For those who don’t want to spend a lot of money on their wagers, penny slots are ideal. They represent the cheapest way to get a taste of online casinos, without skipping the excitement that comes with playing for real money.
On this page you’ll learn all about online penny slots, as well as where to play the best penny slot machines and how to identify different types of slots. Stick with us to find:
As their name suggests, penny slots are a type of slot machine which you can play at real money casinos with a minimum bet of a single penny. Many of them have enough paylines that you can bet considerably more than this, but penny slot machines are typically characterized by low maximum bets and jackpots.
Two of the most common reasons why users play penny slots online are:
There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, ofreal money slots and slot titles out there ranging from free penny slots to pricy progressives. However, most of them fall into one of the following categories.
The type of slot you prefer will depend heavily on what you want to get out of a game, with some slots paying out little and often, and others awarding huge sums of money much less frequently.
A good understanding of the information below will help you to work out which games are most appealing to you:
The most common types of slots, these often come with a bonus round comprised of something like 10-20 free spins with a 2-4x multiplier. Themes vary massively, as does variance and jackpot potential, but it’s not uncommon for 90% of the slots available in any casino to fall under the heading of “classic slots”.
Rather than using a traditional system of paylines, with most games offering somewhere between 9 and 50, the Megaways range (produced by Big Time Gaming) offers up to 117,649 ways to win. Although not all Megaways games offer quite this many ways to win, the result is that most titles in the range pay out regularly but in small increments.
Although they’re not particularly common, games in the MegaSpin range essentially offer players the chance to play multiple slots at once. Games operate completely independently, so you might win on every machine or lose on every machine, but players using MegaSpin slots stand to win impressive prizes if they get lucky.
In fact, many different types of slots listed here (including progressive, Vegas and multi-payline) are available on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Thanks to rapid advances in mobile technology, more mobile slots are available for use on the move in 2021 than ever before.
While early slot machines had just one payline, a horizontal line of three matching symbols across the middle from left to right, things have changed considerably since then. Nowadays, most games offer ten or more paylines, with possible winning combinations outlined by colorful lines in their paytables.
The key difference between standard and progressive jackpot slots is that the latter takes a percentage of every bet made on the machine and adds it to a base jackpot that keeps growing until it’s claimed, usually at random, by a lucky winner. The resulting prizes are some of the largest available in any casino, online or off.
Thanks to the strong association of Las Vegas with gambling, it’s not surprising that many games adopt a visual style that could have come straight out of Sin City. Expect plenty of neon lights, bright colors and landmarks with Vegas slots!
Learn more about the different types of slots in our comprehensive slots guide.
Think Indiana Jones meets The Mummy! Get lucky and you can trigger 10 free spins with expanding symbols.
The Wild West gets spooky. There are 7 different bonus features to enjoy, including free spins and “pick ‘em” games.
Enjoy lots of re-spins while you chase the Scarab. The more Scarab symbols you land, the more free games you can win. Wilds appear on reels 1, 3 and 5 throughout the bonus round.
When rating and reviewing online penny slots, casino sites and the like, we look very closely at a range of different criteria. Unless sites meet or exceed our expectations, we won’t recommend them.
What follows is a closer look at what we check for during the review process:
This comes top of the list because it’s always the first thing we examine. We expect to encounter SSL protection, licensing and regulation from appropriate organizations, and evidence that the RNGs (random number generators) are legit.
Once we know that a site is safe, we’ll dive right into its game library to see what’s on offer. Great sites feature everything from specialty games like keno to table games and video slots, including penny slots. Real money action and free casino games, all powered by top casino software is what we’re after!
Virtually all sites offer welcome bonuses to attract new players, but we check their small print to ensure that players have a chance of clearing the wagering requirements. We’ll also look for free spins, reload bonuses and other seasonal promotions.
The best online slots sites make it clear which games, often progressive titles, have great jackpots for players to chase. Some also highlight recent jackpots that have been won by players, which gives us an idea of how often the site boasts big wins.
In brick and mortar venues, slots have a minimum payback (75% in Las Vegas). On this front, regulation is a little looser online. That’s why we look out for casinos offering plenty of games with high payback percentages.
Even fantastic sites offering a range of games, banking options and casino bonuses, can be let down by ineffective customer support who don’t resolve issues that users are experiencing in a reasonable timeframe. We actively seek out the best!
Almost all top online casinos will let you play the majority of their games in practice mode, giving you access to plenty of free penny slots.
Absolutely! Although penny slots do not necessarily come with huge jackpots like progressives or more expensive slots, you can still score sums of money.
Penny casino slots are a great way to get familiar with slot games and particular titles without spending a lot of money.
If you stick with the reputable online casinos that we recommend, then you have nothing to worry about in terms of trust or safety.
An annuity refers to a slot jackpot that’s paid out over a number of months or years, rather than in a single lump sum. Of course, when you’re playing penny slots, real money jackpots that you manage to land are unlikely to be big enough to require an annuity.
We’ve highlighted a couple of great penny slot games on this page, but the answer to this question really depends on what you’re looking for. Things such as theme, variance and the presence (or lack) of bonus games will all help you identify your favorite penny slot.
While loose slots pay out regularly or seem to pay out more high value wins than expected, tight slots are the opposite; wins are rare, and tend to be small in value. It takes a lot of time and money to identify whether a slot is loose or tight and, even then, it’s an inexact science. After all, why would anyone play a slot that’s known to be tight?
A game’s payback percentage, sometimes known as Return To Player (RTP) percentage, refers to the amount of cash an average player should expect to get back as winnings. For example, a game with a payback percentage of 95% returns $0.95 for every $1 spent on it.
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