While playing slots in online casinos, it’s necessary to bear in mind that various slot machines use distinct rules to define your payout. And their bet options and paying schemes vary accordingly.

And to help you figure out the basics of slot machines, we offer you to read this article about slot machines.
General Classification of Slots
Reel slots
Also known as traditional or classic mechanical, this type contains three reels with different symbols, including fruits, diamonds, bars and many others.
Video slots
These slot machines may have between five and nine reels, resulting in a greater number of possible combinations. And, consequently, it increases the chances of getting bigger payouts. One more thing to know about these slots is that the last spin doesn’t affect the next one, the probability doesn’t work that way. So basically, every spin offers equal chances of either winning or losing.
Slots Classification by Betting Type
Penny slots

They have pretty much the same principles of operation as video slot machines. All you need to do is to press the spin button to make the reels move and watch the symbols lining up, hopefully in your favor. Note that some of them may offer regular bonuses, so it’s a good idea to use them, but watch you’re not carried away too much.
Dollar slots
There’s also such a type of game machines called dollar slots, for which the minimum bet per spin is $1. These slots contain fewer lines than penny slots, which means fewer chances of getting any payout. However, the good news is that the payout percentage is much higher – usually around 95%.
High limit slots
The slots of this type provide you with the opportunity to place much higher bets per spin – somewhere from $100 to $10,000, or even more.
Slots Types By Payout
Progressive slots
These are highly favored by gamblers mainly because of the high profits they may bring. They are similar to other types of slots except for one thing: the jackpot here depends on the play of other gamblers. According to the rules, the jackpot keeps increasing with each wager placed until someone hits it. The winner takes a share from all the wagers placed by the players.

Progressive slots can also be divided into three types:
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Stand-alone: in contrast to the other two types of progressive slots, they offer the smallest amount of jackpot and are not connected to other slot machines.
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In-house:these game machines are owned by one casino and they offer a higher payout in comparison to stand-alone machines.
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Wide-area:the machines in this group are connected, but can be operated by a number of casinos at once. The casino where you’re playing only gets a percentage from the winnings, just as any other casino involved.
Fixed jackpot
Such slots differ from other types of game machines as the amount of the jackpot you can possibly hit is limited.
Other Types of Slots
Community slots
These slots machines, in fact, have much in common with progressive slots. They also allow sharing rounds on some interconnected games, thus creating a group jackpot that is afterward hit by only one player. Nonetheless, all participants have a chance to win personal bonuses as well. The peculiar thing about this game is that it requires two screens: a smaller screen gives out your individual payouts. A larger one hands out all gained bonuses. The important thing to mention is that the gamblers don’t vie with each other, but rather cooperate. All bonuses gained by the community are paid out to each participant in accordance with their betting amount.
Casual slots
By far not all slot games can be put into a definite category. Some of them have unique features that require a separate category. In this case, they fall into casual style slot games. Arcade games can be named as an example. Although at first sight the lack of reels there may confuse you, they have the same work principles as usual slots games. They are usually structured in such manner that winning combinations are created through various paying symbols falling from the top of the screen. After you’ve completed some combinations, they disappear, then new symbols appear until all possible combinations are used. Such games may be pretty complicated so we recommend you sort out the rules of the game before placing real bets.
“Loose” slots vs “Tight” slots

Slots also fall into two other categories that stand aside from the others, as they are somewhat subjective and the difference is illusive. There is a widespread belief that some slots may pay more than others do. The first group of slots is called loose, and they supposedly tend to pay larger sums and more frequently, while the other group – tight slots – seems to bring less profit to players.
However, the truth is that all casinos follow strict rules regulated by law, therefore, all game machines are operated by computerized programs that yield a random number. The only thing that can be influenced by a casino is the payout percentage. Despite this, the belief in the existence of loose and tight slots is deeply rooted so it’s impossible to ignore it.
These are the main types of slots variations. In case you want some live practice, here is a tip to boost your chances of winning: check out the slots bonuses offered on our website!