No guide to online slots is accurate or complete without covering the subject of slot volatility. Similarly, if you don’t understand what volatility in slots is or what slot volatility means for your betting plan, you lack information crucial to optimizing your chances of ending your slot session with a profit.
From the perspective of payouts, slot machine volatility is one of the two most important points of evaluation. Without it, you’ve only begun to gauge whether online slot games meet your requirements.
Knowing how to find information on volatility and what to do with it sets you on your way to getting the most out of your money and time playing slots. BetMGM Casino makes it easy to consider all these aspects of a game.
What Does Volatility Mean in Slots?
At its most basic, volatility in this context means how frequently a slot pays out. This is a relative term, meaning that a slot’s volatility is judged against the same quality in other games.
People looking for online slot machines that win the most are actually looking for the least volatile slots. The rule of thumb is that the lower the volatility, the more frequent the payouts. While that might make it seem like low volatility slots are ideal, that isn’t necessarily true.
High volatility online slots may not pay out as frequently as games with lower volatility levels, but when those hits come, they tend to be more valuable than the paylines in low volatility slots. At any volatility level, how much those payouts add up to depends on other aspects of the game.
RTP vs. Volatility
If you’re interested in big prizes, you might think that high volatility slot machines are ideal. However, you need to consider online slot RTP.
RTP, or return to player, tells you how much of the money bet on a particular slot the game pays out. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, and you can think of that percentage as a portion of every $100 wagered on the slot.
RTP and volatility are independent of each other, even though they both measure a game’s payouts. You can find medium volatility slots with above-average RTPs or RTPs below the industry standards.
The same goes for other levels of volatility. It’s also important to understand volatility vs. variance.
Volatility and Variance
One of the most common questions about online slots is the difference between variance and volatility. As already stated, volatility is the frequency at which payouts happen.
Variance is the size of the spectrum of the value of those payments. Another way to explain it is how much of a gap there is between the least valuable and the most valuable payline hits in a slot.
If a game assigns a lot of different payout values over a wide range to different paylines, it’s said to have high variance. There are also low and medium variance designations, which is a familiar theme.
Types of Slot Volatility
Like with many other aspects of popular slots, volatility is relative. While some casinos have more sophisticated ranking systems for their games, there are three basic categories for slot volatility.
Low Volatility Slots
Low volatility slots are games that, in comparison to others, tend to pay out more frequently. These games might be ideal for people trying to find loose slot machines, but there’s a give and take.
The “cost” of those frequent wins is that they tend to be lesser in value than the payouts in slots with higher volatility levels. That means that, depending on how much you wager, even a win may not be sufficient to recoup your wager in such slots.
Medium Volatility Slots
For players interested in more of a middle ground between frequent and valuable payouts, medium volatility slots might be your happy place. These slots involve compromises between the two dynamics of slot volatility.
The biggest downside of slots with a middle-of-the-road volatility level is that, compared to the frequent hits of the lower volatility games or the bigger payouts of the higher volatility titles, medium volatility slots can sometimes be perceived as kind of dull. You can make up for that, though, by choosing a medium volatility slot with an exciting slot theme.
High Volatility Slots
If you want to prolong the anticipation of a relatively larger prize, high-volatility slot games are made for you. It’s important to understand that there are no guarantees that you’ll win anything, even in slots with higher volatility levels.
Responsible gambling is crucial in all types of games, including slots with higher volatility, because you may need to place more bets to accomplish your goals than you would in slots with lower volatility. Ultimately, you decide for yourself how to proceed.
Should You Choose Higher or Lower Volatility Slots?
When you’re ready to choose an online slot to play, volatility should be part of that evaluation, but only part of it. You should also consider the game’s RTP, theme, features, and bonuses.
In terms of evaluating volatility, the consideration revolves around how you like to play slots. The question isn’t as much, are high or low volatility slots better, but more of what level of volatility is my bankroll better suited for, and which level of volatility will be a better fit for how I like to play?
If you want to stretch as many plays as possible out of your budget, slots with lower volatility levels might be a good match because the more frequent payouts can mean that you’ll more often recoup at least part of your bet. Conversely, if you want to get the best possible return you can on that amount, a higher-volatility slot could suit that interest.
Ultimately, regardless of the slot volatility, your winnings are completely a matter of chance in all slot games. Before you can evaluate them for volatility, you need to know how to find that information.
How To Check Slot Volatility
If you’re visiting a brick-and-mortar casino and you want to know about the volatility of a particular slot game, the staff on the gaming floor can assist you. Licensed casinos must provide that information to players by law, and the staff are there to facilitate your gambling, so don’t hesitate to ask.
Regarding information about paytables in online slots, the same disclosure standards apply to regulated online casinos like BetMGM. You can find this information about a game you’re considering in the game’s details on BetMGM’s apps or website.
BetMGM ranks slot games for volatility on a scale of one to five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest level of volatility. The ranking system makes it easy to include volatility in your assessment of a game.
Play Slots That Fit Your Risk Tolerance At BetMGM Casino
The best of all online slot tips is to play a game that allows you to stick to your limits and have fun. If you accomplish both of those, you’re a winner regardless of how your bets turned out.
The importance of a good slot strategy lies in setting those limits and identifying games that allow you to stay within them while playing the way you want to play. Your risk tolerance will dictate those choices.
Whether you want to let your budget ride on just a few bigger bets or allocate your bankroll over more smaller wagers, you’ll find a game to match. Volatility is one way in which you make that judgment, and BetMGM offers the full spectrum of slots.
You can check out those thousands of game options as soon as you register for BetMGM. While some slots might be highly volatile, BetMGM is the epitome of consistency in delivering good times to slot players.
