There are two main aspects that determine the odds of the slot game you're playing, with the first one being the number of reels and symbols and the second one being the slots payout percentages.
Read this article if you want to learn which slot games offer the best winning chances. We'll also teach you how to calculate the winning probabilities of an individual slot machine or online slot game.
Slots Winning Probabilities
Like we mentioned above, one of the key elements that determine slot winning chances is the type of the game, concretely the number of symbols and reels. The ground rule is that the more symbols a slot machine or an online slot game has the lower your winning probabilities will be.
To understand the exact reason let's take an example and analyze it a little bit:
Let's imagine you're playing a slot game with 3 reels and 20 symbols on each reel. Your goal is to discover 3 liberty bell symbols (can be anything else) on the playline. Assuming that each reel contains only one symbol of a kind (which usually is the case), then you calculate the likelihood of finding all three liberty bell symbols on the payline the following way:
- Step 1: You multiply the number of symbols in each reel to find out the number of the total possible combinations. In this case, it's 20 x 20 x 20 = 8000
- Step 2: The above number means that 1 of the 8000 combinations is the triple liberty bell combination. To express this in a percentage, you have to do the following: (1 / 8000) x 100 = 0.125. This means that the likelihood of you discovering the triple liberty bell combination is 0.125%.
Let's do the same for a 5-reel slots that also has 20 symbols on each reel:
- Step 1: 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 = 3.200.000. Which means that 1 of the 3.200.000 possible combination is the 5x liberty bell combination.
- Step 2: (1 / 3.200.000) x 100 = 0.00003125, meaning that the probability to find the 5x liberty bell symbol combination is 0.00003125%.
But before you believe that you have these minuscule chances to win at slots we have to clear up an essential aspect. These probabilities are only valid for one symbol combination and in slots there are an enormous number of symbol combinations, so your winning chances at slots will be extremely higher than in this example.
Slots Odds Table
Let's bring the above example a little bit further showing you a detailed table about different slot types with their total combination count and winning probabilities:
| Slots Type | Symbol Number | Combinations | Odds | Winning Percentage |
| 3-Reel Slots | 20 | 8000 | 1 to 8.000 | 0.0125% |
| 22 | 10.648 | 1 to 10.648 | 0.0093% | |
| 25 | 15.625 | 1 to 15.625 | 0.0064% | |
| 5-Reel Slots | 20 | 3.200.000 | 1 to 3.200000 | 0.0003125% |
| 22 | 5.153.632 | 1 to 5.153.632 | 0.0000194% | |
| 25 | 9.765.625 | 1 to 9.765.625 | 0.00001025% |
Also, note that this is just a basic table giving you an idea about the winning probabilities for the basic slot games only. Online slot games are usually much more complicated, but based on the examples above it's extremely easy for you to calculate the odds yourself. And again, we stress the fact that the above percentages are only valid for one single winning combination and in slots there are an enormous number of winning combinations.
Slots Payout Percentages
Like we pointed out in the beginning, the second issue that will influence your winning chances will be the payout percentages your casino promises. Slots payout percentages denote the amount of money deposited by players that will be given out in the form of winnings.
Basically winnings will be paid out from the money the players deposited, but the casino will charge a small percentage of it and keep it for itself to cover running expenses and to make a profit. It's in your interest that the casino you're about to play has the biggest payout percentages.
Remember: Land based online slot casinos commonly offer payback rates in the area of 80%-95%, but the best online slot casinos usually never go below 95% and some even go as high as 98%+.
If you want to learn more about slots, then we recommend you to read our additional slots guides teaching you about the different variations of slots, rules of the game and winning tips.