| Updated: September 26, 2025Most people who play slots for entertainment choose their favorite games based on themes, bonus features, and jackpot size. While these are all relevant factors to consider when playing for fun, aspects such as theoretical return percentages and volatility should also be taken into account.
Unfortunately, some slot players ignore these factors altogether. Others use the two terms interchangeably, even though they refer to separate concepts. Both are equally important if you want to maximize your profits when you spin the reels. The following article will help you distinguish between the two.
Is Slot Volatility the Same as Slot Variance?
While in the company of avid slot players, you will likely hear the term “volatility” quite often. But what does it mean? In the context of slots, and gambling in general, volatility denotes the level of risk inherent in a given game. It reflects the likelihood of a player ending a reel-spinning session with a busted bankroll.
Players often use the words “volatility” and “variance” interchangeably because both measure the distribution of spin outcomes. There is, however, a difference between the two.
Volatility relates more to the playing experience itself. It shows how frequently a slot pays and in what amounts, measuring the changes in results over the short term. When categorized by volatility, slots fall into three main groups.
Low Volatility Slots
Slots with low volatility expose a player’s bankroll to minimal risk, awarding frequent but smaller payouts. Such games have high hit frequencies, which lowers the chance of bankroll depletion.
Low-volatility slots are ideal for players who are not focused on winning massive jackpots and are looking to extend their playtime. These gamblers usually play on a budget and are happy to accept modest yet frequent wins. This is not to say that big wins are impossible on low-volatility slots – they simply occur on rare occasions.
Medium Volatility Slots
Slots with medium volatility carry a moderate level of risk and strike a balance between hit frequency and prize size. They award average-sized payouts and are somewhat choppy, with winning and losing spins alternating at roughly equal intervals.
High Volatility Slots
Slots with high volatility are essentially the opposite of their low-volatility counterparts. Players can earn larger profits on winning spins, but matching combinations appear far less often.
These games can produce very large jackpots. The reduced hit frequency offsets the slots’ high winning potential. High-volatility titles are best suited to well-bankrolled gamblers who want a shot at landing a massive jackpot.
Variance
Unlike volatility, variance is not confined to a specific period, such as a four-hour playing session. Instead, it is a measure of the distribution of spin outcomes over the long run. In other words, variance indicates how far the outcomes may stray from their expected statistical averages.
How to Spot Low-Volatility Games
Land-based casinos rarely reveal information about the volatility and hit frequency of their slots. The situation is different online. Many internet gambling operators openly share the volatility levels and payout percentages of their reel-based games, and some even provide filters that let you sort titles by volatility.
If this information is unavailable, the only way to gauge a slot’s volatility is to play it for a while. Below are several additional tips that can help you identify low-volatility games:
Fixed Jackpots
Choose slots with fixed jackpots rather than progressives. Titles that offer a flat jackpot usually feature higher hit frequencies, allowing players to lose money more slowly. Progressive jackpots, by contrast, grow incrementally because a portion of every bet feeds the prize pool.
To offset this growth, progressive games typically carry a higher house edge and a lower hit frequency on regular payouts. The general rule is simple – the smaller the fixed jackpot, the lower the volatility.
Coin Denomination
Play machines that accept the highest coin denomination you can comfortably afford. These games usually offer higher return percentages than low-denomination slots and provide more frequent wins to justify the larger minimum stake.
Play With Demo Credits
Play online slots with demo credits. Many online casinos allow players to try their slots for free, giving you a safe opportunity to test the waters without risking real money. If you run out of credits, simply reload the game to restore the demo balance. Spin as much as you like to gauge how a particular slot feels, how often it pays, and how much.
- Slots Rules
- Classic Slots
- Video Slots
- Best Paying Slots
- Slots Payouts
- High Stakes Slots
- Progressive Jackpot Slots
- iOS Slots Apps
- Android Slots Apps
- Aussie Slots
- The Evolution of Slots
- Components That Make Slot Machines Tick
- Complete Breakdown of Slot Symbols
- Bonus Games in Slots
- Slot Fairness and Random Results
- How Casinos Gain Their Edge in Slots
- The Simplicity of Classic Slots
- Multi Line Video Slots
- All Ways Slots
- Megaways Slots
- Feature Buy Slots
- Branded Slots
- Progressive Slots – The Big Payers in the Casino
- Who Develops Slot Software
- The Rise of Mobile Slots
- Building Slots Bankroll
- Slot Etiquette when Playing in Landbased Casinos
- Maximizing Slot Wins
- Slot Tournaments
- Biggest Slot Wins in History
Advantages and Disadvantages of Playing Low-Volatility Slots
Let's sum up volatility by listing the advantages and disadvantages of playing less riskier slots. Of course, the biggest positive such games can offer is that they deliver a steady flow of payouts although they also have several downsides as you will see below.
You will win more often
The payouts are frequent but smaller
You can play on a budget with a smaller bankroll
Low-volatility slots usually have fewer bonus games and special features
There will be no long dry spells to frustrate you
The jackpots are normally smaller
Frequent, yet small wins will extend your playing session
You will often win less than you have staked
Level results are more in line with your expected statistical averages
The excitement of potentially winning life-changing prizes is absent
Payback Percentages in Slot Games
The payback percentage, or return to player (RTP), indicates the proportion of all money wagered on a slot that is returned to players over the long run. In essence, the payback percentage is the flip side of the house edge.
Slot Payback Percentages Explained
In fact, the combined total of a slot’s RTP and its house advantage invariably equals 100%. If you play a slot with a theoretical return of 94.7%, for example, you face a casino edge of 5.3%.
The return percentage reflects how much of each bet you can expect to recoup over the long haul, whereas the house edge represents the portion the casino keeps. Both figures represent expected averages in the long term.
Whether payback percentages are posted on machines depends on local regulations. Casinos that operate in the United States are not legally required to display RTP information, making it impossible for patrons to calculate the exact house edge they face.
To compute this edge, you need two pieces of information: the probabilities of winning and the payouts for winning symbol combinations. While payouts are listed in the slot’s paytable, the probabilities seldom are.
Another complication is that the Random Number Generators of identical machines can be programmed differently within the same casino. Imagine one player sitting at IGT’s Kitty Glitter in Reno’s Peppermill Casino while a friend plays an identical slot a few meters away.
The second machine’s theoretical return could be 94%, whereas the first might be only 91%. The two machines would share the same paytable, making the difference impossible to spot.
This discrepancy stems from how the reels are weighted. The top-paying Persian cat symbol may appear 1/8 of the time on one machine but only 1/16 on another, dramatically affecting each slot’s theoretical return.
In the United Kingdom, by contrast, both online and land-based gambling operators are required by law to display the theoretical return of their slots. Players can then determine the house edge simply by subtracting the payout percentage from 100%.
Payback Percentages and Expected Value in Slots
The average payback percentage represents the overall expected value (EV) of all possible symbol combinations on a slot. To illustrate, imagine a game with 100,000 possible combinations.
If each combo appeared once in sequence, from 1 to 100,000, you would collect 95,000 credits of your chosen denomination. That translates to a theoretical return of 95% and a house edge of 5%.
You can use these figures to calculate the long-term expected value the slot provides per hour. Simply multiply the average number of wagers you place per hour by your average bet size and the house edge.
The product is your long-term expected loss per hour. You should not expect to record net profits over time when playing negative-expectation games like slots.
Most reel spinners play roughly 600 rounds per hour. Suppose you take a more conservative approach and wager only $0.10 per spin. In that case, the -EV from the example equals 600 × 0.10 × (-0.05) = -3.
This means you will lose an average of $3 per hour on such a slot. Start with $100 and you will have about $97 after an hour, assuming statistically expected outcomes. Of course, not everything is doom and gloom – big wins are still possible, as you will see in the next section.
Payback Percentages and the Two Laws
Most people say casino games are all about fun and entertainment; we contend that gambling games are, at their core, about mathematics, and slots are no exception. Everything is calculated with precision. The structure and payouts of each game are designed to generate profits for the house and, over time, losses for players.
Two mathematical laws apply to gambling. The Law of Large Numbers states that each slot will reach its theoretical payback percentage over the long term. After thousands of spins, the game will return a predictable amount to players, and the casino will keep the rest as profit.
Remember that payback percentages are cumulative, meaning they are shared among all players on a given machine. The RTP does not apply to you alone, and it is both physically and financially impossible to play enough rounds for the odds to fully balance out.
In day-to-day play, however, the Law of Small Numbers dominates. You might hit it big in the short term, winning hundreds or even thousands of dollars in under an hour, while at other times you could drain your bankroll in less than thirty minutes.
Like it or not, the Law of Large Numbers ensures that random games eventually achieve their statistically expected distribution of results. This is why casinos remain profitable: patrons win in the short term, motivating them to return, and the math guarantees the house earns money in the long run.
Coin Denominations and Advertised Payback Percentages
Some specialized gambling sites, such as the American Casino Guide, publish cumulative theoretical return percentages for machines with specific coin denominations in particular U.S. gambling establishments.
The data come from local regulators like the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Below is an example displaying the average payback percentages of slot machines in Laughlin and Reno, Nevada for the fiscal year that began in July 2017 and ended in June 2018.
| Slot RTP in Reno Casinos | Slot RTP in Laughlin Casinos | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Coin Denomination | Return Percentage | Coin Denomination | Return Percentage |
| Penny Machines | 92.78% | Penny Machines | 89.24% |
| Nickel Machines | 94.00% | Nickel Machines | 92.86% |
| Quarter Machines | 92.43% | Quarter Machines | 93.83% |
| Dollar Machines | 95.60% | Dollar Machines | 94.30% |
| Fiver Machines | 95.49% | Fiver Machines | 94.57% |
| Cumulative RTP | 94.62% | Cumulative RTP | 92.21% |
The trend is clear: the average payback percentage tends to rise as the minimum coin denomination increases. The higher the minimum denomination, the higher the RTP.
It bears repeating that these numbers represent averages for entire groups of slots with a given denomination. They do not describe any single machine and have little bearing on an individual game you might play.
If a casino reports a theoretical return of 93% for its quarter machines, that does not mean every slot with this denomination pays at that rate. Half of the machines could average 89%, while the other half might return 97%. The problem is that the average player cannot tell the difference because hit frequency may be similar from one slot to another.
Land-based casinos often use cumulative return percentages to advertise their slots and attract new customers. For example, a venue might display a sign that reads “Payback of up to 97% on slots.”
The claim is somewhat deceptive, but it works: it entices players to come in and spin the reels. The listed percentage is accurate for some machines, meaning certain slots really do deliver the stated payback.
The problem is that players have no way of knowing which ones. You might sit at an 89% slot believing you are playing at 97%. We advise you to wise up and ignore such advertisements. A better approach is to gauge a slot’s RTP by noting its minimum coin denomination.
How Volatility and Payback Percentages Interact
In the final section of our article on slot volatility and RTP, we address how payback percentages and volatility interact. We noted earlier, in our quarter-slot example, that two games can share the same volatility yet have different payback percentages. Could the reverse also be true?
To answer, we must first show how volatility and return percentages intersect. Consider two identical hypothetical games we’ll call “Slot 1” and “Slot 2.”
As you may recall, volatility denotes risk and the proportion of rounds that result in winning combinations, while the return percentage represents the share of all money wagered that is paid back to players.
Suppose Slot 1 has a payback percentage of 89% and lower volatility, whereas Slot 2 offers 94% with higher volatility. The paytables of the two games are identical, making it impossible for players to determine volatility or average return by sight.
If a developer wanted a game with Slot 1’s low volatility and Slot 2’s higher payback percentage, they would need to tweak the paytable.
They might raise the payouts for certain high-value combinations in Slot 1 and reduce them in Slot 2. This adjustment would give Slot 2 a higher hit frequency, while Slot 1 would enjoy a higher payback percentage. The takeaway is that a slot with a higher hit frequency can still pay less overall than one with a lower hit frequency. Remember:
- High volatility equals lower hit frequency but larger payouts
- Low volatility equals higher hit frequency but smaller payouts
Some players assume a slot with bigger payouts and a higher RTP is automatically the better choice. Not necessarily. Paytables can be misleading because increased payouts often come at the expense of reduced hit frequency.
The bottom line: a game that pays smaller amounts frequently has low volatility and can prolong your betting session, while one that pays larger amounts less often has high volatility and may burn through your bankroll faster. Choose a slot based on the playing experience you want and the size of your bankroll.