Can You Minimise Losses When Playing Slots?
Posted by Harry Kane on Thursday, October 19, 2023
Over the course of the last decade, slots have evolved to dominate the iGaming market in the UK. To this end, research gathered by BeGambleAware suggests that slots accounted for approximately 60.4% of the total GGY in the UK, with this vertical renowned for offering accessible games of chance and customisable bet limits.
While slots largely negate the need to display skill or strategy, however, they also allow you to wager large amounts of money per spin. While this may change in the wake of the iGaming review and potential implementation of a £2 bet limit, for now there’s no doubt that slot gameplay can trigger significant losses in a relatively short period of time.
The good news is that there are ways in which you can carefully manage your bankroll and actively minimise losses when playing slots. We’ll explore these in more detail below, so that you can get more from your iGaming experience and make your starting bankroll stretch a little further!
Choose Licensed and Regulated Casino Brands
Let’s start with the basics; as one of the easiest ways to minimise your losses when playing slots is by choosing to wager at a licensed and regulated casino. In the UK marketplace, this means identifying operators that are accredited by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), as this ensures that’s they meet the regulator’s strict licensing criteria and can be sanctioned in instances where they fail players.
But how exactly does this help? Firstly, it guarantees that your chosen casino will feature published return-to-player (RTP) rates for each individual slot, helping you to make informed decisions based on your potential return for every £1 wagered. Secondly, the games’ library at a licensed casino will typically draw from a broad selection of software providers, while titles will be individual tested to ensure fairness and transparency at all times.
What’s more, licensed casino brands are more likely to be held account by the regulator as they operate within the existing iGaming laws and regulatory frameworks. This means that if you have a negative experience pertaining to unfair slot gameplay or withheld winnings and make a subsequent complaint, this can be escalated to the regulator to drive a swift and fair resolution.
The question that remains, of course, is how can you distinguish reputable and licensed casinos from rogue operators? Well, casinos that belong to the former camp are required to display their licensing prominently on their website, while ideally hyperlinking their unique license number so that it can be verified on a third-party website. They should also have accessible (and responsive) customer service and offer a broad range of trusted payment methods.
Make Bankroll Management a Key Tenant
We’ve already touched on how bankroll management can help you to minimise losses when playing slots, but wagering in an efficient and disciplined manner is far easier said than done. However, this starts with the creation of a fixed and finite budget, which should cover a predetermined period of time and be adhered to consistently.
This ensures that you never sustain disproportionate losses that are unaffordable, while it enables you to regulate stake amounts for each individual game and wager. In terms of enforcing your bankroll management, we’d recommend that you utilise deposit limits, which are now available at all reputable casino brands and help you to take control of your betting activity.
You can set daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits depending on the nature of your bankroll and how frequently you wager, and it can help you to resist the urge to spend outside your means or emotively chase losses. These limits are also changeable over time, so they can be adjusted depending on any changes in your behaviour or financial circumstances.
While some may argue that the impact of deposit limits can be circumnavigated in part by wagering at multiple casino sites, you can safeguard against this by developing a disciplined mindset and innate understanding of when to quit. So, in addition to capping your deposit amounts, try to set limits in terms of loss and have clearly defined thresholds that dictate when you should quit.
Pay Attention to Each Slot’s RTP Rate and Variance
When it comes to individual game selection, the slot’s RTP rate and variance level are key considerations. After all, these impact directly on your potential returns and how much you’re likely to recoup for every £1 that you stake on average, while also influencing the nature of the gameplay and betting range.
In terms of the RTP rate, this value typically varies from 89% (in the case of progressive jackpot slots such as Microgaming’s iconic Mega Moolah) to 97%, with the games that belong in the latter camp helping you to recoup are large proportion of the money that you stake. Slots with a published and verified RTP rate of 97% will see you recoup £0.97 for every £1 wagered online, automatically helping you to minimise both short and long-term financial losses.
So long as you’re wagering at a reputable and licensed casino brand, you’ll find each game’s unique RTP rate published online. If this information isn’t readily available, you may be wagering at a rogue or unlicensed casino, but you can verify this easily enough by contacting the operator’s support staff and asking to confirm a particular game’s RTP rate.
Slots that offer a high RTP rate also tend to tend to be lower in variance and volatility. Low variance slots tend to produce frequent (but relatively modest) payouts during both the base game and bonus rounds. Conversely, higher variance slots (such as progressive jackpots) will payout less frequently but deliver much higher jackpots, creating a scenario where you may have to wager more to unlock returns.
So, wagering at low-variance slots with an increased RTP is preferable if your primary objective is to minimise losses, whereas higher variance games are more suited to high rollers or individuals who have a larger bankroll with which to pursue sizable wins.