What is Online Slots Volatility?
Online slots feature as the most played among all online casino games. Most online gambling sites have a complete library of video slots categorized into themes, features, progressive jackpots and more to attract customers to their sites. However, when playing slots there are a few essential aspects that you should consider that can contribute to an enhanced gameplay.
Slots Volatility is one among many other factors that you must look at before choosing to play an online slots game. Both volatility and variance play a key role in determining the game’s profitability and entertainment quotient.
What is online slots game volatility?
Referred to as the risk factor, volatility describes how risky a certain game can be to the player. Most online slots payout regular winning amounts while there are many that reap you nothing for longer intervals. While you may think this is because you weren’t lucky enough to win, that may not be the fact. The dry patches are often an outcome of the slot’s volatility.
A slot machine that offers high volatility may have few payouts but each time it does you may be able to nab a big win. For instance, the progressive jackpot slots may not pay small amounts at regular intervals, but if you can risk a hefty bankroll and have the patience to sit through the game, you might land up hitting a massive win at a go. These games may not suit all players because you will be required to wager maximum amounts to be able to crack the jackpot.
In contrast to the highly volatile online slots are the low volatility games which payout frequently. You can claim your wins regularly as the payouts come on the base game reels as well as on the bonus games which are also triggered frequently. A drawback of low volatile slots is that the win amounts tend to be low and they seldom feature big jackpots. However, with frequent winning chances you can keep your bankroll fuelled.
The connection between volatility and variance in online slots
When it is said that a game has a high variance it refers to one that pays out occasionally yet features big potential wins. The term high variance thus relays much of the same meaning as that of a game with high volatility. Same is the case with the terminology low variance in which such games pay out smaller wins but frequently much like the low volatile games.
In gambling, it may not always be easy to accurately depict which games have high or low variance yet the pay table can indicate the volatility of the game to a great extent. Games with huge jackpots are the obvious high variance ones as the big life-changing pays can come only when small amounts wins are paid out.
Another way to gauge the variance of an online slots game is by checking how much it pays for matching four symbols vis-à-vis that paid for five symbols. If you see that the payout for five symbols is stepped up by almost 15 or 20x against that of four symbols, it is indicative of a high variance slot. Smaller payout gaps mean that it is a low variance game.