What to check before you spin

The result is settled the instant you press the button. A random number generator picks the symbols, and the reels spin to show them. Matching symbols along a payline, or in enough positions on a ways or cluster game, pay a multiple of your stake. One spin has no bearing on the next.

Everything after that is animation. Stopping the reels early, changing your stake or moving to another game won't change what the next spin brings.

RTP stands for return to player. It's the share of every rupee staked that a slot pays back over millions of spins, so a 96% game keeps around 4% as its house edge. The number describes all players over the long run, and your own session can land far above or below it.

Some slots are released in more than one RTP version, and the casino decides which one to run. Check the info screen for the figure that applies to the game you've opened.

It describes how a slot hands out its payback. A low-volatility game pays small amounts often, so your balance drifts slowly. A high-volatility game can go a long time without paying and then land something big, usually during a bonus round. Two slots with identical RTP can feel nothing alike because of this.

Many games rate their volatility on the info screen, with a number or a row of icons.

There are four common systems. Payline games pay when matching symbols sit on a fixed line, normally starting from the leftmost reel. Ways games drop the lines and pay matching symbols on reels next to each other, in any row. Megaways games change the height of each reel every spin, and cluster games pay for any group of touching symbols.

On most video slots, landing three or more scatters anywhere on the reels starts the free spins. They play at your last stake without costing anything extra, and often add multipliers, sticky wilds or expanding symbols. On high-volatility games, much of the total payback comes through these rounds.

From the players. A small cut of every bet on the game, often pooled across many casinos, goes into the prize. It keeps climbing until a single spin wins it, then drops back to a starting amount.

The money for the pot has to come from somewhere, so the everyday RTP is lower than on a regular slot.

No. The random number generator can't be beaten and the RTP is fixed. What you do control happens before the first spin: choosing a high-RTP game, matching its volatility to your budget, setting a stake that makes the budget last and deciding when you'll stop.