Real Money Slots – Simple Fun and Big Prizes for UK Players
Slots are the casino games where the power of online gambling comes into full force. They are simple, accessible, exciting and, on top of everything else, they offer you the chance to win huge amounts from the comfort of your home with not that big of a bet. Want to cash in on some of the perks of playing online slots for real money? Here are the best UK-licensed sites where you can do that:
- . Play Now! Welcome Bonus £100 Excellent• £88 Free Play Usable on All Slots• Proprietary Slots & Top Offers
- . Play Now! Welcome Bonus £250 Very Good• Huge First-Deposit Promotion• Top Microgaming Slot Collection
No matter which of our three suggestions for great slot casinos you choose, you’ll have many games to choose from and also some nice cash bonuses to play with. Also, at any of these three casinos, you’ll have many payment methods to choose from and the deposit process will be quick and easy. Still, if you feel that you don’t know enough about online slots and how to secure yourself the best chances to win, I’d advise you to also check out the rest of this article before you make your decision.
The Best Slot Variations at the Top Casinos
If you’ve ever visited an online casino, then you are certainly aware of the fact that each gambling site features at least a hundred different slot machines, all offering different features, bonus games, options, free spins and payouts. To make it easier on you, we’ve taken our time to narrow down the huge slot selections of our recommended casinos to the 10 best title for each.
Top 10 Real Money Slots at Our Top 3 Casinos | |
---|---|
888 Casino | Betway |
Millionaire Genie | Jurassic Park |
Gonzo’s Quest | Mega Moolah |
Starburst | The Dark Knight |
Zuma | Immortal Romance |
Twin Spin | Thunderstruck |
South Park | Avalon II |
Cleopatra | Tomb Raider |
Jack and the Beanstalk | The Twisted Circus |
Jack Hammer | Game of Thrones |
Treasure Fair | Gold factory |
The above-mentioned games are extremely popular among players, but all of them have different features that make them stand out. Next, we’re going to take a look at the features and options of online slots that separate them one from another.
Features, Themes and Options
Though there’s a huge difference between the classic land-based slots and the modern video slots, both types of games have certain features that are the same. Tweaking and modifying these features makes the slots different and offers the players something new.
- Theme: Every slot game comes with a distinct theme which is inspired by a movie, a TV show, a mythic creature or some other popular subject. It is often the theme itself that makes a player give a new slot game a try. For example, if you are a fan of the Marvel franchise, then you will surely enjoy Playtech’s slots Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, Avengers and Fantastic Four.
- Reels: Each slot machine, be it land-based or online one, has 3 or more reels which have different symbols on them. There are 2 main types of slots according to the number or reels – classic slots featuring 3 reels and video slots featuring 5 reels. Of course, the second type has way more variations and comes with way more winning opportunities.
- Paylines and Paytable: The paylines are the patterns across the reels which determine the winning combinations. If you get three or more symbols of the same type on one of those patterns, you will receive a cash amount which is determined in the game’s paytable. The number of paylines usually range from 10 to 100, but many games allow you to select the number of active paylines.
- Jackpots: Except for the standard winning opportunities which are explained in the paytable, many slots offer additional cash prizes, the biggest among which are the progressive jackpots. All slot games that feature them are called, respectively, ‘progressives’ and when you play them, a small percentage of each bet is collected in a separate pot which makes the jackpot.
- Symbols: All slot games feature around 10 different symbols on the reels which combine to make winning patterns. There are some lower-paying and some higher-paying symbols. Also, there are some special symbols, such as the wilds which substitute for all other symbols and the scatters which trigger the bonus features.
- Bonus Features: Most online slots have some additional feature except for the paylines which offers the players the chance to win more. In most cases, this feature consists of a certain number of free spins while sometimes it is some type of an additional game. Either way, these features are usually the best thing about the slot and players are always impatient to get them.
- Wilds: As I already mentioned, the wilds are slot symbols which substitute all the other symbols, except for the scatter, in most cases. There are some wilds which spread on the whole reel thus giving you better chances to win. Those are called expanding wilds and a game that features them is Starburst.
- Multipliers: Some slot games offer the so-called multipliers which activate on certain occasions. The multipliers are very profitable for the players as they increase your winnings by two, three or even more times. A slot machine that features multipliers that can grow up to x15 is Gonzo’s Quest which is developed by NetEnt.
- Re-Spins Some slots offer you an additional free spin every time a certain event occurs. These might not seem as exciting as the free spins bonus rounds as they offer you only one spin, but they do occur more often and reduce the volatility of the slots. Good examples for slot games that feature re-spins are Iron Man 3 and Starburst.
- Bet Limits: When you’re gambling online, you always want to choose a game that has limits which fit your bankroll and style of playing. All slot games have adjustable bet amounts, yet still have certain bet limits that you should take into considerations. Most minimum bets range from a penny to £5 per spin while the maximum can reach up to £3000!
- Autoplay and Quick Play: These are options that don’t impact the RTP of the game, nor give you additional opportunities to win serious amounts of cash but make the gameplay faster and easier for the player. I personally use them often, because I am always impatient to get to the bonus round. Another great use of these options is for the faster wagering of bonuses.
- Demo Mode: Also called ‘Practice Mode’, the demo mode of the game allows you to try it for play money before you bet your own money on it. It’s a precious tool for familiarising yourself with the game without so much as spending a penny. I recommend you always try a slot that is new for you first in practice mode and then for real money.
There are, of course, many other features and options that can make a slot game different from the others, but the above-mentioned ones are the most important ones. Also, some of these features are more usual for certain software providers than for others. For example, almost all NetEnt and Playtech slots have the autoplay option while most of Microgaming’s tiles don’t. This is only one of the reasons why, when you’re picking an online to play, it’s useful to know which is the software house that developed it – a topic that we’re going to cover next.
Software Providers in the Remote Casino Gaming Field
You can tell a lot about a video slot based on which is the software provider that created it. This is why it’s recommended that you know a little bit about the most popular casino developers, the top 3 among which are NetEnt, Playtech and Microgaming. Those are the companies whose game you will most often encounter at online casinos so they definitely deserve a little bit of attention. Here are short summaries of the providers and what they have to offer in terms of slots games:
Playtech Playtech have developed the most used casino platform and, therefore, theirs are the games that you will most often see at real money gaming sites. Playtech’s games are often based on famous movies or TV series such as Gladiator, Monty Python and Little Britain. But their most popular slots are the ones based on Marvel Comics: The Incredible Hulk, Avengers, Spiderman, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, X-Men and more.
NetEnt What you will first notice about NetEnt’s games is that they are of a very high quality. Especially their slot games are polished to perfection, giving you incredibly smooth animations, HD graphics, exciting 3D effects and a highly engaging gaming experience. Is quality number one priority to you? NetEnt’s slots are the ones that you should play! They are as simple and as fun as the slots developed by other providers, but they look and feel much better!
Microgaming Being the original casino software developer, Microgaming has the biggest selection of casino games you can find online. The older ones might not be of the highest quality, but boy, have they upped their game in the last couple of years with quality titles such as The Dark Knight Rises, Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones. They might not offer you the gaming experience of the highest quality but what they do have is a slot collection unmatched by others in terms of numbers.
The above-mentioned software providers offer different selections of games and, therefore, different gaming experience to the players but they have one very important thing in common: they are all licensed and regularly audited by reputable third-party testing agencies which vouch for the fairness of their games and make sure that the customers are always guaranteed the highest level of security and privacy. Therefore, when you play the slot machines created by them, you can be sure that you’re given a fair chance to win.
RNG and RTP
In order to ensure that the outcomes of the spins are completely random, the software providers use devices called Random Number Generators (RNGs) which are regularly tested by external auditing companies to make sure that they work properly. The games are always set so that in the long run there’s a minor profit for the casino and the percentage out of all the bets that they are set to go back to the player in the form of a winning is called return-to-player (RTP). In most cases, the RTP of online slots is set at around 95% which is way better than the one of land-based slot machines which can be as low as 70-80%. Yet another reason to choose online slots to real-life ones.
Download vs No Download Slots
In terms of software, there are two types of video slots: download or instant-play ones (no download slots). The former are integrated into a downloadable platform that you can install and access directly from your desktop while the latter are accessible from a browser. Both types of slots are equally fast and functional so choosing one of the two types is a matter only of personal preference.
Slots That Are Optimised for Mobile
Today, players are accessing online casinos from their mobile devices as much as they are accessing them from their computers, if not more. This is why it’s really important for an online casino operator to offer many mobile-friendly slot variations and to recently update their mobile portfolio with new and exciting titles. Still, most of the operators don’t have as many slot games that work on portable devices as they do for desktop computers, but I’m sure that this will soon change. As far as the compatibility of the game goes, most real money slots will work on your device as long as you have a relatively new version of Android or iOS. Unfortunately, there are almost no casinos that support Windows Phone and Blackberry, but either way those devices are not very popular. Want to give mobile gambling a try? Scan the QR code to try our recommended mobile casino!
Top Places to Play at and Best Slot Offers
As we already mentioned, in our humble opinion, 888 and Betway are the best places to play slots for real money on the Internet, or at least for British players, and this is mainly due to the fact that they have rich and diverse selections of casino games. But even more than that, they offer great bonus opportunities which are mainly usable on slot games. Out of the three operators, though, we are unanimous that 888 has the best offer. In fact, we’ve negotiated an exclusive welcome bonus for our readers which is equal to £50 which you will receive when you stake your first £10. Want to take advantage of our special offer? Don’t forget to use one of our links so that you are eligible for the enhanced gift!
If on the other hand, you are a fan of the free cash opportunities, then you will definitely like what 888 has in store. There, you will receive £88 in FreePlay as soon as you open your new player account and validate it by email. You will be able to use the FreePlay money on any of the hundred slot machines at the casino and keep up to £15 out of your winnings as a bonus cash. This is definitely something that not every online casino offers.
Playing Slots Online Is Fun and Safe!
Well, I think we covered all the basics that a player needs to know before they start playing real money slots at a casino site. As last words, I would like to remind you that, if you want to receive 100% safe and fair gaming experience, you have to only choose websites that are licensed by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission. Of course, our top three recommendations fulfil this requirement and on top of everything else offer great and quite unique game selections. My advice? Try them all! This way you will be able to claim not only one but three welcome bonuses which will secure you more time to play for real money for the same amount of cash deposited on your behalf!