There are so many real money casinos on the web that it can be difficult to know which one to choose. That’s why websites like this exist.

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The internet is inundated with gambling sites and online casinos, each promising a stack of opportunities for players to win money. The problem is that not many sites actually make those promises come true. That’s one of the reasons why we dedicate our time to reviewing, researching, and picking out the best licensed USA online casinos. Online gambling has proved to be a legal and easy way to make money from home. Best online gambling sites contain enormous quantity of games for different tastes. This is a real chance of adding real money to bank account!

Luckily, our team of experts has decades of experience in the industry and is trained to spot rogue casinos as well as world-class ones.

We’ll explain to you how we pick the best online casinos for real money to recommend, how the various games work and your chances of winning them, whether or not you can gamble for real money for free, and we’ll answer some frequently asked questions about real money gambling.

The casinos listed below all have:

• Top-Quality Graphics and a Large Variety of Games Available
• Excellent Ratings for Safety and Security
• Proven Real Money Payouts

Best Real Money Casinos by Location

If you’re unsure if the above accept players from your country, don’t worry; we still have lots of top-rated online casinos for real money which we can recommend to you. There are also some we definitely won’t recommend, and we want you to be aware of those, too.

It’s crucially important to pick a real money casino which accepts players from your country for a few reasons.

First, it’s possible that your government has some sort of minimum standards a casino needs to meet. That’s definitely the case if you’re from the UK or some other European countries.

Second, you don’t want to face unnecessary restrictions such as not being able to claim bonuses, not being able to play some games, or not being able to sign up at the given casino you have spent time researching.

Finally, this will help you stay on the right side of the law. Some countries prohibit players from their countries from signing up at anything other than state-sanctioned online casinos. While these laws are difficult to enforce, they do exist in some countries.

Take a look at some of the regions listed below. If you’re from there, click on the relevant button to see a list of online casinos for real money which accepts you.

Beating the House Edge

Every online casino game has a house edge. This is the casino’s built-in advantage and means that it’s mathematically guaranteed to make money over a long enough timeline.

In the long run, you honestly can’t beat it. It’s pure mathematics. Ever heard the saying “the house always wins”? Well, it does!

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t win in the short term. If everybody lost at online casinos constantly, it wouldn’t be long before people stopped playing at them. The fact is, some people do win real money at casinos.

While the majority of winners will simply double or triple their money and walk away after having had a great time, there are some crazy stories of life-changing wins that enter the realm of the almost unbelievable. If they weren’t documented, they might seem like fiction.

A Spin from Heaven

One such example is the story of the biggest online slots jackpot ever won. A British soldier playing Mega Moolah slot won £13,200,000, which shattered all existing records and hasn’t been topped since. Best of all, he won it with a £0.25 spin.

That’s just one headline story. There are many more, and it’s no coincidence that video slots are involved in many of them. If Lady Luck is going to visit you and then change your financial destiny, there’s a good chance that this type of huge win will come while playing slots.

These colossal wins aside, we’ve all heard stories of people winning enough to buy a house while playing poker, paying off debts after a great night at the blackjack tables, or going on a roll while playing roulette and buying something they’ve always dreamed of afterwards.

Even when these insane wins happen, the casino still makes money because of house edge. The majority of players won’t win, and you can be sure that over the long run the casino makes a percentage no matter what.

Not All Games Have the Same Edge

It’s important to recognize that house edge is not a fixed number across all games. Different games have different math involved in them, and understanding this can be the key to winning more often.

It’s widely accepted that some variants of video poker have the lowest house edge, whereas keno and lottery games have the largest house edge, meaning the worst odds for you as a player.

We’ll talk a little later about the odds of various games and their pros and cons. For now, just be aware that not all games are mathematically equal. There are some you have a much higher chance of winning than others, and there are some in which you have a greater degree of control over the outcome as compared to games of pure chance.

Safety and Legality

It’s essential to know how to stay safe while gambling online. There are a few potential pitfalls which you may not be aware of if you’re not an experienced online gambler.

Luckily, you have us to show you the ropes. Here are some of the things you have to be aware of to gamble safely online.

Risk Associated with Sharing Financial Details

Sharing your credit card, debit card, or bank details with any online merchant carries some degree of risk. If that merchant is untrustworthy, you could find yourself in a world of trouble quickly.

Online Gambling For Real Money

You can immediately find out if a casino site is trustworthy by reading our reviews.

Take the time to look around, and you’ll see that we certainly don’t recommend every site we review, and we aren’t afraid to call out scam casino sites when we discover them.

Financial predators are everywhere online, and sadly the casino industry attracts its fair share of them. Stick with expert-recommended real money online casinos to avoid falling into their clutches.

Predatory Terms and Conditions

There are real money online casinos which aren’t direct scams in that there are real games to play and you can win actual money.

However, they can make it extremely difficult for you to get your money out when the time comes to do so, even if it’s technically possible. The idea is to make you give up and go away without collecting.

Usually, a site will state in its terms and conditions that withdrawals can be held for no reason, that the casino can drag its feet before paying, or that they can simply void winnings on a whim without justification.

Believe us; we’ve seen it all in our years of reviewing real money online casinos. This type of casino site preys on the fact that nobody takes the time to read endless pages of legal jargon before registering.

Once again, having experience in dealing with casinos online can solve this problem.

Our experts know exactly where to look in the terms and conditions, and our casino reviews show you all of the deposit and withdrawal methods and any good or bad sides to the terms and conditions of the sites we review. If a site is going to try to screw you, we’ll let you know.

Fixed or Pirated Games and Software

As you gain experience in playing at real money online casinos, you get to know more about the software companies that provide the games. In time, you’ll know instantly by looking at the range of games whether or not you can trust an online casino.

This can help you avoid the fixed games which are run by some rogue software companies in order to fleece you.

However, it takes a little bit of more time to get to know how to spot pirated versions of legitimate games.

By assessing a real money casino’s licenses and looking at some other factors, our experts can instantly tell if the games on a casino site are pirated. By playing the games and assessing them against the published return-to-player figures, we can quickly figure out if they’re fixed.

You probably don’t have the time to figure this all out for yourself, and by the time you realize the games are fixed, it will likely be too late.

Once again, that’s where we come in. It’s our job to figure this out, so you don’t have to.

The Legal Situation in Your Country

While online casino gambling is a global phenomenon, each country is still sovereign and has its laws and regulations. This can confuse the matter of whether or not it’s illegal to gamble online in some places.

You can check out our gambling laws page for the latest and most up-to-date information on the legality of gambling in your country.

You won’t only have to contend with the authorities if you get caught, but scam artists know you have no legal recourse when they hustle you out of your hard-earned cash.

After all, if gambling is illegal in your country, you can’t exactly go to the police and report that you lost money to a scam artist while gambling on the internet.

Keeping things legal is one of the keys to gambling safely online.

Online Casino Bonus Offers

There are a few different types of real money casino bonuses available to new and existing players. We have an entire page dedicated to explaining the differences between these bonuses. Check it out by clicking the button below:

There are pros and cons to taking casino bonuses. Let’s start off by looking at the reasons you might want to take them before turning our attention to why they might not be suitable for you as an individual player.

Whether casino bonuses are right for you depends on what your goals are.

The Positives

You Can Test the Waters Without Risk

It’s nice to be able to play the games available in an online casino and to be able to check it out in general without having to make a financial commitment.

While some bonuses do require you to deposit to activate them, there are many which don’t. These are known as no-deposit bonuses and are the ideal way to test an online casino without risking your own money.

Once you’re sure you can trust the casino site and have decided you would like to play the games, then you can start playing for real money.

Some Bonuses Can Increase Your Chances of Winning

In the casino bonuses and promotions page we linked to above, we explain the concept of wagering or rollover requirements. Bonuses which have these attached make it difficult (without serious luck) for you to withdraw the bonus amount and are designed to allow you to simply test the casino.

However, there are plenty of casino bonuses with no wagering requirements available online these days. If you take these, you’ll more than likely be required to make a deposit, but they increase your chances of winning by giving you free spins or free games with no strings attached.

They may only slightly increase your chances of winning, but hey, any increase in the chance of winning is always welcome.

The Negatives

You Can Become a Marketing Target

If the casino figures out that you are a bonus hunter or that you like a particular kind of bonus, they might decide to pitch you regularly.

This can be a good thing if you like taking these offers, but if you sign up at multiple casinos, take the bonus, and don’t play, you can expect your email inbox, and sometimes your cell phone, to be bombarded with offers. The more accounts you create, the more intense this will become.

Some unscrupulous casinos will sell your information on to other operators who will pitch you, too. This can become a serious annoyance, and so if you’re going to take bonuses with no intention of becoming a real money player, we suggest setting up an email address specifically for that purpose.

Most Bonuses Have Terms Which Favor the House

If a real money casino bonus has rollover or wagering terms, there’s a very little chance you’ll ever be able to withdraw it or anything you win while playing with it.

You have to remember that bonuses are a promotional and marketing tool. The casino doesn’t want to let you play with house money and walk away with the multimillion-dollar jackpot. They also don’t want you to take the free casino chips and walk away without playing. That wouldn’t be very good business, would it?

Rollover requirements are explained in greater detail on the casino bonuses page linked to above. Basically, they mean you have to bet the bonus cash a number of times before you can withdraw it. For example, if a bonus has 20x wagering requirements, then you need to bet the total amount 20 times before you can withdraw it or anything you win while using it.

Real Money Casino Apps

Mobile casinos have become a huge deal in the past several years. Real money casino apps and mobile casino sites can now boast that they serve the majority of players. This trend will undoubtedly continue for years to come, at least until something comes along to replace mobile devices (chips in the head, perhaps?).

We’ve written an entire page to help you decide which casino app is right for you. Check it by clicking the button below.

Online Casino Games for Real Money

New players are often bamboozled by the vast range of casino games on offer and how to play and win them.

We’ve created game-specific pages on each popular real money casino game to show you how to play, how to give yourself the best chance of winning, and what the rules of each game are.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with the games listed below. Click any of the buttons, and you’ll be transported to a wealth of information on that specific game.

We also cover a bit about each game in the “which casino game is right for you?” section below.

Playing Free Casino Games to Win Real Money

Is it possible to win real money playing free casino games? The short answer is no.

A casino is a business, and usually, it’s a very profitable one. You can’t expect a casino to let you play real money games and assume all of that risk without getting anything in return.

It’s true that some bonuses will allow you to play real money casino games for free. However, these bonuses will have terms and conditions which favor the casino and make it almost impossible for you to withdraw all that money. See the page about bonuses for further details.

We’re telling you straight that if anyone tells you that you can win real money without any risk, they’re lying to you. They might be scam artists waiting to empty your wallet, or they may have merely misunderstood a bonus offer they read about online. There is no such thing as a free lunch. That’s an old saying for a reason, primarily because it’s always correct!

With that said, it is possible to play free casino games to win things like virtual points and virtual money. These can be enjoyed at social casinos, and sometimes the points can be traded in for prizes. Just don’t expect to cash out real money jackpots, or you’ll be disappointed.

Which Casino Game Is Right for You?

There are lots of great online casino games to choose from. They may be digital variants, but they’re not that different from what you would find at a real Vegas casino, or a casino anywhere else, for that matter.

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular casino games you might be interested in playing. We’ll look at your chances of winning them, how fun they are, and some other things you might want to be aware of.

Hopefully, by the end of this section, you’ll have a better idea of which game you would like to play.

Please note that the “house edge” figures listed below can vary depending on how you play the game, the game variant, and the casino itself.

Baccarat

This is a fun card game with a simple objective – bet on either the player or the banker to get closest to nine, or bet on a tie between the player and banker. If you place a bet on the banker hand to get closest to nine and the banker does so, you win your bet for that hand.

It’s fast-paced, fun, and you just bet on the outcome, rather than actively participating.

• If you bet on the player, the house edge is 1.24%
• If you bet on the banker, the baccarat house edge is 1.06%
• If you bet on a tie, the house edge is 14.36%

Don’t bet on a tie! Also remember that if you bet on banker and win, the house can take a 5% commission.

Blackjack

This might be the most popular card game in the world. It’s a game with some degree of skill involved, and there are professional blackjack players out there. Entire movies and books have been made about this game.

The objective of blackjack is to get a hand totaling 21, or as close to it as possible without exceeding it. You play against the dealer, and whoever has 21 (or the highest hand not exceeding 21 in cases where neither has 21) after all the cards have been dealt wins.

Going by Vegas rules, the house edge is a tiny 0.28%. This will change if you play another variant of blackjack such as Atlantic City rules or Suit ‘Em Up.

The tiny house edge is what makes it possible for some people to make a living playing blackjack.

Keno

This is a fun lotto game, but it’s known for having the worst odds in the house. The objective is to pick between one and ten numbers from a pool of 80, and then wait for the draw.

The house edge in keno can be between 25% and 29%, depending on the variant and the casino itself. This game is okay for switching off and having a little fun, but it’s highly unlikely you’re going to win money playing keno, at least in the long run.

Roulette

This is one of the most fun casino games, period. The objective is to predict where a ball will land on a spinning wheel when it stops.

You can pick a color or a number between 1 and 36 (or the zero) if you want to make basic roulette bets. It’s also possible to select clusters of numbers, rows, or entire columns as you gain confidence and learn to understand the game.

• If you’re playing American Roulette (Double Zero), the house edge is 5.26%
• If you’re playing European Roulette (Single Zero), the house edge is 2.7%

You have a decent chance of winning roulette, but you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun whether you win or lose.

Video Poker

This is a machine-based game based on 5-hand poker. There are many different variants with different pay tables and slightly different rules, but the aim is always to make as valuable a hand as possible according to poker hand ranks. No matter the variant, a Royal Flush will always pay the most.

Covering some popular versions of video poker, you can expect the house edge to be:

• 0.46% when playing Jacks or Better with an optimal strategy.
• 0.71% when playing Deuces Wild with a perfect strategy. In this case, you as the player have the advantage.
• 0.64% when playing Joker Poker with perfect strategy. Once again, you have the advantage here.

If you are patient and want to make money playing casino games, video poker is your best bet. You’ll need to develop skill, though, and learn video poker strategy first.

Don’t expect to have the advantage when you’re new to video poker and don’t know what you’re doing. Even in these cases, though, the house edge is significantly lower than in most other casino games.

Video Slots

These are probably the most-played casino games online. There are tens of thousands of video slots ranging from simple 3-reel games with no features to 5-reel new slots with bonus rounds, free spins, and progressive jackpots.

They’re fun, highly entertaining, and if you’re lucky, you can win a fortune playing slots.

The house edge depends on the game in question. It can range from 2% to 15% – that’s no small difference! Knowing this, it pays to do your research on which slots have the best RTP.

A Quick Summary Before Moving On

Which casino game is best for you ultimately depends on your goals as an individual player.

If you want to real money playing casino games, then pick the games with the best odds and lowest house edge.

If you just want to have a little fun and relax, then any of the above games will do.

Choosing the Right Real Money Casino

If you already know what games you want to play, then it’s time to look at picking an online casino. If you’re new to playing casino games, there’s a lot more to this than you might initially think. As you’ll see, most of the top real money casinos have some things in common.

Consider the following factors before registering at any casino site.

1 – Reviews

Are there reliable, trustworthy casino reviews on the site? If so, what do the experts say?

It pays to pay attention to these reviews. If a casino expert says a site sucks, there’s a great chance you’ll want to avoid it.

If you were looking for a new car, you would probably talk to someone who knows a thing or two about cars before making a decision, or at least read a few reviews on various models, wouldn’t you? The same should go for choosing an online casino. There’s more to it than you might think, and reading a review can be a great way to get all the information in one place.

Be suspicious of reviews which are overly positive, though. Sometimes there’s an agenda at play. If a review site gives a real money online casino a glowing review, check out some of the other reviews, too.

If they’re all overly positive, that could be a warning sign. If the reviewers throw some terrible casinos under the bus, you’re probably dealing with an honest casino review site.

2 – Legality

Is this casino operating legally with a valid gaming license?

If so, what jurisdiction is the license from? Believe us when we tell you that not all casino licenses are equal. UK, Malta, Alderney, Gibraltar, Curacao, and Puerto Rico licenses are all respected and are good indicators that a real money casino can be trusted. Others, we don’t have that much faith in.

Also, make sure the casino isn’t accepting players from your country even if it’s illegal to do so. If they’re willing to break the law, what makes you think they’re going to be honest with you?

3 – Safety

A valid license is one way to make sure you’re dealing with the safest real money casinos.

There’s more to it than that, though. We advise checking that the website is operating on a secure, encrypted connection. You can do so by looking at the web address. If you see HTTPS:// in front of the domain, you’re dealing with a secure casino. If it’s just HTTP:// (no “S”), then the connection might not be protected.

Also look for published game payouts verified by third parties. This is a hugely positive sign, and it means that it’s highly likely this is a safe casino site. If the games are verified by eCOGRA, you’re in safe hands.

4 – Preferences

It would be a shame to go through the registration process only to find out the casino doesn’t offer the types of games you want to play or doesn’t offer very many of them.

Make sure the exact games you want to play are offered, make sure the casino accepts the types of bet you want to make regarding size, and check which betting services are provided. For example, some casinos also offer Texas Hold’em poker tournaments or sports betting as additional services, whereas others don’t.

We would also suggest taking some time to familiarize yourself with the site. If you like how it “feels,” that’s a great sign. A user-friendly website likely means the operator actually cares about its players and has invested time in figuring out what makes you happy. That’s likely to show across the casino as a whole.

5 – Bonuses

First, you’ll need to figure out if the online casino offers real money bonuses at all. Most do, but some don’t.

After that, you’ll need to look into exactly what types of bonuses are offered and their terms and conditions.

Don’t just look at the welcome offers, which are always emphasized to attract new players. Look at the ongoing weekly and monthly offers, too. These will give you an insight into what kind of casino you’re dealing with.

Also look at the terms and conditions of any bonus offers. Pay attention to minimum deposits and wagering/rollover requirements. If they’re excessive (40x or more), think twice about taking the offer.

If you like playing slots on weekends, it makes sense to find a casino which offers free spins on weekends, doesn’t it?

6 – Service

Everybody likes to feel like they matter, casino players included. It’s essential that a casino has top-notch customer service if you’re going to enjoy your experience playing there.

Check the number of customer service options available. Email and live chat are a necessity, but if a real money casino also offers telephone support, that’s an excellent sign.

Don’t be afraid to test the customer service if you wish. Ask a question or two. You’ll soon see how fast the responses are and how helpful (or unhelpful) the customer service agents are.

You know that old saying that goes “When someone shows you who they are, believe them”? That applies here. If an agent is slow to respond, avoids answering questions directly, or acts in an unhelpful manner, move on.

7 – Banking

You wouldn’t believe how many people register at online casinos for real money without considering the most important thing of all – withdrawing your money!

Most casinos will make it as easy as pie for you to deposit, but only the best real money online casinos make it as easy for you to withdraw.

Look for a roughly equal number of deposit and withdrawal methods, low (or no) fees, and fast withdrawals.

The last thing you want is to be sitting around waiting for weeks to get your money, or worse, never getting it at all!

Feeling Overwhelmed? Don’t Worry!

If all of this makes your head spin and you wonder how on earth you’re going to go about finding all of this information out, don’t worry; we have plenty of top casino reviews where you can find the information all in one place.

We don’t want you to think that all real money casino sites are scams out to get you. There are lots of world-class online casinos worth playing at. It’s just that you have to wade through a fair deal of not-so-great ones to find them.

Our job is to make that as easy as possible for you. If you see a casino on this site that you like the look of, there will be a full, in-depth review attached.

Other Real Money Sites to Consider

While playing at real money casinos is arguably the most fun way to gamble, there are other ways to have fun gambling and hopefully make a little money in the process.

Betting on sports, playing poker, playing bingo or lotto games, and even betting on financial markets are all possible thanks to the global connectivity the web facilitates.

Why not check out some of the other options? We have sections dedicated to each form of gambling. If you want to know more, click any of the buttons below.

Real Money Online Casinos FAQ

Q. Will I need casino bonus codes to claim the bonuses offered by online casinos?

A. In most cases, you won’t need a casino bonus code, but where one is required, the casino will make it abundantly clear before you register.

Sometimes casinos run temporary promotions which do require bonus codes. In these cases, the codes are often emailed directly to you or are listed in the terms and conditions of the offer. If in doubt, ask the customer service agents.

Q. Do real people win the slots jackpots, or are they fixed?

A. Real people most definitely win slots jackpots from time to time. Big slots software companies like NetEnt, Microgaming, and IGT are independently audited, and random number generators control the games. There is no possible way that these games could be fixed.

It’s unlikely that you’ll become a millionaire playing slots, but you never know! Many more people win hundreds or thousands, and you never hear about them. This is a far more likely outcome.

Q. Is it illegal to gamble online as an American player?

A. This is somewhat of a grey area. The relevant regulations (UIGEA – 2006) make it illegal for financial institutions to facilitate real money gambling online, or for casinos to accept deposits from US-based players.

That does not make it illegal for you to gamble online. There are still many casinos which do accept deposits from US players.

Don’t worry; nobody wearing a S.W.A.T. vest with a machine gun is going to come through your door and shoot your dog before arresting you just because you played a little blackjack online.

Q. Are there any real money casinos which accept Bitcoin?

A. There are indeed. In fact, the number of casinos accepting Bitcoin is growing by the day. You could say Bitcoin is trending in the online casino world. It’s becoming a hugely popular way to make deposits and withdrawals quickly and safely.

If you’re looking for a Bitcoin casino, we have reviews on several. Feel free to check out our real money Bitcoin gambling sites page.

Q. What’s the number-one sign that a casino is a scam site?

A. Having no valid gaming license is a big warning sign. Having had a permit in the past, but having had it stripped for some reason is even worse.

We don’t recommend casinos to you which don’t have valid and legal gaming licenses. Without them, it’s the Wild Wild West, and casino operators can do whatever they want without fear of repercussions.

It never occurred to us that anyone would want to play slots for
anything other than real money unless there were some
potential for a free prize of some kind. And indeed, some online
slot machines do offer free games with free prizes-these are
more like tournaments and/or sweepstakes in terms of how the
prizes are awarded, though. Most free slots games are just an
exercise in building up a bankroll of money that you can’t spend
anywhere – except on more free games at that website.

This page look at real money slot machine games in particular.
We start with some recommended places to play for real money. That’s followed by a look at the difference
between real money slot machine games and free slot machine games, information about the various types
of slot machines being manufactured and played, and a look at the various offerings from the most popular
online casino software companies.

Free Slots Versus Real Money Slots

One would be justified in asking how a free slots site makes any money at all. The answer can be summed up
with a single word:

Advertising.

No matter what kind of free slot machine game you’re playing, the reason it’s profitable for the website owner
or the app designer is that they’re able to sell advertising. In some cases, this advertising might be for online
casinos offering real money slots. In fact, that might be the most effective advertising model of all. Where
could you find a more targeted audience?

But even sites which aren’t advertising online casinos are usually advertising something, often on a per
impression basis. And usually the products that are being advertised on such sites are at least tangentially
related to casino games and/or slot machines. They’ll also often trigger interest-based advertising.

Here’s an example.

We logged into a site today which offered free, no download slots. The advertising was in the form of a
160X600 banner to the right of the game. The first ad we saw was related to big and tall mens’ clothing. That’s
clearly based on our Web surfing history, not our interest in slots games.

There was also an advertisement at the top of the page for Pepsi. We ordered a Pepsi product with our pizza
last night for supper, so that was possibly related to our Web surfing habits too.Suspicions about this were
confirmed when we opened another game and that ad was replaced with an ad for the pizza restaurant we
ordered from last night.

Which type of site is more profitable for the Website owner, though?.

Our guess is that the online casinos who accept real money slots play are far and away more profitable than
the sites just running advertising. There’s just too much evidence to suggest that the average value of an
online gambler is in the $1,000+ range. You have to run a lot of per impression ads for Pepsi before you start
to get into that kind of money.

Pros and Cons of Real Money Slots Machines

Should you play slots online for real money or just stick with the just-fun games?

That’s a question you’ll have to answer for yourself. But we can offer an analysis of the advantages and
disadvantages of both kinds of play.

The biggest advantage of playing free slots for play money
is that there’s no chance of ever losing any money.

This assumes, of course, that you can exercise the discipline necessary to avoid switching to real money when
the option is offered. And that you can exercise the discipline to avoid buying the products being shilled in
the on-page advertising.

The above advantage is also the biggest disadvantage of these free money games though.

When you have no chance of losing any money, you’ll also face
an almost certainty that you can’t win any money, either.

You’ll find some exceptions to this actually, but your chances of winning any kind of real cash at one of those
games is so small as to be practically impossible anyway.

We know a couple of people who seem almost addicted to these kinds of games, though. We’re not sure what
the appeal is. Once you understand how these games work on the back end, all the sights and sounds on the
screen become even more meaningless. And how the thought of winning fake money on an entirely random
outcome gets anyone excited is beyond us.

Of course, real money slot machine games are far from the most optimal gambling experience you can find,
either. The house edge on such games are usually 5% or more-sometimes much more. We’ve read about
slot machines at the airport in Las Vegas with a house edge of 15% to 25%. You’ll face better odds playing the
lottery.

When you compare that kind of high house edge with the edge of a game like blackjack, which can be
considerably lower than 1%, it seems as if there’s no reason to ever put any money into a slot machine game.
But the reality is that slot machine games offer some perks over other casino games with better odds.

The biggest of these perks is the possibility of winning a large jackpot with a single small bet. If you’re playing
blackjack, for example, most of the time you’ll win even money. If you split and double down, you might win
four times to eight times your initial bet. If you’re playing roulette, the best you can hope for is a 35 to 1
payout.

But with a slot machine game, you could theoretically get lucky and
win 1.000 times, 10,000 times, or even a million times your initial bet.

That’s the kind of payoff that a lot of people find valuable even when the odds of it happening are so small as
to be practically non-existent. We’ve known people who told us that just fantasizing about what they’d do with
a million dollars made a dollar bet on a Mega Millions game worth the money, even though the odds of
winning such a game are lower than the odds of being struck by lightning.

Types of Slot Machine Games

You can find multiple ways of categorizing slot machine games. The following three are the most common.

1. How many reels and paylines a game has.
2. Whether there’s a jackpot available/type of jackpot.
3. The denomination of coins/credits a game accepts.

Reels and Paylines

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One way to categorize slot machine games is by looking at how many reels and paylines the games have.
You’ll usually only find one of two set-ups when it comes to the number of reels.

There are exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of slot machine games fall into one of those two
categories. (And in case you’re a total neophyte, the “reels” are what spin in the game. The symbols are on
the spinning reels. Without reels, you have no slot machine game at all, because spinning reels are what make
a slot machine game a slot machine game.)

3 reel slots are the traditional older games that have been around since the turn of the last century. Even
though many of them look exactly the same as their mechanical cousins, modern 3 reel slot machines
operate in the same way as video slots. Outcomes are determined by a miniature computer called a random
number generator (RNG). The reels are just for show.

Antique 3 reel slot machines (if they’re old enough) still contain mechanical moving parts as their reels. These
reels are actual metal strips with images painted on them, and they literally do spin until they randomly
stop-it’s a matter of springs and electric machinery, unaided by a computer.

5 reel slots, on the other hand, usually resemble 3 reel slots in only the most superficial of ways. The reels
are obviously just computer-generated animation. Yeah, they still spin, but they’re not actual strips of metal
at all. All modern 5 reel slot machine games also use a random number generator to determine their results.

But when you start talking about paylines, you get a lot more variation. Many 3 reel slots only have a single
payline-horizontally across the middle. If symbols match across that payline, you win. If not, you don’t.
That’s pretty simple.

But modern video slot machine games also have multiple paylines in a bewildering array of patterns. But you
have to place a bet for every payline you want to activate. These games offer a help screen which draws the
paylines for you, and if you get matches on any of those paylines, you win a payout.

You can find games with 3 paylines, 5 paylines, 25 paylines, and 50 paylines. Some modern games even
eliminate paylines entirely, so that any matching symbol from left to right generates a payout regardless of
where it would fall on a payline. These machines are called 243 ways slot machines, and they’re becoming
increasingly popular over time, especially in Australia.

7 reel slots are also available, but they’re still unusual. We’ve never played one, although we’ve seen pictures.
We’re not sure if 7 reel slots are ever going to catch on or not. Time will tell.

Jackpots

Slot machines can also be categorized according to what kinds of jackpots they offer. Generally speaking,
there are two categories related to jackpots.

1. Flat top slots.
2. Progressive slots.

Flat top slots are games which have a flat amount as the top jackpot. For example, if you come across a
game which offers a maximum prize of 1,000 coins, you’re looking at a flat top game.

On the other hand, progressive slots are games which have jackpots that increase every time a player makes
a wager and spins the reels. These jackpots usually grow very large over time. Some of the more famous
progressive jackpot slots, like Mega Millions, can offer jackpots of $10 million+.

Progressive slots can be further sub-divided according to how many machines feed into the jackpot. Some
progressive slots are standalone jackpots. Only play on that specific game increases the size of the top prize.

Other progressive slots are networked within a casino or a section of a casino. You might find a bank of 9 or
12 games that all share a single progressive jackpot, and play on any of those machines increases the size of
the top prize.

But the biggest progressive slots are networked across multiple machines in multiple casinos. These are the
games with the huge prizes of $1 million or more. Anyone playing on any of these games is adding to the
size of that top jackpot.

Of course, the odds of winning a progressive jackpot go down the larger the number of machines which are
networked is. In fact, the odds on progressive jackpot slots are always lower than you’ll find on flat top slots,
because these games build jackpots by taking a tiny percentage of every wager and using it to “fuel” that
progressive jackpot.

That tiny percentage comes directly off the payback percentage
for the machine.

For example, you might be looking at playing a Wheel of Fortune slot machine game with a flat top jackpot.
But elsewhere in the casino you might find another Wheel of Fortune game that’s networked into the big
jackpot network, and it might have a top prize of $15 million.

Your odds of winning that huge progressive jackpot are similar to the odds of winning the lottery. But you
pay a price-a tax almost-in terms of how much you’re expected to lose on each spin. The payout for the
flat top game might be 94%, while the payout on the progressive game might be 91%. But what’s worse is
that the 91% includes the possibility of hitting that progressive jackpot.

And guess what.

You’re probably not ever going to hit that progressive jackpot.

In terms of slot machine strategy, you have few decisions to make, but one of those decisions is what kind of
game you’re going to play. Our advice is to stick with games which have flat top jackpots rather than hitting
the progressives. Unless you’re just really determined to try to win a single life-changing jackpot, the flat top
machines are going to provide you with more entertainment for your money.

Denominations

Another way is to look at what denominations the games accept. You can find slot machines in the following
denominations:

• Penny slots
• Nickel slots
• Dime slots
• Quarter slots
• Dollar slots
• Five dollar slots

That’s not the upper limit, either. You can find slot machine games where you can play for $100 per spin.

But some of those names are misnomers, too. Just because a slot machine game is a so-called “penny slot”
doesn’t mean that most people are playing for a penny a spin. Theoretically you COULD play such a game for
a penny per spin, but you’d only be activating a single payline. You’d also be losing your chance at the top
jackpot and sometimes the bonus game.

In fact, most penny slots today offer the option of betting on dozens of paylines, and they also offer you the
chance to wager multiple pennies per payline. It’s not uncommon for a game to have 25 or 50 paylines. It’s
also not unusual to be able to wager up to 5 units per spin per line. You could easily be wagering $2.50 per
spin on a so-called penny slot machine.

You’re better off playing a game with fewer paylines for a higher denomination. Here’s why:

Higher denomination games offer a better payback percentage. If you’re not familiar with that term, it simply
means the mathematical average of how much gets paid out in winnings over time. It’s the other side of the
house edge.

For example, if a slot machine game has a 96% payout percentage, you will, if you play long enough, win 96
cents for every dollar you risk. Another way to look at it is that your average loss per dollar will be 4 cents. In
the short run, your results will differ dramatically. But in the long run, your actual results will start to
resemble your mathematically expected results.

It’s important to understand this, because in the long run, slots are a losing proposition. That doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t play. It means that you should be aware of the odds and the potential costs of playing.

We like to think of it in terms of how much money you’re going to lose on average per hour. That’s easily
calculated-you just multiply the average number of bets per hour by the size of each bet. Then you multiply
that by the house edge, and you wind up with your expected hourly loss rate.

An average slot machine player makes 600 bets per hour. If you’re playing for $1 per spin and expecting to
lose 4% of each wager, you’re looking at $600 X 4%, or $24 in hourly expected loss.

This relates to our previous discussion in a significant way. Suppose you have 2 slot machines to choose from.
One is a penny slots game with a maximum wager per spin of $5. (Lots of paylines.) The other is a $5 slots
game with a single payline, so you can only wager $5 per spin.

There’s no way to know what the difference is in the payout percentages for these two games, but it’s
common for penny slots to offer much lower payout percentages.

Suppose the difference between the two games is just 4%.

Would you rather bet $600 per hour and lose 4% of your money on average or 8% of your money on
average?

That’s the difference between losing $24 per hour and $48 per hour.

Look at it this way. Since slot machines are entertainment, you should want to keep your expenses as low as
possible while still getting the same thrill from playing. You’d do the same thing if you were buying a ticket to
a movie or a theme park, wouldn’t you? We don’t anyone who pays full price for tickets to Six Flags.

Online Casino Slot Software

A huge variety of companies build the software which powers online casinos. Since this page focuses almost
exclusively on real money slots you can play online, we’ve devoted a good bit of space below to which
software packages offer what kind of slot machine experiences. Only a handful of these companies have any
relationships with the companies who manufacture slot machine games for land-based casino. Where that
applies, we’ve noted it in the appropriate section below.

Amaya

Amaya might be one of the biggest online gaming companies in the world. They’re best known as the
company which acquired both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for $5 billion+. But they don’t just run online
poker rooms-their software powers a wide variety of gaming activities, including slot machines.

Many of Amaya’s slot machine games are based on popular intellectual property licenses. This makes them
more like a land-based slot machine game designer than many online casino software companies. Examples
of properties they create slot machine games for include the characters from DC Comics, like Batman,
Superman, and Wonder Woman. But they also own the rights to slot machine versions of video games like
Call of Duty.

Fans of Australian style slots will be happy to know that Amaya powered casinos also offer online versions of
some of the more popular Aristocrat brand slots. They also offer a variety of games which are original and
unique, including games based on classic literature (like Beowulf) and games which evoke traditional
gambling themes (like Bars & Bells).

Boss Media

Boss Media, along with Microgaming and Playtech, is one of the oldest providers of online casino software
on the Internet. They launched in 1996, so they have 20 years experience in the business. But they haven’t
achieved or maintained as great a reputation as either of their 2 other big name competitors.

We mentioned on our page about blackjack that they offer some of the best odds on blackjack anywhere on
the Internet, but Boss Media’s selection of slot machine games is a little lackluster. You might consider it
comparable to the slot machine game selection at Realtime Gaming.

A look at the names of the Boss Media slots tells you a lot about where they’re coming from as a company.
Some of them include:

• Aladdin’s Lamp
• Break the Bank
• Diamond
• Irish Magic
• Lost City

You’ll notice that many of these seem to feature traditional themes of treasure and money without a lot of
licensed games. Sometimes the lack of licensed games means that a casino game provider has done some
work in terms of creating unique possibilities for their players, but in this case, it jus means that most of
their casino games are bland and run of the mill.

Boss Media, like Playtech and Microgaming, does not accept real money players from the United States.

Cryptologic

One of our favorite slot machine games of all time is a Cryptologic game-it’s called Triple Olives. We like
how they took a common slot machine motif-fruit-and then turned it on its ear by featuring a fruit that is
never used in slot machine games.

But that’s not the most exciting game they offer. They’re also known for having licenses for comic book
characters like Wonder Woman and the Fantastic Four. They also feature slot machine versions of Jenga and
Bejeweled. Original games like Doctor Love and Samba Nights round out their selections.

Cryptologic is far from ubiquitous. Only a handful of casinos now use their software. But the ones that do are
above-board. They do not accept real money players from the United States.

Microgaming

Microgaming is famous for being the first online casino software in existence. Their software powered the
first online casino that was launched in 1994. They’re also famous for having one of the largest selections of
online slot machine games in the industry. But mostly they’re famous for their network of progressive slot
machine jackpots. In fact, as of 2015, the company has paid out over $100 million in progressive slot
machine jackpots.

Unfortunately for players from the United States, real money play is prohibited by the software company.
In fact, they use IP detection to block players anywhere within the United States from even accessing their
games. But players in other countries, especially jackpot hunters, love the variety of progressive jackpots
available there.

Microgaming offers almost 400 different slot machine games. For years, Major Millions was the most famous
of these, as it offered huge jackpots comparable to what you’d find in Vegas on the Megabucks machines in
Las Vegas. Its popularity has since been eclipsed by a similar-but-newer game called Mega Moolah. Their
other progressive slots include games like Cash Splash and Lotsaloot.

Other popular slot machine games from Microgaming include some of their licensed games. If you know
much about the online casino industry, you’ll understand that many software providers don’t offer licensed
games at all. There’s a simple reason for that too-licenses cost money. Microgaming has money to spend,
though, and their licensed properties include Hitman and Lara Croft, both of which are based on the popular
video game characters. They also own licenses to movie related properties like Lord of the Rings and
Batman.

Microgaming’s slots have a distinctive cartoon-ish style. They’re video slots in the truest sense of the word.
They’re no longer the most modern and distinctive looking games online, but they’re still a lot of fun.

Playtech

Playtech, like Microgaming, is one of the oldest companies on the Internet offering slot machine games. It’s
surprising how different the look and feel for the games is between these 2 companies, though. Most of the
players we know prefer the Mictrogaming slots, but Playtech fans are vehement that their favorite games
from their favorite company are better.

Playtech offers a smaller selection of games than Microgaming, but many of their games are more distinctive
than Microgaming’s, which admittedly often look almost the same only with slightly different reel symbols.
They don’t offer progressive jackpots quite as large as those at Microgaming, either, but they do have a
healthy selection of progressive games to choose from. Some of the jackpots they have available are
impressive, too. When we checked some of the tickers today while researching this page, we found games
like Jackpot Giant with jackpots over $6 million and Gladiator with a jackpot of over $1.6 million.

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One of the high points of Playtech’s selection of games is the Marvel “Power” games. These include multiple
jackpots of varying levels. Some of them are relatively easy to hit, like the “Extra Power” jackpot, which is only
$1800 or so as we write this. But the Marvel “Super Power” jackpot is a more respectable (and harder to hit)
$40,000 or so.

Other fun titles from Playtech include SafeCracker, Spamalot Holy Grail, and Spamalot Slightly Less. You’ll
probably notice that several of these titles also represent licenses from other properties. Marvel Comics is an
especially good license for Playtech, since their movies are now some of the most popular box office draws
in the world.

Like Microgaming, Playtech casinos don’t allow players for real money from the United States.

Real Time Gaming

Realtime Gaming might be considered one of the “low-rent” online casino software providers. Their software
is notably less expensive for an Internet casino to license or lease, but it also provides games which are a
little bit less exciting and fancy, graphics-wise. We like the RTG games because of their unusual themes,
though. We also like their availability to United States based real money players.

One of our favorite slot machine games from Realtime Gaming is called It’s Good to Be Bad. The gimmick to
this game is that every time you have a “naked pull” (a spin where you win nothing), the meter goes up. When
you get enough losing spins in a row, you win a special jackpot.

Another favorite is called Mid Life Crisis. It’s a 5 reel video slot with lots of paylines, but all of the reel symbols
represent a man’s mid-life crisis. Some examples include a sports car, Viagra, and young women. A similar
game, called Shopping Spree, is aimed more at women slots players. It’s not as interesting as Mid-Life Crisis,
but the gameplay is almost identical. The reel symbols include things like jewelry and fur coats.

RTG has a selection of progressive jackpots, too, but it’s a pretty lackluster list of games. And not all RTG
casinos offer their progressives. One of the more notable progressive jackpots from Realtime Gaming is
called Aztec’s Millions, which, at the time of this writing, tops $1.6 million. The aforementioned Shopping
Spree game comes in 2 versions, both of which offer a progressive jackpot, too.

RTG casinos, for the most part, welcome real money players from the United States. Some of the casinos
leasing their software might have policies related to real money players from the USA, but that’s not a decision
made at the software provider level as it is with Playtech and Microgaming.

WagerWorks

WagerWorks is the online arm of IGT (International Game Technology). Any real slots aficionado will recognize
their name, as they’re the largest manufacturer and designers of slot machines in the world. IGT acquired
WagerWorks in 2005 and began expanding their online presence at that time.

What this means for players is that a lot of their favorite slot machines, which were previously only available
at land-based casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, and other casino destinations, gradually started
becoming available online. This means some of the biggest names in the casino slot machine game
industry-games like Wheel of Fortune, Monopoly, and Elvis are just a few of the slots available via Wager
Works.

Here’s the sad part, though:

Because of the draconian anti-gambling laws in the United States, WagerWorks, like many other online
gambling software providers, doesn’t accept players from the United States. So if you’re one of the many
gamblers in the USA who like to play Wheel of Fortune slots for real money, you’re still going to need to find a
land-based casino at which to play.

WagerWorks offers a quality product, though. Maybe someday the rules will change for United States
gamblers.

Real Money Slots Strategy Advice

Since slot machines are entirely random, no amount of strategy advice can really change your luck. You insert
your money, you press the button or pull the lever, and you take your chances, right?

Not so fast.

You do have some decisions to make before you ever insert any money into a machine. And those decisions
can affect the likelihood of your chances of winning.

We’ve touched on some of those points earlier on this page. We already explained why the frugal gamblers
should avoid progressive slots if she wants to maximize her odds. We also discussed why playing more
traditional 3 reel slots with a single payline usually offers better odds.

One piece of advice we haven’t mentioned yet is that you should play the lowest-denomination slot machine
game that appeals to you. Even though the payback percentages on the higher denomination machines are
higher, they’re not high enough to compensate for the additional cost of playing for higher stakes.

Let’s suppose you’re playing on a game where you’re betting 25 cents per spin, but the payback
percentage is only 91%. Assuming 600 spins per hour, you’re putting $150 per hour into action, and you
can expect to lose 9% of that, or $13.50 per hour.

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Then you switch to another game where you’re betting a dollar per spin, but the payback percentage
is 95%. You’re now putting $600 per hour into action, but you’re still going to lose 5% of that,
or $30 per hour.

Even though the payback percentage is significantly higher on the higher denomination machine, you
still come out way ahead playing the lower stakes machine.

You might think that looking at average losses per hour is the wrong way to approach slot machine games.
And you might have a point there, too. But from a long term perspective, reducing your hourly expected loss
is the most effective way to improve your odds of winning and minimizing your losses over time.

If you stay focused on that, you’ll be a more successful slot machine player than most.

The other piece of advice that we always offer slots players is to consider video poker. The payback
percentages are much better, the games are similar, and you enjoy the ability to make decisions on every
round of play which actually might have an effect on your outcome.

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Slot Machine Apps for Mobile Devices

Many people are enjoying playing slot machine games on their mobile devices these days. Many of these apps
are freebies—they’re just a vehicle for advertising for the app designer. If you like playing slots for free, and if
you don’t mind being exposed to the advertising, then these are a legitimate way to enjoy playing slots online
via your cell phone or tablet.

Another option is to play for real money. You’ll run into two different options when playing slot machines for
real money via a wireless device. One is to download a casino app. That’s probably the best way to go about
this if you have the memory to do so. The games are more robust and look better. Even the sound effects
are better. And you’ll have more games to choose from.

Casinos also offer no download, mobile friendly versions of their games. But these are usually stripped down.
They offer a limited number of these games, and since you’re running the game over your Internet browser,
the graphics capabilities and sound effects are less robust than if you download the apps.

Both options are worth looking into, but we recommend that serious mobile slots players look into
downloading an app.

Summary

Slots for real money online are easy to find, but a lot of the online casino software providers
who create these games don’t accept real money players from the United States. Players
from the USA are left with a choice of free play games, which seem (at least to us) to be
missing the point. After all, gambling is about risking money and having a chance of
winning money.

Different types of slot machine games offer different odds of winning. The most effective
way to get the most gambling for your dollar when gambling on real money slots is to stick
with low denominations, avoid progressive games, and stick with traditional 3 reel
games. If you keep those pieces of advice in mind, you’ll lose less money than most AND
you’ll have a better chance of walking away a winner.

Check out our comprehensive slots guide for even more information on these popular
casino games.