What Does Volatility Mean In Slots? Slot Volatility Explained

In the world of physical and online slots, volatility means how often the game will hit a pay, and how much that pay will be worth.

Low volatility slots are those which will hit pays very frequently, but which will not be worth very much.

Medium volatility slots are those which won’t hit pays as often, but when they do hit, will be worth more, on average.

High volatility slots are those where the game won’t hit a pay very often at all, but when it does hit, the pays are usually quite high – often in the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

Low Volatility Slots

If you’re playing a low-volatility slot machine, you can usually tell as the game will be hitting pays on almost every spin, but the actual value of each of those pays is tiny.

For example: Let’s say that you are playing a minimum bet of 80-cents, which is a common minimum play requirement for many of today’s most popular slot machines. As you play the game, you’ll notice that after nearly every spin, the game pays you a very small return.

I’ve played machines where these pays can be 5-cents, 35-cents, 40-cents, and so on. But did you notice what all of these pays have in common? Well, they are NOT “pays.” These are all LOSING spins which give you back LESS than the cost of the spin.

So, in our example, you are playing 80-cents per spin, and most of your “wins” will be, say, 30-cents per spin (as an example average), and so what’s actually happening is that you are LOSING 50-cents per spin, even though the machine makes it look and sound like you are winning.

Who Plays Low Volatility Slots?

These low-volatility games mostly appeal to casual casino players who simply want to be entertained. The importance is not so much the big win, but being able to “get some play” for their money.

This is the kind of player for which these low-volatility games are precisely designed and configured; the player gets something for their play (even if what’s actually happening is that they are losing, and losing frequently), which encourages them to continue playing and increasing their TOD (Time On Device). The higher their TOD, the more opportunity there is for the casino to earn the slot’s set payback percentage.

Medium Volatility Slots

Medium volatility slots are a step up from low volatility games, usually offering a greater variety of gaming choices, higher denominations, and fewer pays with greater monetary value.

While these games may look nearly identical to their low-volatility neighbor, they can be differentiated by looking at the pay tables to see what pays what and for how much. The more they pay, the less frequently they will happen.

These games may offer a base-pay schedule which mirrors low volatility pays, but may also require a higher per-spin investment – or an “activation” feature – which will cost more to play.

For example, that 80-cent game we mentioned earlier may now have a “Bonus Feature Activation” cost, or sometimes something like an “unlock all pays” activation button, which asks for an extra base-play-wager to enable them.

And so this game may offer that same 80-cents per spin, BUT now in order to activate all of the lines, pays, bonuses – or whatever – you are being asked to pay, say, an extra 40-cents per play. This means that you will be spending $1.20 per spin, in order to get the better pays.

Who Plays Medium Volatility Slots?

These games traditionally appeal to players who are more familiar with casino games and gaming, and who have a higher available gaming budget.

High Volatility Slots

These are games which will require a lot more money to play, as well as much more patience and resilience. That’s because these games will not hit pays very often at all – BUT when they DO hit a pay, it’s usually very high, and almost always higher than the minimum-play requirement.

So, for example, let’s say that you play a game with a $3 minimum-play requirement. You’ll play for a while, and get no pays at all. Then you hit a pay, and that pay is, say, $15. That’s the difference.

In the low volatility games you may have had 15 pays by now – but all of them small, and not even close to $15 combined. On the medium volatility game you may have had 10 pays by now, and getting maybe close to $10 back overall. But here, on the high volatility game, you only got ONE pay for all of this time, BUT that one-pay was worth MORE than all of the other smaller pays on the low and medium volatility games combined.

And THAT is the difference between these types of slot machines, available in all casinos worldwide, as well as online casinos.

Who Plays High Volatility Slots?

These are games usually reserved for the high-denomination player. By this we mean players who will play games where the minimum denomination is at least $1, and where the minimum-play requirement is at least $3-$5 per spin and higher.

Many of these high volatility slots are in the designated high roller areas of the casino, where the more affluent players often play.

How To Find Volatility In Slots

In many online casinos you can actually ask for the volatility-index for the game you are about to play. But for real casinos this is a bit more difficult.

For traditional real-world casinos, the way to find out is, usually, by trial-and-error. This means playing games with the same set of starting funds, and for the same set of spins, keeping track of what pays when and for how much. You can then compare these stats for yourself, before commencing your actual play.

As for high volatility games, well – those are usually in the high-denominations, and most likely to be located in high roller areas of the casino.

The volatility of a slot game is determined by the game’s software provider, not the casino. This means that the same game should have the same volatility across all casinos.