Slots are probably the most popular game for many gamblers worldwide. They appeared in 1887 for the first time, although not in the form we know them nowadays. This first slot didn’t award players with money, but with cigarettes and candy instead. One of the main symbols was the liberty bell, hence why you can stumble upon so many people calling it the bell machine, even today.

During the 1970s, slots became electronic, but the lever remained for marketing purposes. To be more specific, removing the lever would’ve been a horrible decision because that’s what most players associated slots with. Although it stopped serving its purpose a long time ago, you can find slots with levers even today, even when everything is entirely digital.

Today, slots take up to 70% of space in land-based casinos, and most of the online casinos dedicate most of the pages to these games. Estimates are that over 30% of gamblers in the mid-20s and 30s prefer playing slots over any other game. This is closely related to the fact we simply don’t have enough time to dedicate to slow-paced and long-term games anymore. During the 90s, the first online slots appeared. Nearly all of them were produced by a different software provider. Moreover, people never even imagined that you could win real money by playing online slots from the comfort of your home. Fast forward to today, and slots have never been more popular.

How to Make Slots Work for You

If you’re looking at brick-and-mortars, it won’t take you long to realize that a slot machine is probably the most ungrateful game out there. With only 85% RTP (Return to Player), physical slots are among the games with the worst payouts. This is because operators are fully aware of the popularity these machines have, so they realized that a lousy RTP doesn’t make a difference.

However, if you look at online casinos, the situation is completely different. Online, slots are some of the games that pay out the best, with the RTP of 95% and up. So if you want to win real money playing slots online, it is actually a quest that you can accomplish. Additionally, these real money slots can be quite generous — the trick is in finding an appropriate real money casino. And by a real money casino, I mean a good, reputable casino that will pay you out, should you win. But before you look at the license and reputation of a casino, you should pay attention to their RTP.

Taking Advantage of the RTP

Ok, you can’t actually take advantage of the RTP (Return to Player) per se, but you can find out if it works for you or not. If you take a look at most of the software-makers, they release their slots with a specific RTP. This number is usually 95% and up for a good reason — that’s what regulations of most countries demand. So it’s good to know that software-makers abide by the laws, but are online casinos the same?

Yes and no — although most of the online casinos strive to be legitimate and fair, just as many are on a mission to rip you off. If a slot’s RTP is lower than 93%, then you shouldn’t really invest a dime into it. It’s obviously rigged in order to take all of your money. Taking advantage of RTP means knowing how RTP works and how high it should be. Pay attention to this at all times; it will help you spot a rogue casino. On the other hand, it will also help you pick a casino that pays out well, and slots will turn out to be quite profitable for you.

Watch out for the Jackpots

As you play slots, it won’t take you long to realize that the primary goal of most slot lovers is to hit the jackpot. The reason behind this is quite reasonable, jackpots can go up to $10 million in worth — and who would want to miss out on that?

The sad part is that hitting a progressive jackpot is not as easy as one might believe — you never know when it will come around. If you want to play slots just to get the jackpot, that’s fine, but if you chase progressive jackpots, you will lose all your money very fast. There are many superstitions explaining how to choose a slot that might make you rich. Obviously, all of them are utterly hilarious and fake. There’s no such thing as a hot or cold slot — everything about them is random, and so are the progressive jackpots.

So if you play for real money, then you better be careful with how you handle it. It’s quite easy to spiral down in the attempt to become a millionaire overnight. Moreover, wishing for this to come true is not a bad thing, but desperately chasing it will only bring you misfortune.

Read the Terms and Conditions Carefully

All online casinos are obliged to have terms and conditions by which everyone needs to behave. And believe it or not, these terms and conditions are what gives casinos out. If they’re downright confusing, and more often than not, completely illiterate — then you should really stay away. These kinds of casinos will offer generous bonuses as well, but if you refer to their terms and conditions page, you will soon realize that they never pay them out.

Best of Both Worlds

Although real money slots don’t necessarily pay out the best, you can always combine them with card games and table games. If you put it all together, you could become quite a rich person in a very short amount of time. So you should try to learn everything there is about your favorite casino games — this will increase your odds of winning significantly. Good luck!