Blogs Sep 17, 2020 4 min read by Alice

Are online slots rigged? Dive in to know more!

If you are a regular online slots player then, you must understand that winning a jackpot is the toughest thing to do. You may have thought that the online slot is a fixed one. Also, while playing with your friends, you may have discussed how an online slot is a rigged one. But are online slots rigged? Well, it is certainly natural to question – are online slots rigged – especially when the whole game mechanism works online and there is no rigid source of accountability. But, if you think that online slot games are completely rigged, then you must give it a second thought because they are not! Provided the online slot is a certified and licensed game. The fact that these online slots have a house advantage, i.e., the profit they make out of the players’ bets may make you feel otherwise, but the fact remains the same. Any certified and licensed online slot cannot be rigged. To have a better understanding of why and how online slots are rigged or not, we will have to take a ride down the evolution, functioning and components of an online slot.

Evolution of online slots

It all started with the typical mechanical slots which were developed in the late 19th century. In the mechanical machine, there were the reels, the pay line, and a handle. You had to insert a coin and pull the handle to spin the reels. The mechanical slot machines were very difficult to rig as it would take more financial and other resources to make a customized slot machine. It would become very difficult to make sure that the betters do not win any combinations.These mechanical slots were digitized and soon with the inception of the internet, the electronic slots transformed into an online one. In these, the motors were swapped by the mouse and keys of your personal computer. Now, online slots have even reached our cellphones where we can play live slots online on or mobile screens!

How does an online slot work?

Online slots work on algorithms. This means that the whole game is based on several codes giving instructions to carry out a move on your computer/ mobile/ laptop screen. There are certain numbers based on these algorithms that have a very heavy influence on your chances of winning. And this also helps in explaining how games can or cannot be a rigged one. Let us take a look at these numbers –

Return to Player or RTP Rate: RTP, in simpler terms, is the percentage of the sum put in an online slot game that will be returned to you if you win. The most common RTP rate today is 90-95 per cent which is basically to lure players into playing the game. There are even some online slots with an RTP of 75 %. You will be surprised to know that there is a legal bar of setting your RTP. If lower than the RTP prescribed by law is set, the game is supposed to be an illegal one. Earlier, this information was inaccessible to the public, but today the gambling authorities in the casino world have been player-friendly in this regard.

The relationship between RTP and Variance: Variance, also known as volatility, is a payout term used in slots describing the frequency in which you can win and how much you can win. Understanding your budget and variance can help you in choosing the right slot game. A slot with high variance pays out a huge sum of amounts but the payout is not very frequent. On the other hand, a slot with low variance requires a low budget to start the game but the payout is not very huge. It may be frequent but hitting a monster jackpot is tough in a low variance game.

Random Number Generators (RNG): A Random Number Generator works at the core of an online slot machine. It helps in generating random numbers which are reflected on the screen whenever you spin your reels. So, the combinations that you see on the display of your online slot machine are randomly generated. This means that each player playing the online game has an equal chance of winning. It might seem that the RNG and RTP can be developed in such a way that they yield the desired combinations only. But, you should know that even the developers cannot dictate the jackpots.

Now that you know your fate in an online slot game lies on a set of numbers and algorithms, you cannot call it rigged. But if the game lacks the legal certification and licensing, then, you may think otherwise about its authenticity.

Alice

Do you go through the game review before you spin, or do you simply launch the slot and hope for the best? In case you belong to the first group, then there is a very good chance you have already read something written by Alice. Alice writes the slot reviews, the how-to-play walkthroughs, and the game guides here at Swift Casino. She is the one who sits with a new release for hours together, clicking the hamburger icon, opening up the pay table, checking where exactly the spin button has been placed on the screen, and noting down how the free spins get triggered, so that you do not have to work it all out on your own. Her interest in slots started in a fairly ordinary way, with a fruit machine in a corner of a pub and a small handful of coins, and it simply never went away after that. So what does she actually look for in a game? Volatility, mostly. Alice is of the opinion that the volatility rating tells you far more about how a session may go than the RTP percentage does, hence, she always mentions both of them, and she explains what they mean every single time, even when it starts to feel repetitive. In case a game offers a return that is lower than the industry standard, she says so plainly. She does not believe in dressing up a weak pay table with pretty adjectives. Are you tired of reviews that read like advertisements? Don’t worry, that is definitely the thing Alice tries hardest to avoid. Every win claim she writes is hedged, because slots are games of chance and you may possibly win nothing at all on a given spin. As mentioned earlier, she covers the special features too, such as the wilds, the scatters, the multipliers, the cascading reels, and more, all of which hold the potential of increasing the chances of the players landing more winning combinations. Away from the reels, Alice is a fairly boring person by her own admission. Long walks, murder mysteries, and a stubborn loyalty to a football team that keeps letting her down. She also writes our responsible gambling explainers, and she treats that work as the important one. Real gambling comes with real risk, and hence, you must play responsibly. At Swift Casino, we take the matter of responsible gambling very seriously and have an entire section dedicated to it, offering players tools for their assistance. Well then, what are you waiting for? Go through Alice’s latest reviews, pick a game that suits your style, and enjoy!

Sep 17, 2020 · 4 min read · View all articles · LinkedIn