Play Real Money Slots Online – January 2021. We've picked out the greatest online casinos where you can play slots for real money. Each site has been handpicked by our readers as the best sites for slot machine players, with high payouts, big first deposit bonuses and hundreds of free spins to be had. Where to Play Slots Free with Bonus Codes. If you're no stranger to virtual slot games with 100% free bonus offers, forego the rest of this no deposit slots guide and dive straight into our directory of no deposit casinos (with and without bonus codes) that accept players from your location.

Free Online Slots – No Download Or Registration Required

Wheel Of Fortune

A staple of the Las Vegas Strip, now free to play online! In the Wheel of Fortune slot, you have 720 ways to win every spin. And two bonus games—the Mini Wheels and the Triple Extreme Spin—keep those multipliers rolling in. Try today!

Quick Hits Slot

The Quick Hits slot features FOUR bonus games for nonstop excitement. You might’ve seen this one at Bally’s Las Vegas, where it’s made instant millionaires. Now you can get in on all the action from the comfort of home. Get your quick fix of Quick Hits today!

Cleopatra

One of the most exciting rulers of Ancient Egypt is the inspiration behind one of the casino’s most iconic games: the Cleopatra Slot. It’s no coincidence that she’s the most powerful symbol in the game, triggering the bonus feature that delivers tons of coins. Try for free today!

Golden Wolves

Michael Jackson

Monopoly Slot

Divine Fortune Slot

Triple Red Hot 777 Slot

Da Vinci Diamonds Slot

Lobstermania 2 Slot

The traps are set, now it’s time to pull in those wins like you’re Lucky Larry himself. This slot is like a staycation, with a beach setting and three jackpots, including the motherlode! Hit the ocean and start chasin’ crustacean in Lobstermania 2 for free today.

Above, you’ll find a selection of free slots that you’ll likely recognize if you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas Strip.

These are the tried-and-true favorites. From Monopoly to Cleopatra, these are loved at both online and land-based casinos for their exciting gameplay, unique themes, and incredible winning potential.

Playing free slots online is one of the best ways to try out these popular titles and practice your strategy. Many players also enjoy free play to relax and experience casino fun risk-free.

Where To Play Online Slots?

Free Slot Machines

The fastest and easiest way to play online slots is to find free slot machines. Of course, this page features 10 of the best free online slot machines that you can enjoy right now.

But this isn’t the only site that hosts free slot machines. Thousands of sites host a free version of some of the most popular titles in the world. In fact, if there’s a slot you played at a casino that you’d like to revisit, a simple web search would likely pull up the free version.

You can play free slots via your desktop or mobile browser. These streaming versions of the game require nothing more than a click, and you can start playing. Another option is to play free slots apps, and many exist in both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store for Android.

The reason people play free slot machines is for a variety of reasons. The most common is simply for entertainment. Like some would play mobile games like Candy Crush or Words with Friends, fans of slot machines like to play the free versions every now and again.

Another good reason is to practice on the free version and take what you learn to the paid version. The goal is to get more wins or improve your Return to Player (RTP).

Legal Online Casinos

Legal online casinos with paid slots only exist in a few US states:

• Delaware

After recent changes in legislation, online casinos will soon launch in Michigan. If you’re not physically located in one of those states, playing real-money online slots is technically breaking the law. At the very least, the online casino operators are violating the law by offering their games to people in the state.

However, the consistent introduction of online gambling legislation in states across the country means that list may grow beyond these five states in the future.

In states where online casinos are legal, you can deposit money, bet on the slots, and withdraw any winnings. Like the brick-and-mortar casinos, the most popular slots at the online casinos have progressive jackpots, which can grow to over a million dollars.

You can also play any of the slots at online casinos for free in “demo mode,” where you’re using practice credits instead of real money. You can often do this before you even create an account.

Sweepstakes Casinos – Slots For Cash Prizes

In all of the US except for the State of Washington, you can legally play at sweepstakes casinos, a category of social gaming that also includes online poker and sports picks. This is a great option in states like California, Florida, and Texas, where real money online casinos are prohibited.

The two main sweepstakes casinos are Chumba Casino and LuckyLand. Both offer a large selection of slots that you can play for two different types of currencies: Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins.

Gold Coins are used simply for fun and can’t be redeemed for a cash prize or gift card. However, you can also play in Sweeps Coins. Any Sweeps Coins that you win can be redeemed for cash prizes or gift cards. You just need to have the minimum number of won Sweeps Coins before you can redeem.

To receive Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, no purchase is required. Once you join, you’re given both types of coins for free to play with. You can also purchase additional Gold Coins. Some Gold Coin packages of include Sweeps Coins.

Check this out to learn more about How To Play Sweepstakes Casinos.

How To Play Slots For Fun Online

Playing free online slots is the same as playing paid online slots, minus the need to deposit any money or even create an account. That’s why playing slots for fun online is free in every US state, including the State of Washington.

You can play any type of slot for free. This includes classic three-reel slots as well as 3D five-reel slots with immersive bonus games and other special features.

The gameplay, including the odds of winning, is the exact same between the free slots and the paid slots. However, if the slot normally has a progressive jackpot, that will be absent from the free version.

Do you need to sign up or deposit to play free online slots?

No. And, in most cases, there’s no way to create an account much less make a deposit.

However, some land-based casino websites, which do offer player accounts, have free online slots on their website. This came into even more prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can you win playing free online slots?

Yes. Just like in the paid version, you can win without limits on the free online slots. But what you win is additional freeplay credits, and refreshing the web browser will reset your bankroll.

How Do Slots Work?

Slots are by far the most popular casino game for a few key reasons:

• Huge winning potential
• The option to play for low or high stakes
• The gameplay is extremely simple

Once you know the basics of slots, you’ll be able to play any type that you’ll come across. While each title can seem wildly different, they all work in fundamentally the same way.

The object of a slot machine is for a winning combination of symbols to appear when the reels stop. This is true whether it’s a three-reel or a five-reel slot.

Setting Paylines

A winning combination of symbols is based on paylines that run across the reels. A slot can have as few as five paylines or over a hundred.

Usually, the symbol combinations are left to right across the paylines, and each payline can win independently. That means the more paylines you play, the higher your chances of scoring a payout.

In slots, wins are multipliers, not set amounts. So if you’re playing a slot with 25 paylines and your total wager is $5.00, each payline would have a value of $0.20. If one scored a 100x multiplier, you’d win $20.

To play all paylines for the highest possible value, you can select “Max Bet.”

Should You Always Do Max Bet?

No. You should always play with however much you’re able to lose.

However, playing max bet does two things: gives you the best chance of winning the highest possible prizes.

Further, you may need to play Max Bet to qualify for certain prizes, including the progressive jackpot. Check the rules of the specific slot to make sure.

Slot Payback (AKA Return to Player)

A slot’s payback is how much a player can expect to keep of their bankroll based on the average net wins. This is also known as Return to Player (RTP). A high slot payback is 90% or higher, and a low slot payback is 70%.

No slot has an average lifetime payback that’s equal to or greater than 100%. However, some players seek out the games with the highest RTP to ensure the highest chances of regular wins. Others prefer the longshot slots, which have the lowest RTP but normally the highest potential prizes.

Bonus Features

A slot’s biggest selling point aside from the jackpot, RTP, and overall theme are the bonus features. These are usually triggered when three or more “scatter” symbols appear on the reels. You then have the opportunity to win more money, either through free spins, a minigame, or selecting a hidden prize.

Wild Symbols

The Wild symbol usually best matches the theme of the game. For example, Cleopatra is the Wild symbol in the Cleopatra slot.

Wild symbols can take the place of any other symbol aside from the scatter (and possibly other specialty symbols) to create winning combinations. Five wild symbols will often trigger the top prize fixed jackpot.

Progressive Jackpot Slots

When a slot has a progressive jackpot, it means a portion of every bet placed by everyone playing the slot contributes to a running total. The total progressive jackpot continues to increase as people play until it’s won by a lucky player, then it’s reset and starts again.

How to win a progressive jackpot depends on the slot. In some cases, it’s simply randomly awarded at the end of a spin, and you may need to “Bet Max” to qualify. Others will involve a bonus game.

Different Types Of Slot Machines

Because slots are always innovating, it’s difficult to create a list of the different types. Instead, let’s look at the key factors that separate one slot from another.

Number Of Reels

Three-reel slots are usually the simplest, where one payline runs across a maximum of three symbols.

Five-reel slots are the most common and can range from a handful of paylines to 743 All-Ways-Pays slots, which covers every possible combination of symbols going up and down and left to right across the reels.

Four-reel, six-reel, seven-reel, and other slots are pretty much nonexistent in physical casinos but you can find some online relatively easily.

Video Vs. 3D Slots

Video slots are the most common form of five-reel slots and often feature bonus and free spin features. 3D slots are the same, except they use 3D animation and graphics whereas video slots use 2D.

Denominations

Penny slots earned their name by allowing players to bet with just $0.01. But some slots can cost a minimum of $1.00 per spin, and betting the max can make your overall wager climb to as high as $125 or more.

Volatility

When a slot is labeled low volatility, it means it pays out low wins regularly. When it’s labeled high volatility, it means you’ll often go for several spins without winning, but the winning streaks are often larger when they do come.

Coin Play Vs. Paylines

Coin play means you’re simply setting the coin value that applies to the multiplier wins. Some variations, called Buy-Your-Pay Slots, won’t allow you to win certain amounts or activate certain features unless you increase your coin value.

Paylines are either fixed or variable. For both, you set the value of each individual payline, and multiplier wins apply to that payline. But with variable paylines, you can set the number of lines you want to play as well as their value. With fixed paylines, you automatically play all of them.

How To Play Slot Machines

Brick-And-Mortar Casinos

The most common place to play slots is at a land-based casino. In most states, casinos are either commercially operated or tribal-owned and located on Native American lands.

The ten states that do not have any land-based casinos are:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Georgia
• Utah
• Nebraska
• Kentucky
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• Vermont

The highest concentration of casinos and slot machines in the United States can be found in Las Vegas, Nevada. And not only that, it’s also where you can find the largest jackpots of all time. In fact, the top six biggest casino wins ever were all on Vegas slots.

Another major hotspot is Atlantic City, New Jersey, where several casinos operate in close proximity. But if you live in the continental United States, there’s a good chance that there’s a casino with over a hundred slot machines within driving distance.

Why are slots the most popular game at the casino?

Slots can make up 75% or more of a casino’s total gambling revenue. That means the rest comes from all table games and poker tables combined. Why? Because slots are fun, attractive, and can turn relatively low wagers into multi-million-dollar payouts.

The Most Popular Slots Offer The Highest Payouts

It should come as no surprise that the easiest way to get people to play a slot is by offering an enormous potential jackpot.

Enter the slots area of a Las Vegas casino, and you’ll find dozens of options with a top prize that can be well into the millions. All it takes is one single spin to win it all. That’s hard to resist.

So it’s no wonder that the progressive jackpots are the most popular. The most talked-about usually is.

Free Online Slots FAQ

Yes. No matter where you’re located in the US, it is completely legal to play free slots online.

Because you’re playing with demo credits rather than real money, it’s not considered gambling. And if you download a free slots mobile app, you don’t even need an internet connection to play.

Yes, you can win real money playing slots online. However, you’ll need to be in one of the three states (DE, NJ, and PA) where it’s legal to win money legally. Michigan and West Virginia will soon offer legal online gambling as well.

To win cash prizes, anyone located in the US (except for the State of Washington) can legally play at sweepstakes casinos, which have a wide range of online slot machines.

You can also play free slots using demo credits that cannot be redeemed for prizes right here at bonus.com and elsewhere.

No. You do not need to create an account to play free slot games online. Even if you’re playing in demo mode at an online casino, you can often simply go to the site and select “play for fun.” Only online casinos and sweepstakes casinos require signup to play.

No. You do not need to download anything to play free online slots. The titles are instantly available directly through your web browser. However, there are a number of free slots on your phone whether on your Android or iOS device.

Yes. Most of the popular Las Vegas slots are available to play for free online. That’s because a lot of the gaming software developers provide their titles to both brick-and-mortar casinos as well as online casinos. Plus, the demand for the most popular options make them particularly readily available.

Yes. Because you do not have to create an account, you’re not providing any of your personal information. Unsafe slots are those run by illegal online casinos that take your payment information. Free slots are always completely safe simply because they don’t accept real money.

The benefits of playing free slots include:

• The ability to play simply for the fun of it.
• Testing a game to see if you like it.
• Practicing strategy before risking real money.
• Placing huge bets that you otherwise wouldn’t want to do.

Before you start to play online slots for real money, there are a few things to know before chancing your luck or spinning random slot machines without a clue of what’s needed to win the real money playing the slot machines – you know, withdrawable cash you can transfer to your bank balance?

When you play online slots at a real casino, you’re not playing on some random mobile app imitating a real money casino. Real money slots are engineered with precision and tested for randomness. The randomness is what gives online slots players the thrill… and the slot machine will be much easier on the eyes as they’re designed to keep people gambling at online casinos. The allure of being able to win real money instead of fictional coins is what the buzz is about.

Spinning the reels on the games for real money repeatedly, accruing some progressive wins, the occasional big money win, but more so, regular smaller sums of money that keep you spinning real money from your main account balance on some of the best online slots. Real money, USA casinos have no shortage of games to play slots for real money with some terrific jackpots up for grabs.

In fact, some of the best online casino gaming sites have thousands of players online simultaneously, affording them the ability to let players win real money playing in tournaments that drop big prizes by the hour. Yes… hourly jackpot slot machines can be found at some of the nation’s best online casino platforms that have a good chance for players to win real money, occasionally from a free bonus, on slots, and without having to continually deposit.

Top Online Casinos For Real Money Slots

There is a knack to playing slot games to keep your real money balance in your account net positive! It just takes a little strategic planning on occasion to keep it that way by playing with bonus money online, spread across multiple casino platforms. Most have the same slot machines anyway so it doesn’t make a difference where you play. You can win real money playing at any online casino, but you’ll have a far better chance with the more popular ones that can afford to dish out bonuses more frequently.

The key thing to remember is to keep things fun!

The reels on the online slot games are based on pure luck due to the random nature of online slots at casinos. However, with dozens of casinos with hundreds of real money slots available to play 24/7, all vying for your custom by giving away bonuses and free spins, you can spin at plenty of places with the house’s money to win real money that goes right into your withdrawable balance.

Letting players play slots with free bonus funds is how the casino attracts customers. The catch with every real money casino is that you need to wager multiple times what they give you as play money to try to win real money before you can withdraw it.

Unless that is, you win real money online playing the slots, in which case, you can withdraw it, or consider it free play using your winnings to spin the slot machines for longer.

It is possible to meet the wagering requirements of bonus funds as most slot machines contribute 100% of your stakes to your wagering requirements. By using more of the casino money in your bonus funds, you can play games for real instead of the free spins in demo play. To get your real money balance into a healthy state where you can withdraw after meeting wagering requirements… that’s going to take a little know-how and that’s what’s covered here.

What’s Covered in This Guide for Playing on Real Money Casinos

• Understanding the types of online casinos (Fiat/regular casinos online and bitcoin/cryptocurrency casinos )
• The types of bonuses offered by casinos that usually contribute 100% to your wagering requirements
• The different types of jackpots there are
• How to figure what your actual chances are of winning real money is at an online casino and/or land free games on slots online (RTP and game volatility)
• The biggest software developer names in the gambling industry – knowing these lets you play online slots made by the same company sharing the same progressive jackpots.
• Tips for keeping your gaming fun, thrilling and rewarding + hopefully, a profitable pastime too!
• Useful tips to keep gambling safe when you’re playing at some of the best online casinos that know the right psychological triggers to press that make sure you’ll be happy to come back to spin the reels again. Familiarize yourself with the Responsible Gaming tools casinos provide before you start playing online slots in real-play mode!

Discover Where the Real Action is With Online Slots

Online slots are one of the most misunderstood forms of gambling because there’s really no strategy you can use to try to game a casino. Everything spin comes down to luck.

Better yet, the randomness of online slots is transparent. You can click into the slot games information and see the RTP (return to player) and the payout win lines as well as get explanations on how the jackpot features are triggered in addition to the in-game features of each online slot. Some are triggered randomly, others by landing three or more scatter symbols.

A slot machine with more features triggers more frequently. These types of slot machines are referred to as low volatility slot games and are best suited to casual gamblers who want to keep playing real money for longer. If you play slots with lower volatility, the wins are small but incremental. Higher volatility slot games have fewer features, triggering less frequently but pay higher winnings. These are better suited to high-rollers.

And yes, similar to brick and mortar casinos, it is possible to become a whale at the online slots, spinning huge amounts per spin to win big. That’s the riskiest play method on slot machines but the win – real life-changing these prizes can be. More on this to come…

The gist of managing your casino balance when you start playing online slots is to understand how the slot machines work. As much as it’s down to luck, there’s a higher chance of continuing to win real withdrawable payouts when you play different slot games, at the same casino, and preferably with bonus funds available to give you a higher probability of landing a win.

The more you know about the video slot games before you play real money, the better equipped you’ll be to win real money. Online casino players have a huge selection of slot machine games with various volatility. To win money playing the games, it sure helps to know a thing or two about the RTPs, progressive jackpots, bonus features, and random mystery features that can be triggered within almost all of the online slot machines.

As is the case with all slot-based casino games, it’s not a case of staking higher to win bigger. The core challenge is staying on the slot games long enough to trigger the in-game feature. The vast majority, if not all the real money slots have at least one feature.

The fun really begins when the bonus features are triggered.

Some online slot games trigger a bonus feature when you land three or more bonus symbols, whereas others can have the bonus feature AND additional free games that can trigger by landing three or more scatter symbols. There are also random features on some slots, which is, as it sounds, random. It can happen on any spin and multiple times per session.

Some of the Leading Software Companies Behind Real Money Slots

Before playing real money at any casino, online or offline, it’s handy to know the biggest players in the industry. These are the companies that make the slot games, and the more slot machines and games they have in their portfolio, (most of which contribute towards jackpots), the more players there are, meaning more money is being staked. The more players play online slots, the more contributions go into the jackpot prize fund. The most popular slots online are the ones the majority of people gambling on slots continually play because they keep the real money balance of their accounts funded with smaller wins.

A list of the best-known slot machine game developers:

• Realtime Gaming (RTG)
• BetSoft
• Rival Gaming
• Saucify
• WGS Technology (WGS)
• Vista Gaming
• Endorphina
• Slotland

For a site to be considered among the best online gambling sites, many of their online slots will be from the list above.

Whenever you load a slot game at an online casino, while the game loads, you’ll notice they are branded not just by the casino but by the software company. An online casino only host slot games. Software developers make the games and license them to the casino. That’s why you’ll find the same slot machines to wager real money on at multiple casino gaming sites. That being said, some real money casinos do have exclusive games.

An online casino can white-label slot games from developers that let them host the games exclusively with their branding for only their own customers to play online at the casino. With most slots online though, branding is for the software company. This is how players become more familiar with the names behind the games, rather than the casinos where they can deposit to play games for real money.

Pay attention to the online slot games you like to play because many of the slot machine games are similar in style and the number of features they have too. If you like a game by RTG, chances are, you’ll like to play the other online slots made by the same company. Likewise, you may find yourself playing BetSoft games, which most are considered higher volatility – a term you’ll learn about shortly…

Before that…

Real Money Vs. Free to Play Slots in Demo Play Mode

Both free to play slots and pay-to-play slots for real money at an online casino are designed for entertainment purposes. The price you’re paying on the real money slots; think of it as a premium for an enhanced gaming experience, but with a chance of winning real money instead of fantasy coins.

Playing online slots at a real online casino is far different from the types of slot imitation machines you can download to your phone that mimics free gambling slots. When you play online slots, the graphics are far superior and you can, at most online casinos anyway, access the demo play mode.

Demo play accounts are there to give you a little taste of what the game is like before you play for real money.

Now, in demo mode, you can play online slot machines using fantasy seed money to let you test the waters. The money in the balance is not real, neither is the money you win in demo play.

The minimum stakes on demo play mode are higher than the minimum stake you’d start with when you play online slot machines. This is likely to show you the bigger prizes possible. Just remember to do the math as it’s unlikely you’ll spin for the same per stake when you’re playing real money online.

To calculate the reduced winnings of casino games before you play real money with a reduced wager on the same slot machine, work out what the multiple of your win was by dividing the amount won by the amount staked.

As an example, spinning slots online in demo play mode at $20 per spin that pays out $300 is equal to a 15x stake win. (300 / 20). After playing in demo mode, if you liked the look of the online slot and wanted to play real money from your main balance, the demo wins aren’t really representative of what you’d likely win when wagering real money playing slot machines.

In the games for real money, using the same example used earlier of a 15x win but with a much lower stake of $0.50, the $300 win on a higher stake would reduce to 15x $0.50, which would be $7.50. Not quite the big money wins you may have expected. In that respect, the demo games are part of marketing.

When you calculate the money won in demo play and work out what multiple of the stake it was, you’re able to determine what the slot machine is likely to pay when you play real money. It’s just a multiple of your initial stake.

Naturally, the demo plays are there to entice players to play for real money, which is why there are higher stakes – they show you the higher wins – if you land them.

On that note, even the best online casinos cannot prevent players from going overboard by overdoing it on the wagering. While the games are designed for entertainment, there is a risk of them becoming too entertaining that it can lead to problem gambling.

Problem gamblers, despite being wildly profitable for the casino, are just as much a problem for the business and most will do what they can to help their customers stay in control.

They can’t do it all though. The best protection requires both the casino and the player to work together. Most casinos have “responsible gaming” policies, although the tools provided do differ depending on the real money casino you play at. A rundown of what’s available is provided later, but for now..,

Take heed of these…

5 Things That Can Help You Continually Feel Excited on the Real Money Slots Instead of Stressing Over Losses

Slots Play With Real Money

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Game Controls

This sounds face-palming obvious, but you’ll quickly notice when you load any online slots games, the stake is not set to the minimum.

Some do; most don’t.

If you fire on the auto-spin function that’s available on most slot casino games, you could be wagering more than you’re comfortable with, only noticing when you see your balance drop faster than you expected.

When you’re playing online slots for real money, pay particular attention to the stakes if you’re using the auto-spin function. Some slots online have multiple menus that can make it tricky to see what your stake is, although you can set your loss limit relatively easily. Staking higher just means you’re more likely to reach your loss limit faster.

Make sure you look at the “total bet” amount and not the stake per line. Slot machines are multi-line games. Spinning at $1 per line can be a total bet of $15 or upwards.

2. Don’t underestimate the power of breaks

When you’re on a winning streak, it’s easy to keep going. Keep an eye on your time, because online slots are designed to immerse players – keeping them spinning the reels on the slot machine. If you can keep your bankroll healthy, you could easily spend hours at a time.

3. Never push your luck too far

Anyone to have ever won huge wins on real money slots is likely to be a long-term player. It’s extremely rare for someone brand new to online slots to hit a huge jackpot win. Long term gamblers have ups and downs. Throughout history, people have won huge sums at casinos. The vast majority put it right back.

If you’ve hit a dry run for a while, and then find the reels on the casino games start flashing, alarms ringing, features triggering galore… it’s only natural you’ll think – about darn time! The money you put in is finally coming back.

Know this though…

A few decent wins can be just the incentive for you to push your luck too far and continue spinning on the hopes of winning a jackpot. There’s a higher likelihood you’ll drain your real money balance before that happens. And winning it back, don’t even try. Chasing losses is when gambling starts to become a problem.

Some you win, some you lose. Only bet what you can afford. Never with the need to win real money. Always remember, at the heart of online gaming, it’s entertainment.

4. Maximize the Casino Money to Boost Your Chances

The majority of online casinos have their ways to keep players coming back to spin the slots online. That can include free spins, bonus play, cashback, loyalty programs, and cash match bonuses among other specials run periodically. The more online casinos you’re registered with, the more offers you’ll get. That can be a good and a bad thing, depending on how well you manage your account (s), including your personal finances.

5. Never, Ever… Spin Drunk!

Gamblers aren’t known for their rational decision making. They could be gambling on a $0.50 stake, lose $100, then decide to spin 20 times at $5 stakes to win back the initial $100 loss that could then double the losses.

The intoxicated gambler is a different beast completely. Rational thinking goes out the window, and the bank card gets swapped for a credit card. On that note, if you can’t afford to play real money online – don’t! Don’t play with other people’s money either because you can land in a lot of debt if it gets out of control.

The simplest way to keep things within your control is to keep your wits about and you do that by only playing the real money slots when you aren’t necking glasses of your favorite drink or throwing back shots.

Always remember that it is real money online casinos are spinning the reels with.

A good casino games session is one that doesn’t actually cost you, in other words, you win back at least what you put in. Even better is to win real money from the free play that can be used to play slots online without needing to deposit.

One way to keep your deposits to a minimum is to understand how to maximize your play money by using the casinos’ bonus offers.

All About Deposit Bonuses

Every real money casino has incentives for new and existing customers. More so for new customers but they have loyalty programs to care of their regulars too.

Bonuses are never free money though. Think of them like coupons you can use only at that casino.

A Quick List of the Best Online Bonuses to Win Real Money at the Casinos Without Consistently Needing to Deposit

1. Cash Match Bonuses

A cash match bonus is expressed as a percentage and is often 100% of your first deposit. There will be a ceiling on these offers because, without them, you could, in theory, deposit thousands, take it back, and play with the casino bonus funds to win big on the real money slots. That would not be profitable for the casino!

100% matched deposits are often limited to between $300 to $600. In addition, some online casinos can have tiered matched bonuses where they’ll match your first deposit entirely, 50% on your second deposit and a lower cash match on your third deposit.

Each offer will always have a ceiling limit attached to it.

Look for the “Opt-In”n button before you deposit for the first time at any real money casino. Some can be sneaky by making them tricky to find with no notices on the deposit page telling you about promotions you could be eligible for.

When an opt-in is required, you will forfeit the cash match bonus if you don’t opt-in and likewise, if you need to use a code when depositing, find it and use it, or you’re most likely going to lose it. To win real money online by gambling on a slot machine, make sure you take advantage of bonuses consistently. Once you start spending money online at a casino regularly, they often give you free games. Granted, it may only be ten to twenty spins on minimum stakes, but it can help you get funds into your main balance to continue playing for real money online.

2. No Deposit Bonuses

Very few of the better-known gaming casinos offer no deposit bonuses because they are one the most expensive promotions for them to run. When you’re likely to see these are with new casinos as they have a goal of increasing the number of players registering.

These offers will have the strictest terms attached to them, and one of those is usually a really high wagering requirement. It’s more likely a no deposit bonus will require you to wager 60x to 100x the bonus. In practice, a $20 no deposit bonus could see you needing to stake $1,200 to $2,000 before you can withdraw.

Other types of bonuses can have the option of cashing out winnings you’ve won on the real money slots using the bonus funds, on the condition of forfeiting the remaining bonus balance. There’s really only one scenario when you would want to forfeit a bonus and that’s if you win a decent amount of money online from gambling.

Some of the online casinos will always wager your real balance first, and when that account is empty, it’ll then use your bonus funds for gambling at the casino. Bonus funds are always handy to save you from having to deposit.

Naturally, if you win a decent amount of real money online, (meaning, your winnings actually go to your main balance), at any casino and you’re going to have to lose it before you can use your bonus funds, you’d be as well cashing out and getting rid of the bonus altogether.

3. Free Spins WITH No Deposit Bonuses

Now we’re talking!

Casinos tailor their bonuses to match the interests of the customers they want to attract to their platform. A casino with a huge amount of video slots will use the standard bonuses such as no deposit or cash match bonuses AND add on the free spins or free games option because that’s what slot players want. The free spins. It’s why the game developers include a free spins feature in a number of their games.

You’ll also have free games rewards and incentives being announced by casinos when a new game releases on the platform. These are often based on staking your real money balance on a particular slot game, such as stake $10 on [insert new video slot game name] and receive 20 free spins or a similar offer.

The free spins are usually at the lowest stake the game can be played at. Still, it is possible for the casino to award free spins and then the slots to trigger a free spin feature during the game-play.

Free spins features on the real money slots are the in-game bonus feature. Free spins awarded by the casino are only promotional and aren’t any different from gambling on the regular slots machine before the feature play triggers.

4. Sticky Bonuses

Sticky bonuses are one of the most annoying bonuses a casino can offer players because you really hard win real money. Online gaming sites have these frequently. The sticky bonuses get their name because the bonuses get stuck in your account and can never be cashed out. A non-sticky bonus has the option to withdraw the money won playing the casino games – on the condition of the remaining bonus funds being forfeited.

Sticky bonuses are mostly found with cash matches above 100%. While they can be considered disadvantageous to casual gamers, slot enthusiasts may prefer these as you can get them attached to more than your first deposit, giving you a higher bankroll to play with,. albeit, you can only play the money and can’t take it out. For that reason, they can be used to boost your gambling money without you having to deposit as frequently as you would without them. It is one that can be good or bad, depending on your gambling habits. If you want to play online slots regularly, look for cash match bonuses above 100%. When the casino’s offering to bankroll your play, they will lock their money into your account to make sure they don’t lose.

5. Buying Bonuses to Win on Free Spins

This is a different breed of bonus completely but one you will come across on an online slot with a “Feature Play” option. This is among the latest crazes for the real money slots and it has become popular among some slot players as it lets them forego the grind of constantly spinning on the hopes of triggering a bonus. Instead, you can skip right ahead and buy the bonus feature.

The cost to buy a bonus feature is usually 30-50 times your stake… In other words, the equivalent of spinning the reels thirty times at least.

However, buying a bonus does not guarantee you’ll win more than your stake. You could buy a bonus feature on a Feature Play slots machine for $100 and only win $20. You could also win a lot more, especially on the bonus features on Megaways ^TM slots as those have cascading wins and multipliers too.

Depending on how much of a bonus you can get, it is possible on some casinos to wager your bonus funds on Feature Play games, at least letting you trigger the feature to see just how much it will pay. As with all bonuses, check the Terms and Conditions as you may find Feature Games that tilt the odds too favorably could be excluded. As you can imagine, being able to buy bonuses with bonus funds could open the Feature Play games to abuse by players. The casinos only offer bonuses to let their players continue playing. If some players only log in for ten minutes, grab a bonus, buy a feature, win and cash out, it’d lose them a lot of money.

Which is why you really need to…

Understand the Restrictions Attached to Bonuses

With every bonus a casino gives you, there will be terms attached. They’re not always made clear and you do sometimes have to click on the terms and conditions link and search the page for the keyword “wagering” because every bonus has a wagering requirement.

About Wagering Requirements

Online casinos have a huge range of games, including table games, roulette, and poker. Most casinos will have restrictions on wagering requirements that stipulate the percentage of your wagering that contributes to your bonus requirements. These are often 100% on the real money slots, but for table games, some can be completely excluded and others only contributing a percentage of your stake, such as 20%.

With most bonuses, whether it’s a no deposit bonus, a cash match, or a sticky bonus, it’s often better to play on the real money slots as those are where you’ll be contributing 100% of your stakes towards the bonus requirements.

Depending on the casino, some of the winnings may be cashed out, but in doing so, you’d forfeit any remainder of your bonus balance. Having a separate bonus play balance with real money winnings transferred to your main balance can let you withdraw some or all of your winnings and leave your deposit funds intact.

Once you know what you can and can’t do with your bonus balance, then it’s a case of finding the best type of slot machine to use the funds to give the best chance of winning real money you can cash out.

For that, a little math comes in handy…

RTP And Volatility on Real Money Slots

When you’re playing for real money, one thing you’ll definitely want to gauge is how risky any slot machines are that you’re considering playing before you start spinning. It’s on the top of the list of things to check before you play.

This is how you can get some insight into the volatility of a game…

RTP stands for Return to Player and it’s just one way to measure the volatility of a real money slot. On slots games, the RTP is represented as a percentage and is mostly above 90% with some of the highest RTP slots offering up to 99% RTP. A couple of these high return slots are Playtech’s Ugga Bugga slot machine and Net Entertainment’s (NetEnt), 3-reel, 5-line slot – Mega Joker.

When you join a casino, it can be helpful to make a list of games that have low volatility and high volatility. Granted, list-making isn’t exactly fun, but when it comes to strategy, it should help you decide which slots to play based on the bankroll you have available.

In terms of what’s considered good and bad for RTP, 94% and higher is reasonable. Anything short of 90% for a real money slot at an online-only casino, is likely to be considered by their regulars as ludicrous and so the slot would likely be discontinued because nobody would play the thing.

That’s until you bring variance into the equation – or volatility as it’s otherwise referred to – and this is where things get tricky, but it’s also the part that adds to the buzz of spinning the reels on real money slots.

If you were to go with RTP alone, it won’t thrill you to know that for every $100 you throw at a slot, you’ll get less than that back.

What’s the point?

Variance is the point and this is a reference to how frequently a machine pays. Real money slots are not programmed to return $95 or thereabouts to players for every $100 played. Instead, the RTP is spread across an infinite number of spins, which could be in the billions. Even spinning the reels 5,000 times will not guarantee you’d get the exact RTP. You won’t. It’s impossible. For that reason, you need to understand the variance factor as it’s this that contributes to how frequently a machine pays out.

• High volatility slots tend to pay out less frequently but with bigger wins.
• Low volatility slots will pay more frequently but with less high wins.

Which is Best?

Top Online Slots Real Money

Neither or both as it’s a matter of preference, or, going with your mood on the day. Some prefer to stick with slots paying frequently, despite the winnings being lower. It’s always a thrill to win. To win big though, that’s going to be on the higher volatility slots with a low(er) RTP.

The Types of Jackpots You Can Win on Real Money Slots

To add even more of a buzz to the real money slots, some of the leading games developers link their games together to include a jackpot feature. Others integrate a jackpot feature similar to the bonus play that pays more frequently to multiple winners.

• Progressive Jackpot

The progressive jackpot is a huge draw for casino players, despite the odds of landing a jackpot being relatively low! Still, though, you aren’t, or shouldn’t be, paying just to participate because the chance of landing a progressive is slim, which is why the prize money is so high.

Progressive jackpots could be considered as an inclusive side bet. You spin the slot as normal to have the chance of landing any payout, and if you happen to be lucky enough to trigger the jackpot, it’s a massive bonus! In terms of the amount of money you can win playing slots, prizes from progressive jackpots top the list of the biggest prizes available.

The ones best to avoid are those like Aztec’s millions by Real Time Gaming (RTG) that’s been advertising one of the biggest progressive jackpots since 2009 and over a decade later, it hasn’t paid out once. This is a 5-reel, 25-line slot that costs, wait for it… $5 minimum stake. On a slot like this, you’re literally only chasing the jackpot. You’re either going to get really, really lucky and get rich super fast, or you’ll go bust really, really fast, trying to win big.

Progressive jackpots are often divided with a smaller amount paid hourly, a larger pot being won daily and the biggest progressive won very rarely.

• Mystery Jackpots (That aren’t really a mystery)

A number of gaming companies include what they call a mystery jackpot feature, despite the prizes being shown on the screen. Usually, three to four possible prizes, including a mini jackpot, minor jackpot, major jackpot, and the grand jackpot prize pots. The prizes are always a fixed multiple of your stake.

Spinning a $1 stake can have a mini jackpot of $30.00, a major jackpot of $100.00, and the grand jackpot of $1,000. The only mystery there is about these is which one you’ll win.

On real money slots with a mystery jackpot feature, you only need to land one jackpot symbol to be guaranteed a prize. The higher the stake, the higher the wins become. Staking higher doesn’t tilt the odds. It just increases the possible payouts.

How to Win on the Real Money Slots

Face it, we all want to know the secret of how to win at the slots. Truth is, the real focus needs to be on not wiping out your balance.

To win at the slots, like any game, you need to be in it to win it.

More spins for less money makes your credits last longer rather than depreciate faster than you can deposit.

You can chance your luck now and then with higher stakes but you’re best to do that when you’re spinning the house’s money. Not your own money. Real money slots bonuses usually have a high wagering requirement behind them so you need to spin your bonus funds before you can withdraw. If you have thousands, you could play the real money slots with a stake you’re comfortable with. Each slot has different wagers you can choose from. Some as little as $0.10 per spin.

There are various betting strategies you can use on real money slots, but they are only that. A strategy and none will guarantee wins because it is luck you’re counting on ultimately. Even buying a bonus doesn’t guarantee you’ll get back more than you wager.

Know the Trickery of Real Money Slot Bonuses

Casual players are often incentivized to stake real money. Slots are a huge revenue stream for online casinos, capturing as much as 60% of their total profits. That’s despite paying out huge sums in winnings to players. How they make their money is because gamblers tend to win, then stake their winnings again. Until eventually, they lose.

That mindset is ingrained in players from the get-go because the vast majority of casinos offer exclusive bonuses that are effectively like free money. They can only be used on their real money slots. The catch is, you need to wager a multiple of what they give you. That’s to say that if you’re given a $100 slot bonus, there’s usually a wagering requirement attached to the offer stipulating that a multiple of your bonus must be played. In practice, a $100 real money slots bonus with a 25x wagering could need you to wager $2,500 before you’re able to cash out.

Wagering requirements can be hard to get around because you’d need to be extremely lucky to land a big win large enough to cover your wagering requirements and still leave you with a withdrawable balance. One of the most effective strategies at a new casino you’ve registered with and need to meet the wagering requirements is to play multiple real money slots focusing solely on accumulating your winnings.

How these strategy works are by taking advantage of the huge number of slots the casinos have and playing as many as you can. Given the massive choices, there is, it’s unlikely you’ll play them all, so it’s better to have a strategy going into each game for how much you’re prepared to lose, such as 10% of your account balance.

If you’re starting with a $300 bonus balance, that would be $30 on your first slot. Either lose $30 or win at least 25x + your stake. This could see you staking $0.25 per spin with a target of winning $12.50 + your stake, so you may want to leave that game once you’ve increased your $300 balance to $312.50, then try your luck on another slot. It’s much easier to accumulate lower winnings multiple times than to hit any jackpot or mystery bonus prize.

And remember, your bonuses are in your account for the time stated, usually 30-days, so you can log out of the online casino you’re playing at and you’ll have the same funds there to spin another day.