines by inserting additional credits. Usually, the number of winning lines you have is directly related to the credits you enter, so if you put in 10 credits per spin, you highlight 10 winning lines.

Of course, the thing to remember here is that the more winning lines you use, then the more chance you have of winning, but the more expensive each spin is. For example, if a person opts to play for 5 cents a spin, but plays 25 winning lines, each spin of the reels will cost 25 x 5 cents = $1.25.

It is important to note also that winning lines are not always straight lines, many winning lines may run diagonally from one reel to another and can be a wide variety of different patterns. Fortunately, the machine software is able to keep pace with each winning line and inform you immediately if you have a winner.

Progressive Jackpots

Just like the famous slots machines in Las Vegas that used to offer huge jackpots the more people play, now online casinos offer similar prizes on many slot machines and these are called progressive jackpots.

These prizes are a pot of cash that is added to every time a user plays the game. Over many days, weeks and even months, these pots of cash can build up into a substantial sum of money, winnings of hundreds of thousands of dollars are not uncommon.

Every so often, a lucky player will trigger the progressive jackpot and win the amount of money that has been generated in the pot, although this does tend to happen infrequently, but when it does the lucky winner can win a life-changing amount of money on one spin of the reels.

To conclude, online slots offer users many ways to have great fun playing online. There are so many different games available to play that finding a machine you like playing will be relatively easy. Multiple lines increase your chances of winning and perhaps, one day, you may even be fortunate enough to land that impressive progressive jackpot!