How to Play Slots: A Beginner’s Guide

Online slots are the most popular casino games, regardless of whether you’re in an online casino or sat on a stool in a land-based venue. But despite looking simple, some people might need a little help getting started. That’s where we come in.

On this page, we’ll look at how to play casino slots, both online and in land-based casinos. We’ll run you through everything, from the first spin to the last, so you know exactly what you’re doing.

Before you start playing, don’t forget to check out our page on how to win at slot machines, to give your chances of winning a nice boost.

How to Play Slot Machines in a Casino

When you next head into a casino, you’ll probably see banks of slot machines lined up, tempting you to play with flashing lights, loud music, and promises of giant prizes.

But before settling down to play with your bucket of quarters, you must know what slots are and how to play them. So, here’s our rundown:

• Slots are games of chance – there is no skill involved.
• The goal is to line up identical symbols on paylines, which are lines (often invisible) running from left to right over the reels.
• Line up enough identical symbols on a payline, and you’ll win an instant prize.
• Many slots also have bonus features, activated by landing specific symbols on the reels. These games offer a change of pace, plus they often have the biggest prizes.
• If you win, the money is added to your available balance and can be dispensed whenever you choose.

Once you understand the basic principles of slots – essentially that you need to line up matching symbols to win money – you’re ready to go.

When in a land-based casino, you’ll usually have two payment options. First, you can grab a bucketful of change and spend this cash on the slots, inserting more money when needed.

Second, you can insert a previous payout ticket into the machine. This ticket will be loaded with funds won previously, which will then be added to the machine.

You can then start playing. To begin, you’ll need to select how much to bet. Many slots in places like Vegas and Atlantic City have a minimum bet of just $0.01. These are called penny slots, and learning how to play penny slots is exactly the same as learning to play slots of all other types. The max bet can be worth hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

Once you’ve chosen your bet, you need to choose how many paylines to have active (although, with some machines, this number is fixed). The more active paylines, the better your chances are of winning, but the more each spin will cost.

Now, you just have to hit the spin button. Watch the reels until they stop, at which point you’ll learn if you’ve won a cash prize. This happens when you line enough symbols up next to each other on a payline, usually starting from the first reel.

Have you won a prize? If so, the money is added to the balance on the slot. You can then choose to spend the money or withdraw it. While some machines still payout in cash, most now issue payout tickets. You can take these to the cashier cage to redeem them for money.

And that’s it. There’s no skill to learning how to play slots in Vegas or anywhere else on earth. Just pick a slot (there’s no way to tell which is about to pay out), sit down, and start gambling.

How to Play Slots Online

Now we move on to how to play slots online for real money, and the news here is that it’s not very different from playing slots in a land-based casino. Assuming you’ve found an online casino and created an account (or, of course, created one here at Slotomania), you just need to deposit some money and choose a slot.

There is, however, a method for choosing the best slot at online casinos. Unlike land-based casinos, online sites display each game’s RTP. The higher the percentage, the more the slot pays out on average. This means you can see which slot gives you the best chance of winning. You can then pick that slot while avoiding games with lower chances of coming out on top.

Have you picked your slot? You then load it up, choose how much to bet and, if needed, how many paylines to have active, and start spinning. As with land-based slots, you win if you land specific combinations of symbols on the reels.

One important note about online slots is this: they often have more bonus features than land-based slots. These bonus features can include:

• Wilds: Symbols that can substitute for other symbols on the reels.
• Multipliers: These increase prizes by a set amount. For example, a 2x multiplier will double what you win.
• Respins: These give you another spin of the reels for free, often with previous winning symbols held in place.
• Free Spins: This bonus gives you free spins of the reels. They usually have additional features, such as sticky wilds or ever-increasing multipliers.
• Second-Screen Bonuses: These take you to a new screen where you play a bonus game. These can be anything from picking games to games where you make your way along a path, winning prizes. Some are simple, others are more complex, but nearly all rely on luck, not skill.

But what happens when you win money at an online slot? Instead of paying you in cash or a payout ticket, the money will be added to your online casino account. You can then choose to withdraw that using any available payout method.

Playing Slots on Slotomania

Are you looking for a free way to play slots online, as opposed to real money slots?
If so, Slotomania is perfect for you!

To get started, just create a free account using your email, choose a password, confirm your age, and you’re done!

Initially, you’ll find a small selection of online slots available, but don’t worry – you’ll unlock plenty more. You’ll level up as you play – the more you level up, the further you advance along the Level Road. And when you get to specific waypoints, you’ll unlock a new slot or get another perk. There are 37 slots in total – can you unlock them all?

You won’t need to deposit money at Slotomania. Instead, you’ll win in-game Coins through bonuses. Daily Dashes are a good source of coins – simply complete daily missions, which are essentially challenges, and win rewards when you do.

Then there’s the Lotto Bonus. You receive a bonus amount, and the balls are then released into the lotto machine. The multiplier the machine randomly selects is added to your initial bonus, and you win the resulting amount. You could win hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of coins from this bonus! You can pay for additional turns on the feature, with multiple balls drawn.

You’ll also get gifts for completing specific actions. For example, when you play with friends, you’ll receive free coins and other special prizes.

And if you’re short of money with no bonuses on the horizon? Head to the Sloto Store to purchase coins, boosters, and more.

Conclusion

As you’ve seen, learning how to play casino slots, either online or in a land-based setting, really isn’t tough. In fact, it’s so simple that even a beginner will be spinning confidently after a few minutes.

At Slotomania, we offer the perfect platform for new slots players, as you can play for free but still experience the excitement playing slots brings. Why not create a free account and start playing today?

FAQs

How old do you have to be to play slots?

Anyone in the United States looking to play real money slots, either online or in a casino, must be at least 21 years old. This is also the case here at Slotomania.

How much can I win playing slots?

Slot prizes can be gigantic. It’s not unusual to see real money slots with prizes worth 10,000x your bet or more. And some progressive jackpot slots have prizes worth millions of dollars. Generally, the more you bet, the larger the potential prizes become.

How do I know if a slot is about to pay out?

You don’t. Despite what many people claim, there is no way to tell when a slot machine is about to pay out, but you can choose slots with higher RTPs, which boosts your chances of winning.

How does RTP work?

The RTP of a slot tells you how much money the average player will win back. So, if an RTP is 96.50%, the average player will recoup $96.50 of every $100 they wager. But this is only an average – your return could be much higher or lower than this.

Are online slots fair?

Online slots are powered by random number generators, which use complex algorithms to randomly decide each spin’s result. This is something we use with all our slots at Slotomania.