If you know a thing or two about slot machines, you probably still remember the term one-arm bandit. It's a type of slot with a large metal pole on the side that you pull to spin the reels. Well, long gone are the days of such simplicity.
Not only have casino games moved into the online space, but online slots have become more complex than ever. As software providers battle for players in increasingly competitive markets, they've started to engage in a technology war to develop the most advanced features.
Risk Assessment Through Slot Volatility
A key feature of modern online slots is a game's volatility, often also referred to as variance. In the old days, you would wager money, hit the spin button, and hope for the best outcome. These days, casino software developers are giving you more choice.
The leading slot providers like Pragmatic Play and others understood that there is no 'one size fits all' for casino players. Some might be ready to take more risk for a chance of a high reward, whereas other's play purely for enjoyment and don't want to take a risky toll on their bankroll. For that reason, if you play an Internet slot, you can choose between low, medium, and high volatility slots.
High volatility slots pay out less frequently, but if they do, there is a good chance to win big. Low variance slots, on the other hand, pay out often, but mostly lower amounts. As you can imagine, high volatility slots are riskier and target players who can sustain a drought period without winning anything.
Countless Options to Increase Your Winnings
Not only can you now adjust your risk level yourself, but casino software companies provide players with several ways to win. While landing the same five symbols on a 5-reel slot machine is still a winning combination, you have much more options to do the same.
Giving players the ability to adjust bet size, paylines, and spin frequency, you can tailor each slot game to your particular needs. But not only that, the slot providers built more technology into their games, such as multipliers and various forms of Wilds and Scatter symbols.
Wilds and Scatter symbols are like the 'Joker' in traditional card games. If you're missing one symbol to score a winning combination, a Wild is your best friend. But it's more exciting than that because these symbols can also be sticky, expanding, and shifting. Therefore, during a round, you might notice a Scatter symbol to programmatically expand across the entire reel and unlock several winning opportunities.
How about Virtual and Augmented Reality?
Of course, casino software companies are not taking a break and the topic of VR and Augmented Reality is very much on their agenda. However, it takes an entire ecosystem to make this futuristic experience work, and so far, online casino operators have failed to live up to their player's expectations. However, Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) recently announced that his company, Meta, will continue investing in expanding the metaverse, a form of second reality online. Gaming will be a big part of this experience, and there is hope that online gambling will be part of this advanced technology in the next few years.
