The video slot machines at the online casinos are, without a doubt, the most popular feature. So it comes as no surprise, for those with basic understanding of how the casinos work, that people will be searching specifically for the casinos with the highest slot payouts. If you are new to online gambling, the basic premise is that all video slot machines (including those at the land-based casinos) operate on the payout percentage principle. This means that every slot machine will pay back a certain percentage of the amount the players wager, in the form of winnings. We go into a bit more details further into this article, but if you are anxious to just see which online casinos have the highest slot payouts, here is the list:
| Position | Casino | Slot Payouts | Official Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |  | > 97.5% |  |
| #2 |  | > 97.5% |  |
| #3 |  | > 97.0% | |
| #4 |  | > 97.0% | |
| #5 |  | > 96.5% | |
As promised earlier, let’s recap how the payout percentages work with the online video slots. Previously noted, the percentage is an indicator of how much of the money wagered the slots will pay back in the form of winnings. Naturally, the higher the payout percentage, the more the slot will pay. This is why people look for the casinos with the highest slot payouts.
Do Slot Payout Percentages Vary?
Now, one should keep a few things in mind. The payout percentage will vary not only from casino to casino, but also between the different slots at the same online casino. What we have done here, in order to give the most accurate ranking, is to average those payouts among the top 10 slots at each casino. Which is where the numbers in the table above come from: we have simply averaged the slot payouts among those top 10 games. So while one slot machine may have amazing payouts at a casino, if the remaining video slots are very tight, it wouldn’t make sense to even care to considerate that casino. While this may not appear to be the ideal method, in reality if we had to compare the payouts of all 300+ slots at every online casino, one must admit, it would be an insanely large an unwieldy list to comb through. There is such thing as information overload, thus we believe that this is the best method of ranking the top 5 casinos by slots payout percentages.
Who Decides the Slot Payout Percentages?
Another frequently asked question is who decides what would be the payout percentage for a certain video slot machine. The short answer is that it varies, for the long answer – read on.
There are two options for the online casinos, when it comes to setting up the slot payouts, and it all depends on the software provider. One option is that the casino is given the possibility of setting the payout percentage for a slot machine. If this is the case, the online casino may be given the choice of predetermined payouts, such as 98%, 96.5%, 95%, etc. The casino then can fine-tune those numbers to best match their overall strategy. For example, they may be interested in having a very loose popular slot in order to attract customers, much in the way retailers have so-called “loss-leader” products. Maybe the casino believes that they will make up the profits at the blackjack tables, where house advantage rules. Or they simply aim at achieving a certain profit margin, that would be in tune with their marketing budget and overhead. Whatever the reason, they have the choice of opting out for a high paying slots, tighter games, or anything in between.
Another option is, in a way, no option at all. Some casino software developers would simply set the slot payouts to a certain level and the casinos that use this software have no say in what those numbers would be. On first look, this may seem like a fair model, but it robs the casinos from their competitive edge. There is no way for one casino to make their slots pay more, thus attracting more customers to their property. And what if the casinos believe that the payout percentage was set too low in order to compete with casinos using different developer companies? In this case, the online casino must be certain that they work with experienced developers, companies that know the intricacies of the gambling market, otherwise they would be doomed from the start.
The Third Option
There is another option, quite popular in Europe, although it is yet to take a foothold with the casinos catering to the USA market. Traditionally, the online casino uses a single game developer and all the offerings at the casino are provided solely from said developer. There are online casinos, however, which use more than one such casino software companies. This not only gives them the opportunity to offer more games (hundreds more than what would usually be the case with single-developer casinos), but also the choice to set the payouts on some of those games, again, if the developer has this feature. As far as the USA online casinos, only the Bovada Casino currently uses a variation of this type of casino, but we hope to see more of them in the future. The sportsbook 5Dimes also has a multiple-casino options, but to be frank, with the exception of two of them, the rest a pretty crappy. That said, 5Dimes has a stellar reputation among the sports bettors, so if you are interested, you can check them out. But once again, their strength is in sports betting, working with casino players is not their forte, as it would be the case with Bovada, which also runs a very popular sportsbook, in addition to the famous casino.
How high can the slot payouts go?
Where would we be without answering one of the most popular questions, namely what are the highest slot payouts you can get at the online casinos. Could there be slots with the full 100% payout? Is it insane to believe the some slots have a casino-negative payout, for example, 101%? You can read out article Can slots pay back more than 100% to learn more, but let’s touch on it briefly here, as well. The answer would be to use common sense – would you start a company that offers a product which puts you in the red constantly? Of course not, an neither would the online casinos. Sure, you may see some casinos advertising 100% (or more) payouts, but there is a reason we have a list of reputable online casinos…If they claim their slots pay back 100 percent or more, you can be certain they are lying to you.
But to answer the original question of what is the highest payback percentage for video slots at the online casinos, 98.5% is about as high as you would get, and mind you, you won’t get this very often. Anything over 97.5% is considered a very generous offering, as you can see by the fact that only two casinos on our list make it this high. On the flip side, anything under 93% would be called a “tight” slot. As a rule of thumb, try to stick with slot payouts of over 95% and you’d be a happy camper. Keep in mind that we are talking about long-term audited payout percentages here. If you start playing a video slot and you hit a prize which is 5 times your wager with the first spin – it doesn’t mean that the slot’s payout is all of a sudden 500%! Which brings us to our final point about high slot payouts.
Are the slots payout percentages real?
In today’s world, it’s getting harder and harder to find real information on the Internet. As you can see, we can’t even get real news, so why not question the payout percentage a casino claims? As a player, you not only have the right to question whether the advertised slots payout is real, you dang nearly have the obligation to do so. As we always say, nothing prevents some scammers of creating a fake casino and post all kinds of fake information, including pay back percentages for the video slots. This is why you are strongly discouraged from just doing a search for a casino and hopping on the first one you see come in the search results (be especially wary of the ads sections of the search engines).
The honest casinos, however, are audited; you know: trust, but verify. The auditors would vary depending on the casino, but generally they would be third party and unaffiliated with the casino in any way. Some online casinos, for example, use the famous PricewaterhouseCoopers to verify their payouts, or Central Disputes System (CDS) to verify their RNG (random number generator). The online casino will be more than happy to provide their auditors and their credential to the customer, the reputable casinos, that is. If you are unfortunate enough to end up at a rogue casino all you will hear back of your request for audit is crickets.
Another point of research is the gaming commission and/or licensing authority under which the online casino operate. Not only do they keep an eye on the casino’s conduct, but customers can also file complaints and other grievances with those authorities, should they suspect something is amiss with the casino they patronize. Some online gambling companies are even publicly traded on stock exchanges (most notably in the UK), which add yet another layer of audit to their finances.
In the end, it all boils down to reputation, however. With experience comes knowledge, and with time you will learn which online casinos are trustworthy, and tend to steer clear of the rest. Reputation is the most important thing for a casino, especially if the casino has been in business for many years. The online gambling community is very tightly knit and news of tight slots or cheating casinos spread very quickly. That’s why the best advice is not to get enamored by the highest slot payouts, but to just make sure you play at a reputable online casino in the first place.