
The Megaways mechanic changed the way slot games are played, literally! The mechanic introduced by Big Time Gaming transformed video slots from a very simplistic premise into something even more exciting by enabling thousands of paylines.
Having debuted in 2016, they burst onto the online casino scene and have remained a permanent fixture a decade later. The mechanic remains one of the most popular features among slot enthusiasts, with many tailoring their sessions to focus exclusively on these games.
Megaways slots are online slot games that use a special “Megaways” engine where the number of symbols on each reel changes randomly on every spin, creating thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of possible ways to win instead of fixed paylines.
A Megaways game usually has 6 reels, but each reel can show a different number of symbols on every spin (for example, anywhere between 2 and 7 symbols per reel), with new titles able to surpass the typical up to 117,649 ways to win, by offering 200,000+ or even close to one million.
Given their popularity, you can find them at many of the best online casino sites in the UK, with most operators carrying hundreds of variants. This is easy to achieve when software developers continue to implement the mechanic into many of their titles.
Looking for a site that provides access to some of the best Megaways slots to play? Thankfully, there are many options available to consider as the UK market has been very kind to these innovative titles.
Many of the top online casinos offer access to the titles that are established favourites with punters, while they also continue to keep their libraries updated with the new Megaways slot releases.
UKGC license number - 39198
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BetMGM can offer you the best Megaways slots in one place, with the biggest and newest titles on offer in a library that boasts over 120 options. You can play Megaways slots online with this bookmaker in confidence, as they offer a wide range of themes and genres, including many from leading software developers.
You can even find Megaways slots to play that come with progressive jackpots to add further excitement to playing sessions.
UKGC license number - 48695
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LosVegas is an excellent alternative for Megaways slot games, with the casino providing an extensive collection of titles.
Although it is slightly below 100 titles, the library still has everything you could wish for from a Megaways standpoint. Once again, progressive jackpot slots are available here, and many of the top software developers have titles listed.
UKGC license number - 44662
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Containing several new releases in their Megaways slot game collection, Highbet is a great option for slot enthusiasts who wish to enjoy the best that this type of game has to offer.
With 90-100 titles available, the casino has a diverse collection across many themes. You’ll find something to satisfy any taste you may have for a Megaways slot session.
Interested in playing these games but not sure how Megaways slots work?
Due to the format that is used with this mechanic, they can appear intimidating and confusing when you first set your eyes upon them. Indeed, the fact that each spin is different can easily throw you if you haven’t experienced these titles before.
Nonetheless, the premise of the game remains the same: you simply have to land a combination of symbols on an active payline to trigger a payout. If enough matching symbols hit on consecutive reels from left to right, that’s a win, and the game pays according to its paytable. Most Megaways slots then trigger “cascading reels” (which can also be known as “avalanche” or “tumbling” by some developers): winning symbols disappear, new ones drop in, and you can chain multiple wins from a single paid spin.
Instead of traditional fixed lines, you get paid when the same symbol lands on consecutive reels from the left, no matter which row the symbols are on.
Online Megaways slot games have proved extremely popular with UK slots players over the last decade because they are usually packed with features and can offer significant opportunities to win through large payline totals.
Perhaps what they are most famous for, the best Megaways slots to play usually offer thousands of ways to win, with the payline total and the format used. As each spin is independent and the RNG used allows for different reel combinations to fall, it’s not uncommon to find Megaways slot games that have up to 117,649 ways to win; some offer even more! This is because reels can contain between 2 and 7 symbols, and the total number of symbols landing on each reel changes on each spin.
However, in addition to the large number of paylines, software developers have included several bonuses and features to further appeal to players. It’s not uncommon for free spins games to be included (which are usually triggered by landing a certain number of scatters), special symbols like wilds and multipliers, and the cascade feature that can increase win potential on each spin by making winning combinations disappear and be replaced with new symbols.
The RTP and volatility levels of these games can also be a major attraction for certain slot players. Megaways slot games are typically made with a medium‑to‑high RTP rating (around 95-97%), while the volatility level is usually high, meaning wins can be infrequent but rather large on occasion.
The Megaways mechanic was created by Big Time Gaming (BTG), but it has since been licensed to dozens of other slot developers who now release Megaways titles under BTG’s patent.
This is why you can find many of the industry’s biggest software developers having releases that feature the mechanic. For example, some of the biggest include:
The Megaways mechanic is the brainchild of Big Time Gaming (BTG), founded in 2011 in Australia by Nik Robinson, Huw McIntosh, and Ian Schmidt. They sought to transform the online slot world with a new type of game and achieved something that changed it forever.
The first time the mechanic was launched to the public in a game was in 2016, when they released the ‘Dragon Born’ slot. However, it wasn’t until they released the ‘Bonanza’ title that it really took off. The reception that game received from players led other studios to want to join BTG in using the mechanic.
Red Tiger is often cited as one of the first external studios to secure a Megaways license, followed by studios such as Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, iSoftBet, Blueprint, and many others. Since then, they’ve become a licensor of the mechanic and collect royalties from the use of their innovative product as other studios continue to use it.
Megaways slots come with many pros and some cons. They offer more ways to win and may include several bonus features. However, they come with a higher volatility rate than other slots and can be very confusing to beginners.
Some Megaways slot games may have a jackpot attached to them. Some titles come with a progressive jackpot that builds with each spin across the game’s network. Other titles may have four fixed jackpots that can be triggered randomly or by landing specific symbols.
You can, but it may be best to try out a Megaways demo slot first. There are many moving elements to these games that can be very confusing if you’re not a slot game player.
All of the top UKGC-licensed casinos will have online Megaways slot games available to play. Most will have them filtered into their own category to help make them easier to find. Our picks include BetMGM, LosVegas, and Highbet, as you can find several titles at these online casinos.
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