Casino Guides

How to Win on Slot Machines: 5 Strategies To Keep In Mind

One of the most common questions asked by those new to online slots is this: how can I win while playing online slots?

Author: ManySpins Published: October 2, 2020 Last update: July 14, 2022

Table of content

We’ll be honest straight away though: there is no way to guarantee that you’ll win money when you play – anyone saying otherwise is either lying or seriously misinformed.

Just because there’s no way to guarantee wins, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some things you can do to boost your chances of winning though. On this page, we’ll look at some of the little things you can do to give yourself the best chance possible of winning. First of all though, we’ll look at how slots work and why there’s no way to beat the system.

Five Slot Strategies to Boost Your Chances of Winning

While there’s no way to guarantee that you’ll win while playing slot machines, there are some ways to boost your chances. None of these are complex strategies (which never work), but instead they’re simple, practical steps you can easily take. So, let’s look at five slot machine strategies below…

1. Play Slots with High RTPs

Firstly, you absolutely must play slots with the highest RTPs. But what does this mean? Well, the RTP – which stands for return to player – dictates how much money a slot will pay back on average, over an exceptionally long period of time. So, if a game had an RTP of 95%, over time it will pay back 95% of all money spent on it. Therefore, slots with higher RTPs give you a better chance of winning when you play.

But how do you find slots with high RTPs? The easiest thing to do is head to the site you’re playing at and access their section on this, if one is offered. Many casinos now publicly display their RTPs, allowing you to scroll through the list and pick the game with the highest RTP.

Alternatively, you can take a look through the slot reviews here on this site, all of which will mention the RTP. The average online slot machine has an RTP of around 95.5%, so anything higher than this is a good choice.

To get you started, here are some slots with higher than average RTPs, all of which can be played for free right here on this site:

  • Gonzo’s Quest (96.00%)
  • The Goonies (96.00%)
  • Piggy Riches (96.38%)
  • Mermaid’s Millions (96.56%)
  • Jack and the Beanstalk (96.28%)

Picking a slot with a high RTP is the most important thing anyone looking to find out how to win on slot machines can do, so make this your top priority when choosing which online slot to play next.

2. Play Slots with Low Volatility

Different slots have different volatilities. Essentially, the volatility of a slot dictates how it pays out money. Low volatility slots tend to offer regular, smaller wins, while high volatility slots often force players to wait a while before a win arrives. When it does arrive though, the win can be particularly large.

Players are often attracted to high volatility slots as they think they might get lucky and hit a big payout straight away. This is the wrong approach for low stakes players though. Those with smaller bankrolls should instead be playing low volatility slots, which top up their account balance regularly. This means that they won’t usually find themselves losing their money too quickly.

There is, of course, a place for high volatility slots. If you’re lucky enough to have a big account balance and can weather the long lulls in wins, you can play slots of this type. Make sure you play sensibly though and don’t bet too much, as you could find your bankroll decreasing quickly if you do.

3. Bet Big at Progressive Slots

The next tip on how to win at casino slots applies only to those looking to play progressive jackpot games. Unlike standard slots, these games have jackpots that keep rising as more and more people play, and some progressive jackpots can rise to be worth millions. They are exceptionally tough to win, however there’s one slot strategy that will give you a better chance of scooping the top prize.

Quite simply, the trick is this: place bets that are as high as you can afford. This is because most progressive slots will give those betting more a better chance of winning. So, someone betting $1 a spin will have much less chance of winning than someone betting $100 a spin. Of course, this needs to be balanced with only betting what you can afford – there’s no point getting into financial trouble when trying to win a progressive prize.

It’s also the case at some slots that only those betting at the highest stakes are able to win the progressive jackpot. Other games state that only those playing the maximum number of paylines can win the progressive prize. You’ll have to check the terms and conditions of the progressive slot you’re about to play to see how your bet size will affect your chances of winning the top prize.

4. Use Bonus Money Wisely

You’ll find that many online casinos offer bonuses, including no deposit bonus that can be worth significant sums of money. These casino offers (especially ones with deposit bonus ones) should be used to your advantage. Many will get additional credit from a deposit bonus only to fritter it away carelessly, betting the maximum allowed in the hope of hitting a big win. This is wrong though. Instead, bonus money should be played with carefully, so you can extract the maximum possible value from it.

So, when using bonus money, you should still play slots with high RTPs and low volatility, plus you should still use bankroll management, which is mentioned shortly on this page about the secrets to winning on slot machines. By being intelligent with a bonus’ use, you’ll be giving yourself the best chance possible of actually winning some money.

It’s also important to pick the best online casino bonuses. There are some that have terms and conditions making them almost worthless, however there are also some out there that give you a decent no deposit bonus and a fair chance of winning some money. The main way to pick a good bonus isn’t by looking at its value, but by looking at its wagering requirements, which are explained next.

A wagering requirement will state how many times you have to wager money you’ve won before it can be withdrawn. So, if you won $10 and a bonus had wagering requirements of 35x, you’d have to make bets totalling $350 before you could withdraw. The lower the wagering requirements, the easier you’ll find it to withdraw money you win.

5. Use Bankroll Management at Online Casinos

Next up, we come to something called bankroll management, which is used by pretty much all serious gamblers. While it won’t boost your chances of winning money, it will stop you losing money as fast, making sure that there’s nearly always some money left over to head back to the casino tomorrow and play again.

Many people, especially new players, will deposit their money at an online casino, and then spend it all in minutes. They’ll add $200 and then play for $10 a spin, and they wonder why they’ve lost their money so quickly. It’s simply because they can’t afford to get through a less successful period.

Experienced gamblers know this though. So, if they have $200 to spend, they’ll only allow themselves to gamble with $20 of it. Instead of playing for $10 a spin, they’ll play for 10p a spin. Sure, they won’t give themselves the chance to win as much, but they’ll be protecting themselves from losing too much as well. This means that they’ve got money left over tomorrow, and the day after, adjusting their budget accordingly each day. If you limit yourself to spending 10% of your bankroll at a time, you’ll find that you’ll be depositing money far less often.

Also, don’t go crazy after you’ve scooped a win. Many people see money won essentially as free money, to do with as they please. So, they boost their bet size massively and end up losing their prize in minutes. The clever player doesn’t get carried away though, and instead protects their winnings by continuing to bet sensibly. Many will even force themselves to walk away from the game if they manage to win a certain amount of money.

Accept the Randomness of Slots

So, we’re going to say it again: if you want to know the secrets to winning on slot machines, you’ll be disappointed, as there’s no way to guarantee winning money. But why is this? Well, it’s because all online slots are controlled by something called a random number generator, which randomly selects the symbols that will spin in on the reels. So, this means that every person playing the slot will have exactly the same chances of winning.

You might be thinking that random number generators can be manipulated, meaning that there could be a chance of finding out how to beat slot machines. While it’s not impossible to manipulate a random number generator, there are things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen though. However, there are definitely some strategies to winning on slot machines. Even though there are no hard guarantees.

You’ll notice that the best casinos are all regulated by an external organisation, such as the Gambling Commission or the Malta Gaming Authority. These only give out licences to sites that prove their random number generators are fair. So, there’s no way to manipulate a random number generator at a licenced casino without the licencing body knowing. Even if a site is unlicenced though, RNGs are so complex that not many people at all would have the knowledge and the desire to manipulate them.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that you need to forget any ideas of finding out how to beat slot machines. You will see people online who claim to have the slot machine strategies needed to unlock guaranteed wins, however you should ignore them, as they’re wrong. Instead, you just need to accept that slots are completely random and nothing can be done to alter the symbols that spin in on the reels. Anyway, the randomness of slots is what makes them so exciting to play!

A Word on Slot “Systems”

If you look online, you’ll find many websites claiming that they have the slot tricks you need in order to guarantee prizes. They might say that there’s a way to order your bets correctly, or they could say that there’s a way to recognise a slot that’s about to pay out. The thing is though, they’re all wrong. There are no slot machine tricks to guarantee wins while you play.

If you come across a website claiming to offer the secrets to winning on slot machines, please ignore it, and certainly don’t pay any money for those secrets to be revealed to you. Instead, just head to your casino, pick a slot with a high RTP and reasonable volatility, bet the correct amount, use every bonus offer wisely and protect your bankroll – that’s all you can do to boost your chances of winning a little more.

Test Slots by Playing for Free First

There’s something else we’d recommend that you do – play slots for free at this website. While it won’t allow you to learn how to beat slot machines, it will give you the chance to test out different games and pick the ones you enjoy best. The result? You won’t find yourself wasting money playing online slot machines that you actually don’t enjoy that much.

We have a massive selection of free slots at this site, ready for you to play without having to deposit a penny. What’s more, you won’t need to sign up either. These slots are exactly the same as their real money counterparts, so you can see if you enjoy the game and, if you do, you can then head to a casino we recommend and start playing for real money.

Slots Don’t Hold Any Secrets – So Enjoy Them!

The most important thing to take away from this page about how to win on slot machines is this: there is no way to guarantee that you’ll walk away with a prize when you play. Slots are completely random, and there’s nothing you can do to change how likely they are to spin in a jackpot.

There are, however, a few things you can do to boost your chances of winning. For example, you can take advantage of bonus offers, use intelligent bankroll management and also pick the slots that have the best RTPs to optimise your wagering. Ultimately though, you just have to accept the fact that slots are random and learn to enjoy this aspect of them, celebrating the wins when they arrive and accepting that losing spins are just part of the experience.