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What Does Volatility Mean in Slots? Understanding High & Low Volality

Last Updated on 10/04/2025
Fact checked by: Jordan Noble

Volatility is a key feature of online slot games. Knowing the answer to the question ‘what does volatility mean in slots?’ helps you work out how often a slot will pay out and the size of those potential payouts.

Once you have a firm understanding of volatility in slots, you can go forward and find your ideal slot titles. To help you on your way, this article contains an explanation of how volatility works, plus five of the best online casino sites to join.

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What does volatility mean in slots? 

Slot volatility (also known as slot variance) is a measure of how often a slot gives you a win, and the average size of those wins. Because the outcome of slot games is decided by a Random Number Generator, volatility is not a guaranteed outcome of playing a slot game. But it does give you a broad idea of the average performance of a game.

What are the different types of slot volatility? 

Every slot game has one of the following five volatility ratings:

  • High volatility
  • Medium-high volatility
  • Medium volatility
  • Low-medium volatility
  • Low volatility

High volatility slots

The higher the volatility, the higher the likelihood of landing a big win. However, every high volatility slot session you play will produce very different results. On one occasion, you may hit one very big win, but no small wins, but the next time you play you may hit a series of small wins or even no wins at all. In short, high volatility sweepstakes slot machines can be extremely erratic, with big wins and long losing streaks equally likely to happen.

Low volatility slots

Playing low volatility games gives you smaller payouts, but you are more likely to hit regular wins and avoid long losing runs. Low volatility games are considered less risky than their high volatility equivalents. As such, they are often favored by recreational players.

Five of the best casino sites for slot games

Now that you know the importance of volatility in slots, it’s time to look at five of the very best online casinos for you to play online slots:

BrandNumber of slot games
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Coral2000+
BetVictor600+
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First, don't miss out on the massive welcome bonus available here. Bwin is currently offering new players a 100% matched bonus that's worth up to £200 and you’ll also get 50 bonus spins on top of that. And as the game collection at Bwin contains over 3,600 slots, including low volatility games, jackpot slots, bonus buy slots and a whole lot more.

Also, if you fancy a change from standard online slot play, you can check out the crypto game collection, which contains innovative titles like Crash, Boxes, Mines and a whole lot more. Aside from the fantastic slot collection, Bwin also possesses a world class live casino, a beautifully designed website and a reputation for superb customer support.

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If you want to try riskier high volatility games, there are over 50 Megaways titles to play, as well as an array of jackpot slots with massive prizes up for grabs. On the other hand, risk averse players can enjoy Dazzle Me and a range of other low volatility games.

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Look at any list of online casinos UK and you are almost guaranteed to find BetVictor towards the top. The slot collection at BetVictor features games from famous developers including Pragmatic Play and NetEnt. This means the site is home to popular low volatility games such as Guns N Roses and Jack Hammer.

When you throw in an excellent live casino and a superb mobile app, it is clear to see why BetVictor is such a popular choice for casino fans.

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Another brand with a fantastic reputation for high quality gaming. There really is something for everyone at Unibet. The 1000+ slot game collection features classic titles, plus a large number of new games from modern developers.

So, regardless of your volatility preferences, you can be guaranteed to find a selection of suitable games to play.

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A popular choice for casual players, Casumo is a bright-looking online casino, full of fun features and exciting games. It is not quite as vast as the other sites on this list, but still contains an excellent selection of slots.

Low volatility options include Irish Magic, whilst high volatility fans can try Mega Moolah and other much-loved jackpot jackpot slot titles.

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What does volatility mean in slots? Final thoughts

As this article demonstrates, volatility is a key concept in online slot play. So make sure you have a firm understanding of how high volatility games differ from their low volatility counterparts. Having this knowledge will help you make informed choices about which games to play.

The main points to remember are that playing low volatility games will help preserve your bonus balance, whereas high volatility games don’t pay out too often, but they do give you a chance of landing a big win.

Ultimately, your decision comes down to factors such as gameplay preferences, budget and risk aversion. But whatever your choice, having a thorough knowledge of slot volatility goes a long way towards helping you make informed decisions.

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Slot volatility - FAQs

📈 What does high volatility mean in slots?

High volatility slots come with the risk of long losing streaks, but they do give you the chance to land big payouts. As such, high volatility slots are considered risky options for players.

📊 What does low volatility mean in slots?

Low volatility slots generally give you small, but regular payouts. You are unlikely to find any huge wins, but you are also unlikely to experience long winless runs.

🤔 Should I play high volatility slots?

That is entirely up to you. Playing high volatility slots can be risky, but it also gives you the chance of large payouts.

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