What Does Volatility Mean When Talking About Slot Machines?

Volatility probably is one of the bogey terms when it comes to online slots and their characteristics. However, volatility isn’t that that complicated, and it is quite easy to explain the concept in layman’s terms. So, if the question is ‘what does volatility mean when talking about slot machines?’, then that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about.

First things first, you should always make a distinction between volatility and randomness, because all slots are random, but not all games have the same degree of volatility. There are games with a low volatility, high volatility slots, as well as slots with medium volatility. There is a slot machine volatility index, but there’s no need to get to technical, we’ll try to explain the concept as simple and as straightforward as possible. Pay attention and you’ll find out exactly what does volatility mean when talking about slot machines.

Slot Volatility Index Formula – Is It Necessary?!

Firstly, let us define the concept of volatility. Volatile means something that’s unstable, based solely on the meaning of the word, some of you might be inclined to consider volatility to be a negative trait, but it’s not like that. It depends on what you’re looking for in a game. Low volatility slot machines might be your thing, but you might prefer high volatility slot games, it all depends on your view of slot gaming and your expectations.

So, we already said that volatility and randomness are two connected but different concepts. Let us explain randomness a bit more thoroughly. All online slots are random, meaning that the outcome of each spin cannot be predicted or influenced in any way. In that sense of the word all games are equally random, because you have no way of knowing what is going to happen. You can’t even make an educated guess.

Volatility And RNG

Slots are games of chance, it all comes down to luck. You may wonder how is that possible and whether you could, so to say, break the code and find a pattern. Modern slot games are powered by an algorithm known as random number generator. There are millions of combinations and there is no successive range of combinations that gets repeated. To put it simply, you can’t discover a pattern simply because there isn’t one.

The number of permutations and combinations is practically infinite and there’s no way to play long enough to get repeats of previous combinations, because you always get new combinations.

So, What Does Volatility Mean When Talking About Slot Machines?

We’ve said few words about randomness and RNG, but let’s now get back to our core question and explain what volatility really means. First, let us tell you that variance is another word for volatility. So, if you read that the game has a high variance, it means that it is very volatile.

If a player is looking for a list of high variance slot machines, it means that this player is willing to take riskier bets and is looking to get higher prizes, even if it takes more spins until a payout is triggered.

Basically, high volatility games pay less frequently, but the prizes are more significant, whereas if you’re playing games with a lower volatility you can expect to win a lot more often, but the prizes will be lower.

Understandably, we’re not talking about the difference in the winning amounts that arises from the difference of the amount wagered. The winnings are usually expressed in coins, so the actual amount in real money depends on the value of each coin. So, if you wager £1 per coin and you win a 20-coin prize you will get £20, whereas if you hit the same combination with £10 per coin you will get £200. That’s not an issue that has to do with volatility but with wagering.

List Of Low Volatility Slots

Slot developers and casinos usually don’t publish the volatility of each of the games that they offer, which is not the case with the RTP. While it is usually easy to find information on the RTP percentage of a particular game, if you want to know more about a game’s volatility you will need to dig deeper.

Still, it is not like it’s impossible to find information on slot volatility. There are two ways to find this out. Firstly, you can play the game yourself, either in demo mode or with real money and see whether it is volatile or not. There’s an easier solution of course. Below we give you some of the least volatile slots, or to put it differently – slots with low variance.

Starburst Slot

Starburst slot is one of the most popular slots with low variance. Even players who are not particularly fond of low volatility games still enjoy playing Starburst. This game has an RTP set at 96.10%. Even though Starburst was released back in 2013, it is still one of the most commonly played slots and a lot of casino sites are offering special free spins bonuses on Starburst. Starburst features five reels and ten payines. Since we explained what low volatility means, we don’t need to say that you can expect to win more often in this game, but the winning amounts will be slightly lower.

Spinata Grande is another NetEnt game that features low volatility. In fact, it is safe to say that most low volatility games, or at least several of the most popular games with low volatility have been produced by NetEnt.

List Of High Variance Slot Machines

Now let’s look at the other side of the coin – the slot games that feature a higher volatility. We started the previous list with a NetEnt game, so know we’re going to give you a NetEnt game with a high volatility.

Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive slot is one of the top NetEnt games. The theme is pretty exciting – bounty hunting and the game RTP puts the game in the upper half when it comes to payouts – the RTP is set at 96.80%.

There are plenty of other high volatility slots. Regardless whether you prefer low or high volatility slots, register with Secret Slots, claim your bonus and play the slots you prefer!