If you’re a fan of online casino games, you may wonder what 2024 holds for the industry. While there’s never any concrete way to tell where online casino innovation might lead, you can learn a lot about its direction from the past couple of years.
BetMGM consistently publishes regular online slot reviews and informational pieces from industry trends. The view ahead may be blurry sometimes, but trends show that the future is looking up. Here are some insights into slot features that may reshape how you view playing casinos online.
The Evolution of Online Slot Game Features
Slot games have come a long way since their humble beginnings. These online adaptations of the popular mechanical one-arm bandits of the time have grown and morphed almost as quickly as technological innovation itself.
In the 90s, as the internet picked up speed, online slots emerged as a way for casinos to capitalize on this new technological wonder. These clunky and pixelated digital slot machines offered only very basic gameplay and minimal payline opportunities. But if you had a computer and an internet connection, you could unlock a whole new world of competitive monetization from the comfort of your home.
As technology has advanced over the last 30 years, the world of digital gaming and online gambling has seen one of the industry’s biggest and most consistent booms. Developers and entrepreneurs dug in their heels, bobbing and weaving, to deliver a multinational industry built on feature-rich online gambling experiences that rival actual casinos.
Nowadays, games feature high-quality graphics, intricate sound design, and breathtaking animations the world could hardly have imagined in the internet’s early days. Modern online slots have storylines that rival other gaming industries, while diverse themes pull inspiration from various cultures worldwide.
Today, the global online gambling industry is a force to be reckoned with, providing players with hours of entertainment with virtually zero effort. Online slots have developed an incredible arsenal of bonus rounds, mini-games, crossover gameplay, and progressive jackpot slot prizes spanning multiple games in a series. Even the traditional symbols have received various upgrades for added pizzazz.
Sticky Wild Slot Uses and Benefits
Sticky wilds are an innovative upgrade to the traditional roles of wild symbols. Regular wild symbols generally function as a joker would in card games, substituting for other symbols to create winning hands. Sticky wilds step it up by staying fixed in their landed position over multiple spins.
Usually, this plays out during free spins or a bonus round. Sticky wilds can translate to any other win feature. From symbol combos to win multipliers to extra free spins and jackpot tiers, modern games have found endless uses for sticky wilds.
Most new games have even introduced multiple wilds into gameplay. Some will have traditional wilds and include special wilds on certain reels. Other games have brought in specific features to morph their wilds into unique draw cards for the game. It’s not uncommon to see expanding wilds and colossal wilds, along with sticky and regular wilds.
Top Slot Games Featuring Sticky Wilds
Here are some of the sticky wild slots currently available. Give them a spin to get a feel for what the new year could bring.
Dead or Alive
| Software Provider | NetENT |
| RTP | 96.82% |
| Reels | 5×3 |
| Max Payout | 2500x |
This NetENT slot is considered one of the best online slots of all time. The original game was released in 2009, and it still draws many players with its 5×3, nine-pay line setup due to its high volatility and RTP (return to player) of 96.82%.
More recently, NetENT has turned it up a notch with a sequel featuring even more massive gameplay upgrades. The latest version features regular scatters and wilds along with sticky wilds and three free spins bonus rounds. The game also has a high-tech interface upgrade featuring the same Wild West theme for a more premium experience.
Spinberry Wilds
| Software Provider | Spinberry |
| RTP | 95.14% |
| Reels | 5×4 |
| Max Payout | 2,500x |
Spinberry Wilds is a classic fruit theme with unique twists, high-quality graphics, and a rumble-in-the-jungle soundtrack. The game symbols mostly feature fruits on a 5×4 reel, 20-payline grid with a 95.14% RTP and high volatility.
The highlight Sticky Collection respin feature pumps in most of the action, coming into play in the free spins rounds. Landing grape symbols will fill the Sticky Collection matrix, and when the free spins are triggered, wilds landed on the grid will lock in place and award a respin on top of the free spins. Wilds locked on screen become multipliers depending on how many grapes you have in the matrix.
Honey Rush 100
| Software Provider | Play ‘n GO |
| RTP | 96.2% |
| Reels | 7 |
| Max Payout | 50,000x |
Play ‘n GO pushes the bar even higher with Honey Rush 100, featuring an out-of-this-world slot grid format with seven reels and a 4–5–6–7–6–5–4 row layout. The game has a 96.2% RTP and plays on high volatility. The base game features cluster plays and cascading reels with sticky wilds doubling as multipliers.
Wild West Gold 2
| Software Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| RTP | 96.51% |
| Reels | 5×3 |
| Max Payout | 10,000x |
Another Wild West-themed title that also happens to be a sequel to a successful original. The Pragmatic Play game features sticky wilds that also act as multipliers during free spins rounds. The grid is set in 5×3 format with 40 paylines and features a 96.51% RTP with high volatility for plenty of excitement.
Narcos (NetEnt)
| Software Provider | NetENT |
| RTP | 96.23% |
| Reels | 5×3 |
| Max Payout | 300x |
Narcos is another NetENT gem based on the popular Netflix series. The 243 payline slot features a 96.23% RTP with high volatility, and the game includes the exciting TV series’ narrative with plenty of classic NetENT features. Sticky wilds feature as Walking Wilds in the free spins rounds, where they shift to the next reel with every win before dropping off at the end of the grid.
Get Stuck on the Wild Side With BetMGM
BetMGM Online Casino has a massive collection of online slots, including those featuring sticky wild variations. It operates in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan, so you can play there to cash in for real-money prizes. If you’re in one of these states and want to play online slots for money, register with BetMGM and see what other benefits await you.
