By Jasper Mills
8 min read
Online slots are the most popular online casino game nowadays. These games draw inspiration from classic slot machines at Las Vegas casinos, but they are made differently online. More bonus games, better odds, crisp graphics, and huge variety.
Finding a top-notch online slot machine across all main areas – gameplay, RTP, payouts, odds, sound effects, theme, etc. – is near impossible. Some slot machines are the best in terms of odds, but others offer a distinctive experience because they combine mini-games with progressive jackpots and free spins.
In this guide, we will try to do the impossible. Provide you with excellent slot machine names based on all critical factors. Our experts have tried out thousands of games to come up with the following names of slot machines!
What Are The Best Slot Machines to Play Online?
The word best is personal in most cases. My top-rated online slots might be unappealing to you. However, there are some objective areas where you can focus when searching for an excellent slot machine to play at a casino. Here they are:
Odds
Slot machines with the best odds carry good long-term winning chances. This can be defined based on a game’s return to player rate, which is a theoretical value that plays out across millions of spins. The higher the slot RTP, the better its odds of winning more.
Bonus Games
Traditional slot machines in Vegas and Atlantic City featured 3-reels or 5-reels at best. This limited the creativity and bonuses that could be added to the games. As such, most games carried wilds, scatters, and a free spin feature. Online slots are way more interesting when it comes to their bonuses. Some slot machines feature expanding reels, upgraded symbols, wilds, wild multipliers, scatters, bonus symbols, jackpots, and more.
Payouts
Like RTP is used to calculate the long-term payouts; volatility is another metric you can consider when searching for the best slot machine at a casino. It ranges from low to high, with higher variance games signifying big win slot machines but less frequent wins. This can significantly affect your gaming experience and bankroll.
Gaming Vendor
The slot options you get online are different for land-based slot machines because different companies make them. Online slot machines are more diverse, with over 200 software companies producing them. In contrast, a handful of gaming vendors make slot machines for Vegas casinos. Knowing who makes the game can help you find the slot machine names you will see at selected casinos.
These areas help us spot top-rated games across several benchmarks objectively. The same cannot be said for gameplay since one might prefer classic slots and someone else Megaways slots. Using these criteria, we explain which slot machines are the best from each category.
Best Slots To Play in Vegas
The best Las Vegas casinos are home to 2,000+ slot machines. Most of these Vegas slots are powered by IGT, Light & Wonder, Aristocrat, Ainsworth, Bally’s Technologies, and other classic industry names. Usually, their RTPs range between 85% and 95%, which is below the industry average for online slots. This is normal, though, due to the massive costs they need to pay for the maintenance of the venues.
They stand out for their variety of themes, typical gameplay, progressive jackpots, and ‘expensive’ themes. By expensive, we mean branded slot machines, either based on movies or celebrities. You can find slot machines themed around Batman, Paris Hilton, or Robocop. But that’s not a smart way to go about finding the best slot machine to play at a land-based casino.
Instead, we suggest players the following games if they ever find themselves in a Vegas casino:
RTP is king in slot machines. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for the best online slots for real money or the best slot machines at a casino. The higher the RTP value, the more likely you will win in the long run.
This value is theoretical and provided by the gaming vendors of slot machines. It is always negative since these games guarantee profit for the casino, but you could always bring it home before the average is realized. The higher the RTP, the better your slot machine winning chances.
As we previously mentioned, online slot machines are much better regarding RTPs. The 96% is the industry average, but you can do much better than this. To help, we list the 10 best slot machines in terms of odds:
| Best odds slot machines | RTP | Provider |
|---|---|---|
| OOH AAH Dracula | 99% | Barcrest |
| Jackpot 6000 | 99% | NetEnt |
| Marching Legions | 98.12% | Relax Gaming |
| The Catfather | 98.1% | Pragmatic Play |
| Blood Suckers | 98% | NetEnt |
| Jokerizer | 98% | Yggdrasil |
| Starmania | 97.87% | NextGen Gaming |
| Good Girl Bad Girl | 97.79% | Betsoft Gaming |
| Golden Tour | 97.71% | Playtech |
| Big Red | 97.04% | Aristocrat |
Best Payout Slot Machines
Long-term payouts are different than actual online slot payouts. Most of the games we provide above are low to medium-volatility slots that offer a balanced game. Your balance will most likely average its starting point when playing such high RTP slots with low risk.
If you like your gaming experience to be fun and adrenaline-filled, you got to look elsewhere. Preferably to our list of best payout slot machines.
The slots that pay the best at the casino will either be high volatility slots (scarce but big payouts) or progressive jackpot slots. The latter is a standard slot game that includes a top progressive prize that accumulates based on all the bets placed on it or the linked network until someone wins it. The prize then resets and starts from scratch. Some progressive slot machines have paid over $40 million in one go. Still, high volatility slots these days can offer equal massive payouts without a progressive pot.
Here are a few great picks if you are looking for the best payout slot machines:
| Best payout slot machines | Maximum Win (Non-Progressive) | Progressive Jackpot? | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aztec Millions | 2,500x | $1 million seed | RealTime Gaming |
| Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold Deluxe | 5,000x | $100,000 seed | RealTime Gaming |
| Mega Moolah | 10,000x | $1 million seed | Microgaming |
| Age of the Gods | 50,000x | $200,000 seed | Playtech |
| Shopping Spree 2 | 10,000x | $200,000 seed | RealTime Gaming |
| Starburst XXXtreme | 200,000x | – | NetEnt |
| San Quentin Xways | 150,000x | – | Nolimit |
| Wild Flower | 114,100x | – | Big Time Gaming |
| Mental | 66,666x | – | Nolimit |
| Peking Luck | 180,000x | Pragmatic Play | |
| Rise of the Mountain King | 50,000x | – | NextGen Gaming |
| Dead or Alive 2 | 111,111x | – | NetEnt |
| Money Train 3 | 100,000x | – | Relax Gaming |
| Super Boost | 200,000x | – | Electric E. |
Slots With Bonus Games
All slot machine types we covered in the previous sections are outstanding in terms of odds, payouts, RTPs, and overall mechanics. But not equal when it comes to bonus rounds and gameplay.
Players looking for exhilarating bonus games must look far beyond a standard free spin round or stacked wilds. Themed bonus games immerse you into the action, where you must uncover hidden treasures to win a prize or climb up ladders by selecting random buttons. They don’t necessarily pay more, but top bonus game slots can be extremely fun. Here are some excellent examples:
5 Best Slot Machines to Play at Online Casinos
We have provided 30 gaming options so far, ideal for different tastes. The following five tend to be the most played across all online casinos, and we can reasonably rate them as the best slot machines of all time!
Pragmatic Play keeps growing the Big Bass Bonanza slot collection with spin-offs that users love. The most successful to date remains Bigger Bass Bonanza. On first look, the game isn’t anything special. A 5×4 game grid with 12 paylines, where you can get up to 20 free spins.
The bonus round supports retriggers based on how many multipliers land, and each wild helps you collect random fish prizes. The top win is an average 4,000x, but the overall gameplay is highly immersive and takes place in a fun underwater setting.
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Developer – NetEnt
Starburst has been one of the most popular low volatility slots since its release in 2011. It’s a space-themed slot with a 5×3 layout, and bets range from $0.10 to $50 per spin.
The game has fun gameplay with low volatility, where you need to match at least three symbols on the paylines from either sides. Wilds remain stacked and trigger a free respin, making it easier to land consecutive wins up to 500x.
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Developer – Microgaming
Immortal Romance came out in 2011 and is a Microgaming slot with 243 ways to win. It’s similar to Thunderstruck 2 in that you can unlock additional bonus games as you trigger the free spin round.
There are four different rooms to enter, with unique features in each. These include free spins, multipliers, stacked wilds, etc.
The data and graphics of this title are also out of this world, literally making it an immortal hit! Try it for real money at:
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Bonanza was the first Megaways slot to make the niche popular, developed by BGT in 2016. The game is themed around the gold rush era, with 6 reels and up to 7 rows. This format allows for over 117,000 ways to win per spin.
Each win leads to a cascade of winning symbols, with new winning opportunities for free. Form the word GOLD on a single spin, and you can play its renowned free spins round, where each win adds x1 to the multiplier!
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This is a lesser known slot, but my personal favorite. It’s a super high volatility game taking place in a zeppelin where a group of gamblers plays casino games. I love this game because it can pay over $100,000 from a low max bet of $1.
This can be achieved through the multiplier wilds carried to the free spins bonus game. Any additional wild that lands add a multiplier to all other stacked wild multipliers bringing home massive wins. The bonus game can also be retriggered for even bigger wins!
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Summary
Our team has already explained that finding one of the thousands of online slots available today to classify as the best is quite hard. We provide several excellent slot machines of various types, helping you play according to your needs.
You can find these and thousands more on our recommended casinos. You can start using the demo mode to practice and test each game before spending real money. Using our links, you can also grab a no deposit bonus or a slot machine free spins bonus to lower the entry cost while still having a chance to win big.
New slot machines are regularly released, and we will be the first to update our list of the best slot machines to play in 2024 to keep you in the loop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Popular slot machines include Mega Moolah, Bigger Bass Bonanza, Starburst, Immortal Romance, and Book of Ra.
The best-paying slot machines usually have a high RTP (return to player) rate and low house edge. Examples include Aztec Millions and Money Train 3.
The best odds for slot machines can be found at online casinos audited by independent third-party organizations.
Progressive slot machines have a growing jackpot connected to a network of devices, while non-progressive machines have a fixed jackpot.
Online slot machines can be fair and safe if they are offered by reputable online casinos that use secure connections and are licensed by respected authorities.
There is no guaranteed winning strategy for slot machines, as a random number generator determines the outcome. Some players suggest managing bankroll, choosing high RTP games, and taking advantage of bonuses.
New and exciting slot machines include Reel Rush 2, Jingle Spin, The Dog House Megaways, and Fruit Party.
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