Understanding Volatility in Modern Slot Machines 

Guest Contribution – Newer online slot machines have mostly the same look & feel and features. Most games are very simple to play, with one Spin Button, a few (5-7) reels with a limited set of symbols falling down or spinning around, and a few paylines. Then there are the occasional wins. A game’s Volatility describes the distribution of winning Rounds, and in what way the average Session Length will change compared to that. So in short: a game with low Volatility usually has lots of small wins, whereas a highly Volatile game will go on for a long time without any wins at all, and then have 1 very large win in the bonus feature of the game (with enormous multipliers). Players comparing paytables, licence details, withdrawal rules, mobile limits, bonus rules, and even the best zahranicne kasina picks for Slovak players need to read volatility before chasing a theme or a jackpot.

What volatility actually measures

Volatility measures the distribution of winning Rounds of a Game and does not influence the House Edge of a Game, but rather the fluctuation of winning Rounds versus Session Length. Reviewers who build a list of trust zahranicne online casino options for players from Slovakia should explain that difference beside RTP, because it affects bankroll planning more than a mascot or soundtrack. A low volatility Game is for example a classic Game that returns frequently small wins of 0.2x to 2x the Stake per spin. A high volatility Game on the other hand can have very long dry periods of spins and then suddenly in the Bonus Round huge wins in enormous Multipliers. To get an idea of a Game’s Volatility we recommend playing the Game first with a small Bankroll and playing with the lowest possible Stake. Then apply the following test to the Game of €1 spin Games: A Game that on average returns €0.40 per spin every now and then is gentle. A Game of €1 spin Games that returns nothing for 50 spins and then suddenly pays €80 is wild. Both Games have on average the same Return to Player. The huge differences in terms of the needed nerves while playing the Games however are huge.

RTP and volatility are not twins

Volatility and RTP are two completely different things. Whilst a game’s RTP indicates the average return over a huge amount of plays, volatility refers to the ‘highs and lows’ of winning Rounds and the associated Session Length. Two games could have the same average Return to Player and yet feel completely different to play. A classic example of this would be a game with average Return to Player of 96% such as ‘Slot A’ which returns 24 small wins of between 0.2x and 2x stake per spin in 100 spins playing at average Return to Player. Then there’s ‘Slot B’ which returns only 2 wins in 100 spins, one of which is won via the game’s Bonus feature. Many players have no idea just how volatile a Slot game is and are lured in by a high average Return to Player figure. Sadly, in most cases, their evening of fun is to be destroyed within a few hours of play. This is because the average Return to Player figure is only an average returned over a huge amount of plays. What does it look like returning to you on any given night?

Reading paytables without getting fooled

A game’s paytable is perhaps the best indication of what a slot game is like to play before you actually play it. High paying symbols in the paytable have a large maximum win, but low paying symbols have low maximum wins for long sequences of similar paying symbols. Feature frequencies such as scatter trigger frequencies (as an example 1 in every 180 spins on average) can also give players a clue to what to expect from a slot feature. Games these days even clearly state whether a game is of low volatility, medium volatility, high volatility or even extremely high volatility. The problem with these descriptors is that there is a huge amount of variation between games from different suppliers. For example Pragmatic Play games are generally medium to high volatility games, but games from Play’n GO and Nolimit City are vastly different in this respect. Thus it is best to read the games maximum win, hit frequency and feature cost together with the games volatility rating.

Bankroll size changes the experience

An important factor to consider when assessing the Volatility of online slots is the amount of money a player has to play with. For example, a player with a gaming budget of €30 playing extreme volatility games of €1 per spin could blow their whole balance in as few as 30 spins, with most of those spins losing money in quick succession. However, playing the same games with a much smaller stake of €0.10 (medium volatility) would allow the player to play out 300+ spins with their €30 gaming budget. This makes sense, as the Volatility of a game is felt so much more when playing with smaller amounts of money. The Test recommend playing extremely volatile games at 1/200 of your gaming budget and setting the bet size for medium-volatility games at 0.20 per spin with a gaming budget of €40. For low-volatility games, the recommended way to play is to play at higher stakes but the return for the Jackpot will be lower.

Bonus rounds create the sharpest swings

While the features of a modern slot game deliver the majority of a game’s RTP in the form of Free Spins, Wilds, Multipliers and Hold-and-Win Grids, the base game can remain relatively dull with occasional large wins to remind players that there is more to come. The base game of can remain blank and then pay out 12x for example in the Feature or 900x in a massive Jackpot. A players experience of volatility is further exacerbated by features that can be bought within the game for example a Bonus Buy for the main Bonus Feature. Again such features can very quickly incur large losses – in excess of 100x the Stake Per Spin for each trigger – within a very short space of time, i.e. within 10 such buys. To protect players such features are often capped or even removed from offer in certain jurisdictions.

Picking a volatility level before the first spin

Playing games with low or medium volatility for a short time span (30 minutes) to experience the fluctuations of your gaming balance or playing highly volatile games at lower stakes to try and hunt for big jackpots.

1. Highest payout. Check what the highest win is. Is it suitable for your wishes?
2. Bonus frequency / hit rate. Find out from the game’s information how often the bonus feature in your preferred slot will trigger. Compare this with the feature’s expected hit rate and you’re good to go!
3. Set a loss limit and play slowly. Write down your preferred game of choice and the amount with which you’re playing. Record your starting balance as well as your end balance. Play the game for ten slow sessions of play and after that, you will have a good idea of the volatility of the game and possibly some patterns.

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