A medium to high volatility slot machine, Jade Dynasty offers a fixed bet configuration with a wagering requirement of at least 25 credits. There are no confusing paylines to keep track of, and each spin provides the possibility of winning up to 25 free games with a doubling multiplier. Rawhide: Marshal’s Bounty. Step back into the Old West.

1. Slot Machine Volatility Index
2. List Of Slot Machine Volatility Chart
3. List Of Slot Machine Volatility Stocks

Many slots players choose their favorite games based on the theme, bonuses, jackpot size, and return to player. These are all perfectly valid ways to pick entertaining slot machines.

The only problem is that volatility is often left out of the equation. Many players don’t account for this concept, or may even be unclear on why it matters.

Volatility actually plays a big role in how much you can expect to win in any given slots session. You can especially look forward to lots of wins with less-volatile slots.

Keep reading as I cover more on why lower volatility leads to more wins. I’ll also discuss the pros and cons of choosing frequent-paying games.

What Is Slots Volatility?

Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of results. Simply put, this term refers to how explosive outcomes can be when compared to the statistical mean.

High volatility means that results vary greatly from the average. Low volatility, in contrast, offers outcomes that are closer to the mean.

Slot machines are some of the most-volatile casino games. They feature a wide variety of prizes, ranging from a few credits to thousands or even millions of credits.

Here’s an example of a simple three-reel slots pay table:

• 3 diamonds = 10,000 coins
• 3 gold coins = 1,000 coins
• 3 sapphires = 500 coins
• 3 rubies = 100 coins
• 3 emeralds = 50 coins
• 3 silver coins = 10 coins
• 3 copper coins = 5 coins

Casinos would lose serious money if they let you win too often with slot machines. After all, some prizes are worth hundreds, thousands, or millions of coins.

The vast majority of your wins will consist of smaller prizes. But even earning 5, 10, or 50 coins when you’re only risking one credit is big.

Slot machines must therefore account for this by offering you less-frequent prizes than other casino games. You won’t win nearly as much with slots as with, say, blackjack or baccarat. They both offer even-money payouts, which is why they give you more-consistent wins.

Of course, there’s division among slots regarding their volatility. Some are less explosive than others, which I’m going to cover below.

Why Does Volatility Matter with Slot Machines?

Return to player (RTP) is one of the first things that many slots players focus on. RTP is important, because it determines how much a slot machine will pay in the long run.

Here’s an example:

• You’re playing a slot with 95% RTP.
• You bet $1,000.
• 1,000 x 0.95 = $950
• You’ll theoretically win back $950.

Slots with high payback give you a stronger long-term chance of winning. But what about the immediate future?

Remember that slot machines are very volatile when compared to other casino games. RTP might explain your long-term odds, but it doesn’t account for the volatility along the way.

A slot with 90% RTP could potentially see you win more in a single session than a game with 95% payback. This scenario is especially true if a slot has reduced volatility, which increases the payouts that it’ll deliver in a short timeframe.

I’m focusing on low-volatility slots in this post, because I like winning more frequently – even in instances when the RTP is a little worse.

How Do You Figure Out Slots Volatility?

Determining how volatile a slot machine is can be easy or hard. It’s easy when a developer lists a volatility rating in the help screen.

Pragmatic Play, for example, gives games a rating ranging from one to five lightning bolts. One bolt means that the game has low volatility and will offer frequent payouts.

Unfortunately, most slot machines don’t give any indication on this factor. You’re therefore left using an alternative method to figure it out.

No foolproof way exists for determining the exact volatility of a slot when the developer doesn’t offer a rating. However, you can make a good estimation based on the pay table.

Here’s what you want to focus on when finding a low-volatility game:

• Jackpot size – You want a smaller jackpot.
• Number of large payouts – Look for fewer big prizes (e.g. 500+ coins).
• Number of small payouts – You want more small prizes (e.g. 10 coins or less).
• Bonus features – Fewer bonuses are better.
• Number of lines – More lines gives you more chances to win on per spin.

Playing slots with small jackpots and fewer bonuses may not be as exciting. However, games like these at least distribute payouts more evenly. They don’t have to account for all of the big prizes and bonuses you can pick up.

Contrast this to a slot machine with a $100,000 jackpot, free spins, second-screen bonus, and scatter payouts. It has so much RTP wrapped up in the jackpot and bonuses that it can’t pay as frequently.

Also note that it’s important to know the difference between a progressive jackpot’s starting and current value. A developer/casino seeds a progressive prize at a certain amount. The payout then grows as players make bets.

Relating this to volatility, you want to pay attention to the seed value rather than the current amount. The seed value is how much the developer and/or casino initially funds a jackpot with.

They base a game’s volatility on their investment – not what the prize has grown to. Therefore, you want to look for slots with jackpots that are seeded low to find less volatility.

Here’s a comparison to explain:

• Two slot machines offer a $1 million progressive jackpot.
• Slot Machine #1 is seeded at $500,000.
• Slot Machine #2 is seeded at $50,000.
• All other things being equal, the second slot has lower volatility.

Pros of Low Volatility Slots

Slot machines with lower volatility offer several advantages in comparison to more-explosive games. Everything begins with the fact that they deliver steadier payouts.

But there are other benefits to these slots that aren’t so apparent. Here are all of the advantages that come with less volatility.

Win More Frequently

Nobody likes spinning the reels 10 times and coming up empty. Unfortunately, this is a problem when playing slots that feature huge jackpots and several bonuses.

You can remedy this problem by choosing slot machines with smoother payout structures. Games with plenty of lines and more small payouts give you stronger odds of winning with each spin.

Of course, this isn’t to say that low-volatility slots are akin to baccarat regarding their payout frequency. You’re still going to experience dry spells and big wins. But you can at least expect payouts more often when compared to the average slot.

Easier Bankroll Management

Bankroll management is difficult with slot machines due to their uncertainty. However, slots with reduced volatility make the process somewhat easier.

Most slots sessions see you lose anywhere from 200 to 300 betting units per hour. You definitely want the lower range of this when trying to manage your bankroll.

Only losing 200 units on average, as opposed to 300, allows you to come up with a more-certain plan. Here’s an example:

• You have a $250 bankroll.
• You want to play at least two sessions that last 4 hours.
• 250 / 2 = $125 per session
• 125 / 4 = $31.25 per hour
• You’re playing low-volatility slots (200 lost units per hour).
• 25 / 200 = 0.156
• You should play a game that lets you bet $0.15 or less per spin.

Nothing guarantees that reality will play out anything like the math suggests. But you still stand a better chance of lasting with a good bankroll plan.

Of course, you can always go on a hot streak and be wildly successful with slots. However, it’s better to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Fewer Emotional Swings

Losing lots of money in a slots session is nerve-wracking. I know from experience how sickening it is to watch $500 disappear in a couple of hours.

The reverse is that slot machines can also pay wins worth thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen as much as rapid losing sessions.

Games with more-stable payout structures are a good way to combat wild results and emotional swings. You may not have a chance at winning life-changing payouts, but at least your losing sessions won’t be as devastating.

Results Are Closer to RTP

Earlier I explained how volatility usually prevents your short-term results from lining up with the RTP. This is good in some ways, because it means that you actually have a chance to win – despite the house edge.

But the downside is that games with high RTP mean less. You can combat this problem by picking slots with lower volatility.

The evener payouts mean that your results will be more in line with the payout percentage. Furthermore, looking for slots with good payback will have more short-term impact.

You’ll Last Longer in the Casino

The problem with high-volatility slots is that they see you lose more per hour than the average game. You’re left hoping to get lucky and hit a significant payout that’ll recoup your losses and then some.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a major windfall. Your bankroll will run out before you collect a six or seven-figure prize.

Less-volatile games are the best way to make your funds last with slot machines. You’ll earn a steady stream of payouts that’ll help sustain your bankroll longer.

Cons of Low Volatility Slots

You can see that frequent-paying slots have many good qualities. They deliver prizes more often, make bankroll management easier, and help you play longer.

But not everything is perfect with these types of slot machines. You should also account for the following downsides.

Small Jackpots

Playing for a life-changing payout injects plenty of fun into slots. This is the reason why games with multimillion-dollar jackpots are so popular.

Low-volatility slot machines are missing this element. They pay more regularly, so they can’t include a big jackpot on top of everything.

You may still have an opportunity to spin for a prize worth anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 credits. But you won’t get rich playing these types of games.

Fewer Bonus Features – If Any

Bonuses are one of the biggest developments in slots history. These extras offer unique ways to reward payouts beyond just spinning the reels.

Free spins are the most-common bonus. They give you the chance to win “free” credits and may include other perks like additional wild symbols and stacked wilds.

Second-screen bonuses give you the opportunity to play a unique mini game. For example, you might need to pick three out of 10 treasure chests to reveal your prizes.

Bonuses add lots of additional entertainment to slot machines. Unfortunately, lower-volatility games don’t offer many of these features (if any).

Most bonuses can deliver large prizes. A frequent-paying slot has limited bonus opportunities, because it can’t offer massive payouts.

Smaller Regular Wins

Jackpots and bonuses aren’t the only ways to collect big prizes through slots. You can also earn large wins on the reels.

A less-volatile slot, though, won’t offer many of these payouts. The largest non-jackpot wins in these games usually range from 100 to 1,000 credits.

These are certainly nice payouts, especially when they happen multiple times in a session. However, they’re not going to launch you into a big celebration.

More Susceptible to Losses Disguised as Wins

Almost every slot machine today has multiple paylines. But low-volatility games tend to have more lines than the average slot.

These additional lines give you more chances to win and recoup your money. However, they also increase the effect of losses disguised as wins (LDWs).

This term refers to when you win a small prize that doesn’t equal your spin cost. Here’s an example:

• You’re playing a 50-line slot.
• You betting one penny per line, or $0.50 overall.
• You win a prize worth $0.20.
• However, you’ve lost $0.30 overall.

The problem with LDWs is that they’re reinforced with flashing lights and winning sound effects. Given the speed of slots, you may be subconsciously tricked into thinking you’re winning money.

I’m not saying that LDWs are exclusive to less-volatile slots. But the effect can be more pronounced when you keep picking up small prizes that aren’t really wins at all.

Should You Play Slot Machines with Low Volatility?

Whether or not you choose to play low-volatility slot machines will be based on what you value most.

Are you solely focused on hitting a big jackpot? Do you want access to the latest bonus features? If you’ve answered yes to these questions, then high-volatility slots are the best choice.

Maybe you don’t value multimillion-dollar jackpots and multiple bonuses too highly. Perhaps you’d rather play an entertaining, low-cost game that awards more prizes.

Less-volatile slots are perfect in this case. They give out more prizes per spin and allow you to stretch your bankroll.

The last part is key if you’re playing on a budget and want your money to last. $50 won’t go very far on a game with a $1 million jackpot and multiple bonus rounds. It will, however, last on a slot with a $5,000 jackpot and just one bonus feature.

You can especially play for hours if you combine low bets with reduced volatility. Smaller wagers expose you less to the house edge and minimize losses.

Online slots are especially good when you’re a low roller. These games often let you adjust lines and coin size. If you play a $0.01 coin on 10 lines, for example, then you’re only wagering a dime per spin.

Again, everything depends on what you’re looking for in a slot machine. The last thing you want to do as a low roller is insert money without considering the betting options and volatility.

Conclusion

Slot machines are very random games. Sometimes they award you multiple big payouts in a session, while other times they quickly drain your bankroll.

The latter scenario is the last thing you want to happen. Luckily, you can reduce the odds of your funds vanishing by choosing less-volatile games.

These types of slots pay more often and help you better sustain your bankroll. Slot machines with reduced volatility also pay truer to the RTP, involve less emotions, and help you play longer.

Low-volatility slots are prefect if you value getting more gambling entertainment. I personally enjoy these types of games, because they allow me to play for cheaper.

However, you should also consider the downsides too. Less-volatile slot machines don’t have big jackpots, other large wins, and several bonuses.

I can easily live without the huge jackpots and regular wins. But the lack of bonuses really bothers me.

You may be concerned with the absence of a big jackpot too. Whatever the case may be, low-volatility slots aren’t perfect.

They do have enough positive points, though, to make them worth playing. In fact, I suggest that you spend the bulk of your time with reduced-volatility games in order to get more play.

For those who understand some of the inner workings of casino slots, the RTP of any given game can be a weighty influence on the decision to play or not. Some people look more at the volatility or inherent risk of a game when deciding. And of course, we all simply have favorite themes and titles that have tickled our excitement buttons in the past.

In this article, we’ll examine what the terms really mean, how they affect gaming satisfaction, and we’ll make a case for focusing more on volatility than RTP if you want to exert more control over the whether you ever win big or not.

RTP (Return to Player) is a theoretical and actual mathematical measure of the amount of money any given slot machine should and does pay back over time.

In the simplest terms, if the house edge is 5%, then the RTP is 95%. On average, after hundreds of thousands of spins, $0.95 of each $1.00 churned through the machine will be returned to players and $0.05 will be ‘left in the machine’. This is the casino’s profit margin.

Volatility is a measure of risk. A highly volatile game will have a long series of low paying, or zero return spins followed by random bigger wins. A game with a low volatility index will return money to the player more often but in smaller amounts.

While it may seem that unraveling the mysteries behind slots could take some of the fun and excitement out of them, the reverse is actually more likely. If you know how to choose a high RTP game with a volatility index that fits your play style, you can choose to spin all day on a small deposit or go for the gusto in an all-or-nothing frenzy in hopes of a big payday. That seems more fun than leaving your session up to the fates, doesn’t it?

Pro Tip – Random Jackpots:

If you know a game with an unusually big random jackpot has high RTP and low volatility, and the same chance to trigger on every spin, you will want to play that game because you can cycle your bankroll through it many more times than you could a riskier game with lower returns.

In order to more thoroughly understand slots and how the maths affect you, it is necessary to understand a few key terms. We won’t use them all in this article but they are all important to the discussion.

Key Terms RTP vs Standard Deviation/Volatility/Variance

Theoretical return to player percentage (RTP) – The amount of money a slot machine is expected to pay back over time.

Actual RTP – The amount of money a slot machine actually pays back over time.

Confidence Interval – If the testers use a 95% confidence interval the actual RTP will be within the accepted range (standard deviation) in 19 out of 20 tests. If the confidence interval is 99% only one out of one-hundred tests will fall outside the mean.

Volatility [standard deviation (SD), risk] – The standard deviation is the most commonly used index of volatility. Highly volatile games will present rare but large prizes, whereas a low volatility game will award smaller prizes, but they will occur more often. Highly volatile slots are less predictable.

Variance – This is not the same as volatility, but is often used interchangeably by laymen. The SD is arrived at as the square root of variance – variance depends on the cycle and prize frequency of a game.

Probability – The likelihood of an event occurring, or the total number of possible outcomes.

Permutations – As related to variance, a way in which a set of things or a number of things can be ordered or arranged.

Combinations – Random elements in any order. There are 120 possible ways to arrange five items if no results occur more than once. 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120.

Random Number Generator (RNG) – a construct designed to generate a random set of numbers with no distinguishable patterns in appearance or generation. The math machine (algorithm) that assures a fair game

Game Maths – The programming of a slot to achieve the desired RTP, factoring in such things as bonus mechanics, hit frequency, bonus frequency, and how much of the RTP occurs during base gameplay or bonus rounds, etc.

Bonus Mechanics – How features are played out. This can also include how wild symbols appear and how they “act” (expanding, stacked, etc), respin features, free spins with multipliers, picking games, etc.

Game Engine – The software framework that does everything from rendering graphics and sounds, to managing features

Hit Frequency – How often the game will stop on any winning combination

Readers will find dozens or even hundreds of pages out there that talk about return to player percentages (Theoretical RTP and Actual RTP) as well as volatility. Some are well-informed and some are full of gobble-dee-gook insisting that with the proper knowledge you can outguess a random number generator (RNG) and “win at slots”.

If you know all you want to know for now, or want to save a few brain cells to play, there actually are some “slot hacks” that can help you win.

Plenty of facts to follow…

We’ll break down these two important elements of slots play and sprinkle in enough hard science to make the subject understood and hopefully enjoyable for readers at all current levels of understanding.

Most players have a mixed bag of beliefs and feelings about slots, many have conflicting ideas. It’s okay to mix in a little superstition and magical thinking to make the games more fun as long the facts can stand on their own.

Are you still with me?

The reason the facts are not more widely understood in detail is rather easy to guess…

The study of probability is simply boring or cumbersome for many people. We’ve also been exposed to fairy tales and misunderstandings, not to mention outright scammers looking to make a buck off their “insider knowledge” of how slots work.

The simple fact that you are reading this tells us that you and I are almost on the same page, we both want to know presicely what goes on behind the curtain, and by the gods Fortuna, Bonus Eventus, and Tyche we want to know why we win and why we lose!

Jump to the meaty stuff or enjoy the minutia…

It would appear as if the physical model of virtual reel strips and the mapping of them to determine game maths is most likely a defunct art of old-timers. Most of today’s slots seem to operate from another model, one where the result is determined and then the symbols on the reels align to the stars after the fact.

Of course, most virtual reel machines are programmed like this but many slots today do not seem to have virtual reel strips.

We can only assume this is due to the complicated maths needed to code and deliver some of today’s advanced bonus mechanics. NetEnt comes to mind as do some of the newer Microgaming titles. We simply can’t be sure without access to the proprietary information.

What we do know for sure, because they tell us, is that some game developers are using fixed odds models rather than reel strip maths on games that appear to be slots, but in fact, simply spin animated reels for eye candy with the results determined otherwise.

One such game is Legend of Terra by NeoGames. Reading the Help file we find:

“The game’s appearance and functionalities are those of a slot. But the outcome of the game is actually determined by a fixed-odds paytable”.

Another UKGC-licensed developer also provides “slot” games based on the fixed-odds model of scratch cards. This removes all volatility for the operator because if a game is set to 97% RTP, exactly 97,000 game/pay instances in 100,000 will be equal bet winners. The operator is guaranteed a 3% house edge once every “ticket” has been cycled through.

The problem for players with this accepted and licensed model is that we do not know if the top prizes have already been awarded (much like buying scratch tickets from a retailer) so we will never have a chance to win the top prizes if they have already been awarded. We may spin our wheels with empty tickets and the occasional small win – why? If the top prizes have already been awarded, they simply do not exist!

Real slots, in our opinion, do not operate like that. We believe that the old-style virtual simulation of a physical machine with x number of symbols on each reel, along with the attendant odds of that model, are the only pure and true slots.

The gaming commissions of the world may not agree. We find no rules or laws that dictate how the RTP is to be accomplished, only that it must be observable, verifiable, and repeatable.

The Meaty Stuff

Theoretical Return to Player Percentage vs Actual RTP

Before we go too deeply into the maths, it’s important to keep in mind that operators occasionally have options when it comes to RTP. The same game can have different maths at different casinos online just as they can and do on land.

How is this possible..?

The UK (RTS 3C) and Sweden, for example, require that the RTP be a knowable number for consumers. Many other jurisdictions do not require that you know the RTP. We occasionally see par sheets with a range of RTPs listed.

Glory be, guess what?

When the games are deployed in the UK where the RTP is stated in the rules they have the highest possible RTP setting. When they are offered elsewhere, under a Malta license, for example, they can be set to any number within the given range.

On the side of caution, we simply expect some Canadian slots to be less lucrative for players than the same titles at a UKGC licensed casino.

Does that seem unfair?

Read on to see why we’re not so sure…

Most developers keep their game data a closely held secret. Some are more generous with the information. You may see the RTP, a volatility index of low, medium, or high, the max bet possible (also adjustable by operators) and the maximum “exposure” of a single spin (the most that can be won). However, some casinos are proud to display at least the RTP if nothing else. We only know of one operator that actually allows players to filter games by volatility.

In reality, the volatility of a slot is a much more important consideration than the RTP (within a couple of percentage points either way).

Yes, that is counterintuitive, but we have to keep in mind that the theoretical RTP will only be reached (within more or less a percentage point) after ONE MILLION SPINS using a confidence interval of 95%. [Volatility (standard deviation) of 5.6].

As we can see from the table above captured from the UKGC website, there is a nearly 5% (4.90862) deviation from the mean after 50,000 spins! This tells us the RTP is more important to regulators and to a casino’s bottom line with thousands of players spinning than it is to individual players.

In more concrete terms…

A game with 94% Theoretical RTP can fairly give you or me an actual RTP anywhere between ~89.09% and ~98.9% after 50,000 spins and the Gambling Commission would still consider the game to be performing as expected.

That’s a big number, and if we do 1,000,000 spins we’re still only ahead or behind by a single percentage point (1.09760%).

Obviously, if given the choice, we would select the game with the highest RTP, but the number is simply too squishy to be the most important factor unless we consider the deviation.

Of course, a game with lower volatility would reach an acceptable deviation in fewer spins.

Let’s bring RTP home with volatility, shall we..?

Should you match your game choices to your appetite for risk?

Most likely!

RTP should matter most to you (within a few percentage points) if you play low-risk games and expect to spend the next 50-100 hours torturing your bankroll. Yes, life is one single gambling session but you have to break out the numbers somewhere for illustration.

50k spins@15 per minute = 55 hours. Please see the red arrow above. The very low-risk game (std dev 7.2%) begins operating near the theoretical RTP somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 spins.

Spin 8 hours per day for 2 weeks to achieve going broke..?

If you normally want to spin all day or all night on a modest bankroll, in hopes of the rare jackpot and you are happy with more frequent small wins (or win celebrations, depending on the software) then you may want to seek out low index games using a search engine and making a list of them.

“Put it all on 17” and spin once..? Go broke or go home happy.

Alternately, if you prefer the adrenaline rush of a big win now and then, and you don’t mind busting your bankroll with a quickness most days, you know the sort of games to search for!

Slot Machine Volatility Index

It can be very rewarding to hop around as well, depending on the mood du jour.

Choosing High-Risk Games

Before going further we’d like to caution that statistically, high-risk bettors lose more and lose more often. In the summer of 2019, regulators in Macau put a stop to casinos using artificial intelligence algorithms, facial identification, and other tech to identify and target high-risk players. According to Bloomberg, high-risk players tend to lose ten times more than the average player.

That said, playing highly volatile slots is the only way you are likely to win any significant amount of money. Yes, low-risk games do occasionally pay out well, but even the top prize is often small compared to what can be won on higher risk (high volatility) games.

Highly volatile slots, by nature, have a lower hit frequency. The wins are also bigger when they occur. A rule of thumb to follow when attempting to identify high volatility games by looking at the paytable is that the lowest possible prize is usually higher on a high-risk game compared to a low-risk game. However, the reverse is not necessarily true.

Player-Controlled Volatility

While you can increase the volatility of some games, you can almost never decrease it. Yes, there are free spins bonus rounds that give you a range of choices – more free spins with a lower multiplier or fewer free games with a higher multiplier.

And, of course, there is Good Girl Bad Girl from Betsoft. Choose the Good Girl for pays from left to right (low index), the Bad Girl for pays right to left (high index) or choose both for medium volatility…

But you can’t dial down the game maths – they are chiseled in stone.

However, you can increase your risk and reward potentials by choosing fewer paylines and increasing your bet on each line. If you normally bet $0.01 per line on all 20 lines, you can choose 10 lines and bet $0.02 per line. You will have half the chances to win twice as much. You have easily changed the volatility of the game to feed a higher risk appetite.

List Of Slot Machine Volatility Chart

If you normally bet $1.00 per spin you can choose 11 lines at $0.09 each for $.99 spins.

List Of Slot Machine Volatility Stocks

RTP and Volatility Summation

Regardless of what our guts tell us, or even what other experienced players may believe, the maths show us that RTP is far less important than the volatility of a slot game. That is not to say we should ignore the number, it’s still important to some degree, especially on games tested with a high confidence interval where the deviation is small.

The SD, or volatility index effects the results of games far more than the RTP does since we will probably never spin the same slot 50,000 times, let alone 1,000,000 times – and – the potential result of every spin is influenced more by the inherent risk built into the game than the theoretical RTP.

If you find the subject of RTP and Volatility interesting we can suggest further reading.

• Estimating the Ability of Gamblers to Detect Differences in the Payback Percentages of Reel Slot Machines: A Closer Look at the Slot Player Experience
  Anthony F. Lucas
  A. K. Singh
• A Personal Guide to Electronic Slot Machines
  John M. Pacyniak, Ph.D.
• For the mathematically inclined, a discussion of Standard Deviation on the Wizard of Vegas forum.