High volatility slots are better for those with larger gambling budgets. Your stake per spin should ideally not be higher than 1% of your total budget. Titles like Book of Dead are often used as an example of this kind of slot, and you’ll also find “ultra high-volatility” slots such as Tombstone RIP that can deliver wins up to 300,000x your stake. This is where a lot of players get confused, understandably, since both terms may sound like they’re measuring how “good” slots at online casinos are.

A high volatility slot machine pays rarely, but the wins that do land can be hundreds or thousands of times your stake. Low to medium volatility tends to be the friendlier starting point, since steadier, more frequent wins give new players a better feel for a new slot without draining a budget too quickly. Low volatility gives you more frequent, smaller wins, while high volatility offers a shot at bigger single payouts at the cost of longer dry spells in between. Prizes come slower and Dragon Pots pokies less-frequently, but when you do win, the rewards will likely be bigger than a low volatility slot.

Hit frequency is not the same thing as volatility either. RTP is the long-run return, explained in our slot RTP guide. Hit frequency is the share of spins that pay anything. Game B returns almost nothing for long stretches, then pays 500x or more in one bonus round. He wrote eight of the site’s US state hubs and its responsible gambling guides. Open the game’s info or paytable screen, usually accessed through an “i” icon in the game window, where volatility is typically listed with the RTP percentage.