Ever since the internet was fast enough to support it, online gambling has been drawing players from around the world and making literal billions upon billions in revenue. It removed the need to commute to travel to faraway casinos and with the invention of smartphones became something you could literally play wherever you happened to be as long as you had cellular data and basic network coverage. Unsurprisingly, one of the most popular casino games around, the humble slot machine, easily made the jump to a platform already geared towards being able to hold advanced, multiplayer video games, and quickly became a firm favorite for online gamblers.
One of the biggest appeals of slots for fans of that particular gambling game is that it is really the definition of simplicity. From traditional machines up to the very latest high-tech versions, slot machines have never involved much more than inserting money (or casino chips) into the machine, yanking the lever/ pressing the button, and then watching those colorful reels spin around and around and then land on winning or losing combinations of fruits, numbers, bars, and other familiar icons. There’s no strategy or needing to know what you’re doing. You just sit in front of the machine and, very literally, let it spin!
Online slots are hardly a huge departure from this tried and true formula, but there are a number of things that separate virtual slot machines from their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Here are a few ways in which online slots differ from real-world ones.
Security
This is the most important difference. Though there are certainly risks with playing real slot machines, such as muggings or rigged machines at shady venues, online slot machines pose more serious security issues. In the wild west of the internet, it’s all too easy to fall victim to fraud, completely rigged machines, or outright cyber theft by playing slots on the wrong website.
It is absolutely crucial, then, that you do your due diligence and read up on which casino sites are legit and which online slots developers are generally more trustworthy and only use those machines. Look out, in particular, for what encryption methods are used to secure payments and that the website has an up to date HTTPS security certificate (that little icon on the side of the URL bar). Fortunately, the online community has tons of user reviews on all virtual slot machines and online casinos, so it’s not at all difficult to play 100% securely..
Transparency
On the flipside, online slots are also more transparent in that they don’t leave you guessing on how good the virtual machines themselves are at paying out. Statistics like rate-to-player, volatility, and hit rate are clearly stipulated by the developers for each of their online slots games. Just make sure you’re accessing the games on an accredited site and just by reading up on the game you choose, you will have a real idea of the kinds of chances you have of winning.
Addictivity
Obviously, gambling can be extremely addictive and if you do have any problems in this area, you would do best to stay as far away from online casinos just as much as brick-and-mortar ones and seek professional help if necessary. If, however, you never have any real issue controlling yourself at your local real-world casino, online gambling – and online slots, especially – poses its own challenges in this area.
Because online slots are so readily available and can be played any time of day and night wherever you are on the planet, it can be all too easy to lose track of how much time you’re spending on your favorite game and how much money you’ve pumped into it. Just ask most players of so-called “fremium” video and mobile games how much of a risk this is – and those are games where there’s no chance of winning real money!
Make a budget, set playing times and keep watch on your phone or tablet’s usage stats to keep things under control.
Payouts
This is one of the biggest differences between online slots and real-world machines that most serious gamblers are most interested in: online slot machines offer both bigger payouts and a higher chance to win. Quite significantly, in fact. The reason for this is a simple matter of economics. The amount that slot machines pay out and how often they do is determined by how much money is poured into the machines by players, and online machines will by definition have countless more people using them than even the biggest casino in the world. More people equals more money, which equals more money being paid out.
It’s really no wonder at all why online slots are as wildly popular as they are.
