Online Slots Guide for Beginners

At online casino, you’ll find some of the best online slots worldwide, thanks to how the casino sources its various online casino games. Through multiple product development partners, including NetEnt, Novomatic, Aristocrat, Light & Wonder, IGT, Ainsworth, and Konami, to name just a few, BetMGM is capable of providing hundreds of online slot games consisting of every conceivable theme, storyline, reel structure, and jackpot system.

But what about the first-time player? What about the individual who's playing best online slots for money for the very first time? How does this person navigate what, in some cases, can be a relatively complicated and multi-step process comprised of various rules, symbols, and bonus games?

Fear not, would-be first-time online slot player. This online slots guide will hold your hand and walk you through the basics.

The Basics of Online Slot Games

At first glance, online slot games can appear to be complex, especially for beginners. They have a broader selection of features and symbols compared to the classic 3-reel slots that are common in pubs. The reassuring thing is that these features and symbols are universal for the majority of video slots and only vary in appearance based on the slot's theme. Once you learn how they function, you can find your way through most slot games with ease.

Here, you can delve into the fundamentals of online slots, such as the common symbols you encounter when you play, how to understand bonus rounds, and how the RTP of a slot machine influences your chances of winning. This guide gives you the fundamentals, making your slot playing a lot simpler.

Know Your Slot Symbols

Symbols are the building blocks of slot games, landing on the reels in spins to create winning combinations by luck. While all slots feature low- and high-value symbols with fixed payouts, online casino slots introduce more symbols for an enhanced game experience. Some of the popular special symbols are wilds, scatters, and multipliers. Here is how they work.

Wilds

The wild symbols play the role of a joker in a deck of cards in slot machine terminology. A wild symbol on a reel serves as a multi-purpose substitute, filling in for a missing regular symbol to complete a winning payline.

Scatters

Scatter symbols are definitely one of the greatest symbols that you can find in an online slot machine. They have two functions, either awarding you an instant cash prize when you have enough scatters on the reels or taking you into the slot's bonus feature, where the biggest prizes are waiting.

Multipliers

Multipliers, found in certain slots, are activated by bonus symbols or during the slot's bonus feature. In some cases, even scatters and wilds are utilized as multipliers. These bonuses multiply your initial win by a certain factor to enhance your payout over a single or several spins. A 10x multiplier is common, but certain slots offer enormous 777x and higher multipliers.

The Base Game

Slots typically feature a base game and one or more bonus games. The base game involves play in which the accumulation of pay symbols in specific patterns named paylines or sometimes ways leads to gameplay. Three (or more) of the same type is known as a winning combination, and it pays according to the paytable of the specific game.

What Is a Bonus Round?

Most new online slots have enticing bonus rounds that come in a wide variety of forms. The most popular are free spins or independent bonus games, both of which can feature high payouts. The most valuable prizes in most slots are generally put inside the bonus rounds. To access these lucrative segments, it's generally required to gather a sufficient number of bonus symbols or scatters.

What Is RTP and Why Should You Know About It?

RTP, or return to player, is a percentage and is utilized to explain the average payout of a slot game — so it is of immense significance in online slots. For instance, in a 97% RTP game, you would anticipate receiving $97 for every $100 that you wager. It's worth noting that the RTP is worked out across millions of spins, so your experience may differ from the actual RTP during a short playing session.

What Do You Need To Play Slots?

It requires very little to be able to play online casino slots. Owning a smartphone, tablet, or computer with internet access is all that is required to get started. This liberty also extends to the choice of playing directly in your browser or through a stand-alone casino application. Almost all casinos allow you to play in the browser, and therefore no software downloads are required. A few casinos also provide custom slots apps that occupy very little memory on your device for a less lagging running experience.

Types of Online Slots You Can Play

The number of online slot games is more extensive than you'd be able to find in land-based casinos. BetMGM Casino itself, which is live online in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia, has thousands of slots to choose from. The options range from classic slots, video slots, progressive jackpots, cluster pays slots, and Megaways slots (just to name a few).

Video slots are especially suggested for new players, providing ease of use, high RTP, crisp graphics, and mobile support. They rule the online slot world, presenting thousands of games for your choice. Jackpot slots are top among them, with the ability to pay out million-dollar prizes in one spin, frequently appearing in the headlines.

Newer favorites such as cluster pays slots and Megaways slots are more suited to advanced players, and thus are only advisable after sufficient experience has been gathered.

How To Play Online Slots for Money

Embark on the journey of playing online slots for money by effortlessly replenishing your online casino account, mirroring a routine online purchase.
A modest sum, around $10—$20, suffices to kickstart the excitement.
Navigate to the slots lobby post-deposit, where you’ll find a spectrum of online slot machines curated by your chosen casino.
Choose a slot that catches your eye, and decide upon your bet level sensibly.
Choose a stake that will safeguard your bankroll, especially after a smaller deposit, with minimum stakes usually between $0.10–$0.20.

For those with a higher deposit, the betting option rises up to $20–$500 per spin, depending upon the slot selected.

Play Online Casino Games

If you’re looking to play some of the best online slots around, look no further than BetMGM. A diverse portfolio of banking options means that depositing funds and withdrawing winnings is always a seamless process, made even easier by user-friendly and intuitive casino software.