Slots Payouts

Is Volatility More Important Than RTP?

Although RTP ratings are important when selecting slots that might yield better returns, you should also pay close attention to volatility. In some cases, a game’s variance matters more to players than its RTP.

The theoretical RTP of a slot is usually achieved only after an enormous number of spins. For example, data from a UKGC-licensed casino shows that even after 50,000 spins, there can still be nearly a 5% deviation from the stated RTP. Reaching the true long-term return would require many more spins.

Therefore, sticking to the slot’s highest advertised RTP is primarily important to regulators, whereas an average player seldom plays enough spins to eliminate that deviation.

For this reason, a slot’s volatility may be more important to players seeking favorable outcomes. Choosing a low-variance slot improves the chances of reaching a smaller deviation more quickly because these games involve less risky bets, generate frequent small wins, and allow longer sessions.

Choosing Slots According to Their Volatility

If you have several days to devote to a low-risk slot, you can continue selecting games based solely on RTP. As noted earlier, it may take roughly 50,000 spins to approach a slot’s maximum RTP. If you are prepared to play that long, the fun factor may already be gone.

Although low-risk slots are not ideal if you are chasing larger payouts, you should also exercise caution with high-volatility games. Studies show that players who favor riskier betting styles tend to lose more than others. While high-volatility slots can be enticing because of their sizeable wins, extended losing streaks can quickly deplete your bankroll.

Nevertheless, if you are willing to tolerate the risk in pursuit of significant profits, high-volatility slots might be the way to go. Even the largest payouts on low-variance games seldom match the lucrative wins available in high-volatility slots.

Highly volatile slots generally have a lower hit frequency. Developers often pair a higher RTP with higher variance, making the games riskier but capable of delivering impressive payouts via bonus features and special symbols. A quick way to identify a high-variance slot is to check its paytable; if the lowest listed payout is still much higher than those on low-variance slots, you have likely found a high-volatility option.

While you play online, you will also encounter mid-volatility slots. These games sit between low- and high-variance categories, sometimes producing regular small wins and other times inflicting long losing streaks before a major payout appears.

Controlling the Slot’s Volatility

You may not realize it, but you can partly influence the volatility of the slot you are playing. A player’s actions almost always raise the variance; it is rarely possible to lower it.

Many video slots allow you to choose the type of bonus feature to activate. For example, you can select more free spins with lower multipliers or sacrifice some spins in exchange for higher multipliers.

A well-known example is Betsoft’s Good Girl Bad Girl. Choosing the Good Girl mode pays wins from left to right and results in low volatility. Selecting the Bad Girl mode pays from right to left and generates higher variance. There is also an option to be paid both ways, creating medium volatility.

Another method to influence volatility is by adjusting the number of paylines. You can increase variance by betting on fewer lines while raising your bet per line. Suppose you normally wager $0.01 on each of 30 paylines. By switching to a $0.02 wager on 15 paylines, you keep the same total stake but increase the slot’s variance.