That lovely feeling. The colorful images align in a perfect row of three and the slot machine makes a familiar, yet – honestly – not very frequent sound. Truth be told, it does not happen very often.
Playing slots in a casino can be lots of fun, but you are more likely to walk home again with a slightly lighter wallet than winning the big prize. The drinks and snacks were probably not for free either.
If I could only win more often
Now, playing in an online casino instead of going to the nearest casino resort in Charleston could at least save you the expense for refreshments. Less cocktails consumed will also likely reduce the risk of playing excessively.
Another advantage of playing online instead of going to a brick-and-mortar casino is your control over game selection. The number of casinos online is truly overwhelming. The number of casino games and slot machine games is even bigger.
So, how do you choose a game? Remember that feeling of winning? Let's try and find a game where you can win more often! Contrary to what many people believe, it's actually possible.
Before concluding that “this guy is a dreamer”, let me put things straight: playing casino games is all about the fun. You shouldn't play to get rich. If you play a thousand times, you're more likely to lose than to win, no matter which slot machine game you pick.
However, there's a way to increase the fun in playing and to win a little more often.
Volatility explained
The secret is spelled “volatility”. When game developers make a new slot machine game they have to decide about various parameters. It's not only about the beautiful graphics and funny sounds. One of those parameters is volatility. Simply put, volatility indicates the difference between the small prize sums and the big ones.
A casino with high volatility would have huge differences between the smallest prizes and the biggest jackpots. To finance the biggest prizes, the frequency of the payouts must be lower.
Say what? OK, to put it simply. If you pick a casino with high volatility you are not very likely to win. The lucky one who gets the jackpot will, on the other hand, get a very high payout.
Or, we can look at it from another perspective: If you play on a casino with low volatility you can expect to win often, but not very much.
How to find low volatility casinos
To find low volatility slots you can search for slots where the difference between what you pay and what you could potentially win is low.
You could also read the game prospect to see how big the difference is between various winning combinations. If there's only a little difference it's likely a low volatility game.
To make life a little easier for you, I've picked a few low volatility slot games. Starbust from NetEnt is one of the most popular games around. Another example is Thunderstruck II from Microgaming. Enchanted Garden II by Real Time Gaming is another low volatility game.
It's all about having fun
Since gambling should be all about fun, I don't doubt a second when choosing between high or low volatility.
When playing on low volatility casino games there's a lot more going on. I will most likely still lose some money, but it will be more fun. I will win a few times and it will make me happy for a while.
This type of game also allows you to play for a long time without losing too much money. The average spend per hour is less.
At the end of the day, playing in a casino is not a way to the riches but a way to relax for a while and have some fun. So keep the volatility low folks!
