Interesting Facts About Online Slot Games
Online gaming is undoubtedly the most popular pastime/hobby throughout the world. The incredible advancements in technology over the past two decades have meant that online gaming is ultra realistic and offers an incredible experience. The tech we have today would make the likes of King Louis XIV green with jealousy. In the western world, even the most ordinary of us have access to 100x more luxury than any King or Queen to have existed prior to 50 years ago.
Where online gaming is concerned, one of the most improved areas has been the online slots scene. With hundreds of thousands of followers across the world, the online slots industry is worth billions of pounds in 2023 and that number is only expected to increase. There are plenty of myths surrounding slot machines and with this in mind, the TechBuzzIreland team thought that it would be a good idea to take a look at six interesting facts about online slot games.
Slot Machines Industry Expected to be Worth over £9 Billion by 2030
According to market researchers, the slot machine industry is expected to be worth over £9 billion by 2023, an increase of over 4% per year from 2023 statistics. This is worldwide growth and coincides with the increasing number of people deciding to play online slot machines. Of course, the majority of players are located in Europe and Japan as online casino gambling remains ‘illegal’ in the USA. If the US slots scene was to be legalised, the industry could be worth over double what it is worth now overnight. Even if California alone was to see its online casino industry legalised, the slot machine industry would be worth over £15 billion, easily.
Online Slot Machines are NOT Fixed
One of the biggest myths of all time is that online slot machines are fixed. Of course, this is not the case and one of the main reasons for this is because the industry is regulated. Where the UK and Ireland are concerned, online slots are regulated by the country’s government. All online casinos (and all online gambling operators for that matter) are required to prove that their games are 100% fair. Once they have done this, they are granted a licence to be able to offer their services to UK and Irish citizens.
Therefore, despite what you may have heard, we can guarantee that online slot machines are not fixed.
Online Slot Machines are NOT Boring
If you do not know much about slot machines, you might picture the old-fashioned one-armed bandit machines which litter the Las Vegas strip. However, the online video slot machines are completely different. To begin with, the newest slot machines are full of different features which were designed to both ensure excitement as well as improve the possibility of payouts. Online slot developers are disassociated from the operators themselves. The developers want players to play and enjoy their slots whilst also winning money at the same time. For this reason, they make every effort to create fun and great looking slots.
Themed slot games are becoming increasingly popular. Some development companies work with TV shows from Netflix series’ in order to create branded slots. In 2023, there are slots themed on Peaky Blinders, Hell’s Kitchen and a variety of other shows in pop culture. You can even play a Gladiator themed slot!
Online Slots are Tilted in the Favour of the House
Like all casino games, the house always has the advantage, and this includes slot games. Casino games come with what is called a return to player (RTP) percentage. This is essentially the amount of money which is paid back to the player from the game in question. For example, the better slot games will have an RTP of around 97%, this means that for every £100 put into the machine, the player will receive £97 in return. Of course, this is a sum based on millions of reel spins and does not take into account luck.
The casino game with the lowest house edge is usually European Blackjack which is close to 99%.
There ARE Online Slots with Thousands of Paylines
Old fashioned slot machines usually had no more than 10 paylines. Paylines are the spaces on the reels which, when symbols align on them, ensure that the machine pays out. In 2016, the development company Big Time Gaming (BTG) invented the Megaways mechanic. This mechanic allowed slot reels to change and align differently which resulted in modern video slots being able to offer over 100,000 paylines!
Today, there are hundreds of different Megaways slot games, many of which offer 117,649 paylines. These slots are some of the most exciting around and the best paying slot machines can trigger wins of up to 50,000x the bet.
There IS such a Thing as Online Penny Slots
Yes, penny slots do still exist. Simply put, there are new online slot machines which allow the player to bet £0.01 per spin. Although these slots aren’t too common, they certainly still exist. One of the advantages of playing slot machines online is that you can bet an amount you feel comfortable with. They come with minimum and maximum bet limits. You can bet anywhere from £500 per spin down to spinning for a penny.
Final Words
So, there you have it, the world of online slot machines is far different to what you probably expected. We hope that this article was able to help inform you on the truly spectacular online slots scene.