Mistakes To Avoid When Playing Online Slots
Online slots are available in their masses with an army of titles, themes, and features available making it incredibly easy to create a decent-sized shortlist of your favourite video slot games.
The world is literally at your feet when it comes to slots gaming. You can play classic online slot games, including the old-style one-armed bandit machines, UK-style fruit machines, hi-tech 3D animated slots, slots with cluster wins, and even progressive jackpot slot games with mega-million Euro jackpots.
Every one of these slots comes with its own theme to capture your imagination and whisk you away on an unforgettable adventure. Take your pick from sailing the seas to plunder and pillage riches with pirates or Vikings to venturing deep into the African jungle, visiting the rainforests of the Amazon, wondering into Egyptian desserts, and playing movie-based slots like Gladiator, Marvel films, and Disney animations.
It is safe to say that there is a theme and title out there guaranteed to suck you in! With so much excitement and variety, it is easy to get carried away or overwhelmed – especially if you are new to online slots, and this is where you can start to make mistakes.
In order to avoid these mistakes, read our tips below that will help you avoid the most common mistakes slot players can make and learn how to play online video slots like a pro.
Avoid Playing Just One Type of Slot
Varying the style of slots you play will keep your gaming experience enjoyable. Albeit, you may find yourself gravitating to one style of slot.
It could be that you are happily playing a particular progressive jackpot slot game. Now admittedly, you wouldn’t be the first to do this, but the issue here is that most progressive slots have a lower return to player (RTP) compared to non-progressive video slot games. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are not winning very often playing this slot or this style of slots, then you should look for alternatives with higher RTPs which are often non-progressive slot games.
Alternatively, you could be playing 3-reel classic slots because they are easier to understand, or it could be something as simple as finding a slot with a theme you love. However, if the slot you are playing is eating away at your bank role, then the best course of action is to change it up.
If you are worried about wasting real money learning a new slot game, then try out the free-play version before committing to your casino balance.
The key here is not to be afraid to try something new. Plus, as a seasoned slot player, it should be in your nature to continuously try new themes, titles, and features in order to extend your shortlist of favorite slot games.
- Try to mix up your play between progressive and non-progressive slots
- Play slots with different RTPs
- Do not be afraid to try new slot games
Never bank on any slot betting systems
If someone knew the secret to continuously winning while playing online slots, the chances are he/she is not going to share it with you, and as a result, and so slot systems only serve to give you false hope.
Every spin of a slot is 100% random. If a jackpot is 900 to 1 and you hit it on the very next spin, it will still be 900 to 1. Even if you were playing a land-based slot game and you stand up to leave, then the next player comes along and wins the jackpot on the very next spin, you would not have. This is because slots use ‘random number generators’ (RNGs).
Every second, an RNG has thousands of random symbol combinations flying through its algorithm. It only stops on a combination of symbols when you press the button. Consequently, this means you have already selected your combination as soon as you press the button, and so you would have had to have pressed the button at the exact millisecond the jackpot winner would have, which is pretty much impossible!
In fact, the reels only spin on slots because this is much more interesting and fun to play, and therefore, it is impossible to use a slot system that will guarantee you a winning session.
- Slots are 100% random, and results are based on luck
- RNGs determine results before the reels stop spinning
- It is impossible to use a winning online slot betting system
Never play without setting yourself limits
This is a detailed topic that we recommend investigating further in order to become a perfect online slot player. Ignoring bankroll management and bet sizing can have a detrimental effect on your ability to continuously have access to funds for slots gaming.
If your spin bets are set too high, then invariably, you will burn through your casino bankroll in the blink of an eye. This is 100% something you want to avoid. Try to see slots as a hobby and not a way to make money. With all hobbies, we usually want to spend as much time as possible on them. Therefore, if you want to play for longer, you will need to adjust your bet sizing according to your casino bankroll.
Get this aspect of online slots gaming right, and you will not overspend, require fewer deposits, and you will always have real money available to play with throughout the week or month.
- Always set yourself a maximum loss limit
- Do not set your spin bets too high
- Learn about bet sizing versus bankroll management
Do not chase big wins during a losing session or after a big win
You spin the reels, and suddenly that ‘big win’ hits. Your adrenaline starts pumping, and inevitably you want to go for more! On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you have had a bad day at the reels, and you don’t want to stop until you recuperate your losses.
It is so easy to fall into either of these traps. If you find yourself craving another big win, or you are hanging on for that bonus round that still hasn’t come to make up for your losses, then stop playing. There is no difference between the spins you are churning out now and spins on other sessions that you could play at another time.
- Never chase your losses on a negative session
- Never chase another big win
- Learn to quit and come back another day
Do not let the concept of RTP fool you
All slots come with a Return to Player (RTP), which can be translated into the house edge. For instance, a slot with an RTP of 95% could be converted to a house edge of 5%.
One common mistake new slot players can often make is that they believe a slot advertising an RTP of 95% will pay back €95 for every €100 bet. In fact, RTP is your long-term average expected RTP. It is impossible to just log on for every session and expect a 95% return because of something called variation, which means you will have upswings and downswings when playing slots.
For example, you may land a big win of €950 after betting only €100 on the sessions. That’s a massive RTP of 950% from a single session. Over the next 9 months, you might bet and lose on average €100 a month playing the same slot, and so your €900 win has been spent.
Your RTP from this slot is a €900 win and a loss of €900 over 9 months, plus the €100 worth of bets you made when you landed the big win. You have bet €1,000 and won €950 in the space of, let's say, 10 months, and so your RTP averages out as 95%.
Now, this example is rigged because we used it as an illustration of how RTP can work. It is important to understand that RTP is never straightforward. The bottom line is that you can never predict variation or when you will have an upswing or downswing, but it does serve as a good example to show you that you should never expect a slot’s given RTP to dictate how much you will win or lose.
