It doesn’t matter if you venture out to a brick and mortar casino or stick to the online variety, slot games are a mainstay. And it’s no wonder – it’s something everyone can do, from those who have never played a casino game to the old pro. Even without extensive knowledge of the game, you can play a few rounds and start to get the hang of it.
And although rounds are always quick and exciting, once you really understand the game, it becomes even more fun.
If you’re this, you probably enjoy playing casino games online. Taking slots online means never-ending varieties of the game waiting at your fingertips. Casino Guru is here to help you wade through the options and help you find the best slot games available to Canadian players.
Top Online Casinos for Slots Players in Canada
Check out a few of our recommendations for the best places for Canadians to get started:
[LIST OF TOP SLOTS RECOMMENDATIONS]
How to Play Slot Machines Online
Slot machines are a pretty simple beast to master, either walking into a casino or playing online. But if you’re new to the game, or you haven’t played in awhile, there are just a few basic steps between you and a great time playing slots.
- Pick a game: Once you find the perfect online casino for you, explore the slots they offer. Most online casinos offer a massive variety of themes and styles. If you already know the style you love, what are you waiting for? Go play! If you want to know more about your options, read on.
- Get familiar: Slot games have a lot going on. While all of the lights, colours, and animations are part of the fun, they can also make things a little confusing when you’re new to the game. There’s an easy solution! Most games have an ‘i’ or ‘?’ button. Press it to find the game’s specific instructions and a pay table.
- Place a bet: What better way to learn something new than to try it? Decide how much you want to wager on each line and how many lines you want to play. Adding these amounts together will give you the total amount you’re betting on that spin. And remember to review the game’s pay table to get a better idea of how much your bet can win you.
- Take a spin: This is the easy part! Just press the button that says ‘spin’ when you’re ready, and the game will do the rest. You may also want to play the the ‘Autoplay’ button. But don’t worry about this option for now, we’ll walk you through it later on.
- Did you win? When everything stops spinning, any winning reels will be highlighted. Then, the winnings are automatically deposited in your account. It’s that easy.
Playing Online Slots for Free vs. Playing for Real Money
Playing online slots is a fantastic way to pass time – whether it’s just for fun, or money is on the line. Online casinos agree, and they offer plenty of free slots options for people who aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into playing for real money. But remember, if you don’t actually bet money, you can’t actually win money.
If you are ready to play for real, take a look at some of our tips for boosting your bankroll and making the most of your winnings:
- Sign Up & welcome bonuses: If you aren’t already taking advantage of these, you’re missing out, big time! But before you sign up, know that these usually come with playthrough requirements to consider. If you do sign up for a welcome bonus at a new online casino, using a it on slot game is a great choice. Many online casinos count 100% of what you stake on slots toward the playthrough requirements. Not all games do this.
- Free spins: There’s a lot of competition in the online casino world. And one of the ways they vie for your attention is by offering free spins. You can get free spins for depositing money in your account, as a login incentive, to entice you to try a new game, as a loyalty reward, and more.
- Stay on top of promotions: There are always exciting new promotions out there for slots players. Keep checking Casino Guru to find the latest and get the most out of your game.
What’s the Difference Between Free Play Slots, Free Spins, and No-Deposit Slots?
Free play slots are essentially practice. It’s what you can do to get a feel for the game before playing for real. With these games, you don’t win any real money. When you see your ‘winnings’ go up, it’s just tracking what you could have hypothetically won if you were really placing bets. You cannot cash out winnings from a free play slot game.
Free spins are bonuses you can apply to real money slot games. Even though that one spin is free, you’re playing for real money if it is a real money game. All bets you place before or after will come out of your account, and winnings will be deposited. Be sure to check the terms and conditions of the free spin offer. Like other types of bonuses, these usually come with playthrough requirements to consider. These requirements must be met before you can withdraw your winnings from the bonus.
As the name would suggest, no-deposit slots can be played without the player making a deposit. These games can be played for free and earn you real money, but they also tend to come with more terms and conditions than other slot games. Just make sure you understand the terms and feel comfortable with them before you get too far into a no-deposit game.
Progressive Jackpot Slots
Progressive jackpot slots are a whole new animal – in the most exciting way possible. Players get the chance at jaw-dropping jackpots, since these games are played in a network where a percentage of each person’s bet is fed into the winning potential. And it just keeps increasing if no one wins. These games aren’t easy to win, but if you do win, it can be life-changing.
Mobile Online Slots
The simplicity of slots lends itself well to mobile versions of the game. And most online casinos have taken note, offering mobile versions of many of their slots games. So no matter whether your at home taking some well-deserved ‘me time’ or in the waiting room of a dentist office just trying to pass time, you can play slots.
Online Slots Terminology
Slots is a pretty simple casino game to learn; memorizing these few terms will help make you a master:
Autoplay – Want to play a few rounds of online slots but you’re short on time? The autoplay function lets you play more games in less time. You just set your bet and the machine automatically plays a few rounds, adding your winnings as it goes. But you still get to decide what to do with a bonus or free spin; most games will pause at this point.
Max Bet – This is the maximum you can stake on a game per spin. Betting the maximum gives you the chance to win the maximum. Most games have a ‘max bet’ button that activates all the paylines and quickly wagers the highest bet for the game.
Min Bet – The min bet is basically the fee for entry. It is the smallest possible bet you can make in a round of the game.
Paylines – On a single reel game, most people know that you win when certain symbols line up in the middle. This middle line is called the payline. On more complex games, there can be multiple paylines, giving you even more opportunities to win. You can usually choose how many of these lines you want play each round.
Payout – This is the money you earn when you hit a winning combination of symbols in the game.
Pay Table – The pay table is a visual representation of the payouts for each possible winning combination of symbols, based on the bet placed. Not sure what the pay table looks like for your favourite game? Click the info button to find out. It’s usually marked with an ‘i’ or ‘?’.
Line Bet – Even if a game has more than one payline, you don’t have to play all of them. You can choose which lines you want to bet on. Each of these is a ‘line bet’.
Multiplier – This is a special kind of bonus that multiplies your payout.
Scatter Symbols – This symbol has the ability to unlock bonus features and usually gives you the highest payout.
Volatility – Also known as variance, this tells you the risk associated with the game. It describes how often a game has payouts and how big those payouts are.
Wild Symbol – Like a wild card in most card games, a wild symbol can be used more than one way. It can act as a multiplier or fill in as the last symbol needed to make a winning combination on the payline.
High Volatility Slots vs. Low Volatility Slots
If you’ve ever wondered about your actual chances of winning a slot game – and how much you can really win – you’re thinking about slot volatility. Volatility, also known as variance, is essentially the risk associated with the game. Slots operates on a big risk-big reward, small risk-small reward paradigm. A high volatility game has more risk for you, but it also has bigger rewards. Conversely, low volatility games have more frequent wins but smaller payouts.
Is high or low volatility better for you?
If you have a decent amount of time and money to play with, give high volatility games a try. But if you have a small budget and just want to spin a few times for fun, low volatility games are probably more your speed.
How can you tell the volatility of a game?
Unfortunately, games aren’t just marked ‘high volatility’ and ‘low volatility’. But, there are a couple easy ways to figure out the difference. First, take a look at the pay table. If you see more opportunity for bigger prizes than you’ve seen on other games, it’s a good indication of high volatility. Next, play a few free rounds to get a feel for the structure. Together, these two methods should give you a pretty good idea of what you’re working with.
What do RTP and Hit Frequency Mean for Online Slots?
RTP stands for ‘return to player’. It is the percentage of money you wager that a slot machine will return to you in payouts, over the long term. If you play a slot game with a 90% RTP and play 100 $1 bets, you can expect about $90 in winnings over the series of those bets.
Hit frequency is how often you’ll likely see a winning combination of symbols when you play a slot game. If a game has a hit frequency of 10%, you can expect to see a winning payline in about 1 in every 10 games.
Note that neither of these terms describe what happens in the short term. They are the long term averages of playing a game over and over…and over.
How Does Casino Guru Review Online Slots?
At Casino Guru, we look for the same features you would when we review online slots. Because you’re the player, and our reviews need to serve your needs and desires.
We find games that have easy to access pay tables, allow players to make a wide range of bets, and offer plenty of quality bonuses. We also look at the play experience. We seek out casinos that offer a variety of fun slot themes and games with incredible graphics.
We want you to have the best online slots experience possible. And part of that is knowing where to find the best opportunities. We’ll let you know when any big progressive jackpot opportunities are on the horizon!
Conclusion
Whether you like to play for leisure on your lunch break or use the game as a palate cleanser between rounds of poker, slots are perfect when you’re looking for some fast-paced fun. It’s impossible to get bored; there are so many themes and styles to choose from. You can seek out big jackpots or play games with smaller, but more frequent payouts. There is a slot game for everyone.
If you’re ready to get started, head over to our top no deposit bonuses page to find the best ones currently on offer. Then you can start of on the best possible foot with a few free spins and some extra credit on your bankroll.