The iGaming industry continues to reach new heights. From a relatively small subsidiary of the gambling industry, to a multi-billion-dollar market in its own right, iGaming truly seems to be the gambling of the future. Indeed, many experts predict that in the near future, online casinos will be the main source of games for many gamblers.
If that is the case, we thought it would be beneficial to go over one of the most important and popular games in iGaming; online slots. Slots are the main attraction at most online casinos.
If you visit a popular online casino website, you will first and foremost be greeted by slots. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any live dealer games or other table games. But slots tend to be the most popular.
In this article, we are going to go over the most important facts that you need to know about online slots, so that you know where to start and what to look for. Without further ado, let us delve into the meat and potatoes of the article.
What are Online Slots?
Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the inside of a casino already knows what an online slot is. For those who may be unaware, online slots are gambling games that most online casinos have in their libraries.
They involve pressing a button in order to spin reels, with the goal of getting a pay line. Once a player hits the pay line, they win a cash prize.
Online slots, naturally, are inspired by land-based slots. While the history of the slot machine is truly fascinating, we won’t delve too deep into it. We will only say that these slot machines appeared around the late 19th century, and quickly became a staple of gambling pubs, and casinos.
As for online slots, they appeared in the 1990s, when the flower of the digital age was just beginning to blossom. Online casinos featured two gaming options back then: slots and poker. Often times, there were individual websites for each game.
Today, the iGaming industry has certainly come a long way. Most websites have an expansive library of slots and table games, featuring blackjack, craps, baccarat, video poker, roulette, and much more.
Despite all of that, slots remain the number one most popular game, not just online, but in land-based casinos as well.
How do Online Slots Work?
We’ve found that, while many people enjoy spinning the reels, most don’t understand the mechanics behind online slots.
To be fair, it isn’t necessary to understand a game’s mechanics in order to enjoy it. But, for those who are curious, in this section we will go over how online slots work.
The mechanics of online slots can aptly be described with a single phrase: Random Number Generator. For the uninitiated, a random number generator (RNG) is a software that continuously produces a randomized outcome, with each spin of the reel.
By incorporating a random number generator, most online casinos ensure that their games are fair and have completely randomized outcomes.
For as long as online casinos have existed, there has been a sort of fear that games might be rigged. While we can certainly understand where the fear comes from, we are here to assure you that it is largely misplaced.
A functioning Random Number Generator ensures that each outcome is entire luck-based, much like it would be in a land-based casino.
But how can you be sure whether a RNG is functional, and whether an online casino is trustworthy? Well, that question, we will answer in the next section of this article.
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Safety at Online Slot Casinos
The biggest issues when discussing online slot casinos seem to be security, anonymity, and avoiding problem gambling.
We can lump all of these concerns under the category of “safety.” But how can you ensure that an online casino is safe? The easiest way to do so is to look for a license.
What is a License
A license is a seal of approval that indicates a casino has been reviewed by a notable authority. Authorities that dole out licenses can be private or national.
It is worth noting that different countries have different standards for issuing a license, which means that you should pay close attention to which license the website functions under.
The safest out there are the Malta Gaming Association, the Great Britain Gambling Commission, the eCOGRA license, and the Curacao license.
Other Considerations
Another thing to consider is a casino’s reputation. The best way to determine whether a gambling website is reputable is to look at online casino review websites. If there is some sort of consensus about the reputability of the website, then you know you are in good hands.
Mobile Compatibility
In this final section, we would like to bring up a pretty big trend in online slots right now. That being, mobile gambling. Nowadays, there are very few people that don’t have a smartphone. Whether that be an Android or an iPhone, or whatever else, we all carry a miniature computer in our back pocket.
Online casinos have decided to make access to games even easier and more convenient, either by making their websites mobile compatible, or creating app versions of their games.
Mobile casinos have become a huge hit, with many gamblers switching over from online gambling sites, to mobile apps. For good reason too, as mobile gambling apps come with a lot of advantages. They are much more easily accessible, they offer unique bonuses and promotions, they are convenient, and due to the rapid technological development in the 21st century, they are just as optimized as their PC-based counterparts.
However, there are some downsides to playing on your phone. Namely, the smaller screen makes seeing the game a lot harder. Some games may not be available on a mobile device too, as the software developers didn’t think to include a mobile option. Most importantly, phones have a limited battery life, and online casino games are known to drain the battery pretty quickly.
