Slot machines are an absolute casino classic. In fact, they're what the vast majority of people imagine when they think of "casino". Dozens of flashing displays, lots of colorful buttons, pleasant sounds and uncomfortable black leather chairs around those big plastic machines. That is, if we're talking about land-based casinos and gaming halls.
In online versions, all the physical aspects of this description disappear, leaving only pleasant graphics, an exciting atmosphere and the chance to enjoy some entertainment. Unlike land-based venues, this entertainment awaits you right on your phone and on other devices where you can enjoy it whenever you feel like it.
Slot machines have been part of the gambling world since time immemorial. Although games like roulette, blackjack or poker are often associated with casinos, the truth is that the greatest popularity and preference still belongs to slot machines.
And no wonder! Their history dates back to the nineteenth century, and according to some sources, the first machine appeared around 1887! Back then, the machine featured regular playing cards instead of the familiar symbols, and players could win if they managed to form a poker combination. The rewards back then were not huge sums like today, but rather lunches, drinks and other small perks from the establishment.
After card machines, which served more as pleasant entertainment in various bars and restaurants, came the classic lever machines. These were operated by players using a lever and offered decent winning potential.
And although machines quickly became ingrained in the minds and hearts of many people, they experienced their real boom in the eighties and nineties of the last century, when they also underwent technological development. It was then that the first video slots appeared on the market, completely changing the game. The typical lever disappeared from the machines, buttons appeared, and machines took on the form they still have in land-based casinos today. However, despite their rapid development and increased popularity, machines still couldn't compete with other casino games. Poker, blackjack and roulette continued to attract more players and generate more revenue for casinos than slot machines.
In the following years, however, the situation turned around. By the end of the nineties, with the rapid expansion of the internet, the first online casinos began to appear, including the first completely online slots. These offered all the advantages that players enjoy today – speed, accessibility and simplicity. This combination of features dramatically increased the popularity of these casino games among players.
The world of online gambling expanded at lightning speed at the turn of the millennium. These were foreign online casinos that were emerging at the time. In the Czech Republic, this growth didn't come until around 2017, when it first became possible to obtain a license to operate such platforms. At the same time, a law amendment was passed that harmonized gambling regulations in the Czech Republic with European Union directives.
So how are slot machines doing today? They are now among the most widespread and popular casino games. Both in online environments and in land-based casinos and gaming halls.
With each game, just as before, spinning the reels of a machine injects players with adrenaline and excitement. Will three bells land? Which winning line will activate? Will the correct symbol land on the last reel? Will you finally win? Just one correct line filled with the correct symbols and it will be there – you'll be a winner.
This is the idea that motivates constant pressing of the spin button, which machines in both physical and online form often have, forcing the reels to spin again. Because it's such a random and simple game, machines continue to enjoy great popularity decades after their creation. After years of play, however, some players come up with theories that you can determine if and when a machine will pay out. Words often come up about having to "feed" the machine first so it will then yield its treasures. But what's really the case?
Rather than luck, it's simple mathematics. Although many devoted machine players and fans refuse to believe it, the results that machines display on their reels are the result of a random number generator's work. Every spin that a machine performs based on your command (pressing the appropriate button) is therefore independent, unique and doesn't follow from your previous play.
A machine doesn't have settings that would allow it to determine which spin will be winning or when and who will win. All myths about being able to "feed" a machine are really just myths and players' secret wishes.
In reality, a machine isn't equipped with memory that would allow it to store information about when, who and how much was played on it or how much money a particular player left in it. Everything is the work of the random number generator, which guarantees the authenticity of the results displayed on the individual reels.
Although you can read various strategies on many websites about how to beat machines or how to "guarantee a win", the truth is that such strategies don't work. Everything is truly controlled by chance.
It's possible. In an ideal world, we should promise you that it doesn't happen and that it's not possible, but the opposite is true. We live in a world where people do a lot for enrichment – they're happy to cheat. And it's no different in the gambling world. It's therefore essential that you're always sure that the casino you're playing at is safe, licensed and that you know how to recognize a safe casino.
In Czech casinos, machines like all other casino games are regulated and fall under the strict supervision of relevant authorities.
Under ideal conditions and in safe casinos, machines are certified and their results are regularly monitored. In such places, you can be assured that you'll enjoy fair play that gives you a real chance to win. The RTP (return to player) determines what chance you actually have of winning on a specific machine.
So what is RTP anyway? It's one of the terms you should definitely know before you even start playing. Below we'll explain five basic concepts that relate to payouts on slot machines.
The so-called RTP or "Return to player" is a term that refers to return to player. So it's information that tells you how much of the money you've wagered should be returned to you. But it's about long-term returns. So it doesn't work in a way that a casino guarantees how much you'll win in your next game.
Information about the RTP of a specific machine is provided by casinos as a percentage, most commonly machines have RTP set at 95–97%. This means that in the long run, you should get back 95 to 97 crowns from every hundred crowns you wager on these machines.
Czech legislation sets RTP limits for slot machines at 75 – 100%.
Volatility is a term that describes whether a machine gives you mostly smaller wins or one larger win instead. If a casino or specific machine has low volatility, it's telling you that you're more likely to take home multiple smaller wins from playing. In the case of high volatility, the machine is more likely to give you one large win.
Another term related to payouts on slot machines is hit rate. This term is linked to volatility and refers specifically to how often wins occur. It's something you can observe yourself on a machine – if you get a win every other spin, then the hit rate on that machine is high. The opposite is true when a machine gives you a win every fifty or hundred spins – there the hit rate is low or lower.
The term RNG refers to a random number generator, whose operation on machines we've already described above. Not only in the world of machines, but overall in online gambling, this is an absolutely key element, without which the game couldn't function fairly. This software constantly generates long sequences of numbers from which a random selection is made for the result of a given spin, completely independent of previous or future spins. Certification authorities should regularly test the RNG and its mathematical models to confirm and certify their impartiality.
Winning lines determine along which paths on the game grid winning symbol combinations are evaluated. With classic machines, these are fixed lines that can run in various directions. Literally – they can run horizontally, diagonally or zigzag across the reels. The number of active winning lines has a direct impact on the frequency of wins and the total stake amount. The more lines are active, the more frequent smaller wins, but at the same time your gaming costs increase faster. Winning lines don't change your chance of winning, they're just a way of evaluating it. The number of winning lines varies between machines from a few to several thousand. There are even machines where thanks to expanding reels, the number of winning lines increases.
Example of five winning lines on an online machine:
That was just the basics when it comes to machine payouts. If everything works as it should, machines provide you with pleasant and fairly fair play. But if it is fair play, you might wonder – how do casinos make money and how do they make their living providing machines? Let's answer that question.
On both foreign and Czech online platforms, machines are certainly one of the highest-earning sections. But how can such machines make money for a casino if they are fair and fairly pay out all winnings to players?
Their income is created precisely because of the lower volatility of machines. Even though machines are certified, regularly checked and provide you with "fair play", they are always set up to favor the casino. Machines never offer more than a hundred percent, nor even a hundred percent volatility. This means they don't offer the possibility that the game will pay off for you in the long run. And so, because you lose in the long-term perspective, the casino wins in the long-term perspective.
Example: A machine gives you 96% volatility. This means that from every hundred crowns you wager, 96 crowns should be returned to you, the remaining 4 crowns are the casino's profit. Sure, no casino is saved by four crowns, but if you take into account the extent of the machine section, their popularity and the number of players who enjoy machines, then it makes sense. From every million crowns wagered, such a machine gives the casino 40,000.
You'll probably never find out exactly what volatility a machine has, some casinos keep this information to themselves. But you can test the hit rate of a machine yourself. Just spin a few times and find out how often wins (don't) occur on that machine.
But you don't always feel like losing your deposited money just to try out a specific machine. And we understand that. Fortunately there's a solution! The vast majority of Czech and foreign online casinos now offer a so-called demo version of most of their game and machine offerings.
A machine's demo version is an ideal opportunity for you to explore the entire game, try it out and click through. In demo mode, the machine behaves the same as during regular play. You get to enjoy its graphics, musical accompaniment, it offers you its wild and scatter symbols, you get to enjoy any mini games, you understand how winning lines work in it, you get a look at its hit rate and you even see what it looks like when you win something on that machine. Note that all winnings you get in demo mode are just simulations – you don't deposit any real money into such a game and you don't take anything out of it either.
We've already described the terms related to payouts on machines above, now let's look at terms related to playing machines. Do you know what scatter or wild symbols are? What do respin or multiplier mean?
The term symbol on machines refers to any specific sign, pattern, image or other graphic element depicted on the reel. Symbols are the building blocks of the entire game, different symbols have different values and their combinations determine whether you win or activate bonus features. Symbols are usually themed according to the game's storyline.
Wild symbol functions as a substitute symbol, a wild card in the game. This symbol can replace other symbols in a winning combination. Its main purpose is to make it easier to form winning symbol combinations and thus increase the frequency of possible wins. Most wild symbols don't replace scatter or bonus symbols, but there are wild symbols that, for example, multiply.