Cleveland Estate Sales. Gold and Silver Fine Jewelry, Loose Sapphire and Amethyst Gems, WWII Trench Art, 1783 Washington Colonial Cent, 1806 Draped Bust Quarter, 1903 $1 Gold Louisiana Purchase Coin, Key Date Barber Half Dollars, Many Rare Date Morgan Dollars including 1878-CC and 1884-CC, Rare Indian Head and Lincoln Cents, Civil War Token and Hard times Token, Great collection of Vintage. Microgaming slots like Thunderstruck, Cash Splash, Ladies Night, and Double Magic all have good reputations. Playtech has games like Diamond Valley and Captain’s Treasure which are considered.

Where to Find Loose Slots Online and How to Exploit Them

There are plenty of loose slots to be found online in 2021. For me this makes it all the more surprizing that most players miss out, and play the tighter ones. Of course the main reason is lack of knowledge as to which slots are loose and which ones are tight. It is not as if the casinos are going to tell you directly after all!

This page shows you how to find loose slots, gives you examples from some of the main slot software houses covering both US and non-US players – and then goes on to explain how you can adjust your staking, bankroll and use of incentives like bonuses, comps and spins to make the loose slots looser still.

First, a definition – what makes a slot ‘Loose’

The accepted benchmark in casinos is that a slot that returns more than 96% of bets to a player is put into the loose category. Conversely, a slot which returns less than 96% is considered tight.

This is an old definition which comes from live casino slots, my view is that a truly loose one should pay a little more than 96% - I’m thinking in the 96.5% to 97% range. If you stick to slots with reasonably low variance that pay out well, then you have found an ideal game to use for playing through your bonus credits.

Examples of Loose and Tight Slots

Here are some examples of slots from some of the big software houses which fall into the loose and tight categories. For the non-US ones (MicroGaming, NetEnt, PlayTech) the clear best place to play them all is at the Unibet Casino where you’ll find more than 600 slots from all of the major software houses.

If you are US based you can enjoy those loose RTG, Rival and BetSoft slots at the huge Bovada Casino – the #1 offshore outfit with more than 10 years of experience looking after US based players. Check out www.bovada.lv

Non-US Casino Software

Loose MicroGaming Slots: There is a lot of variation in the MicroGaming range, with many slots at 96% and above, and many at very low RTPs of 94% and below. Their flagship jackpot slots are in the ‘avoid’ list, with both Major Millions and Mega Moolah not even reaching 90% (terrible!). There are some slots over 97% including Feathered Frenzy, Hot as Hades and Treasure Island. For the record, their most popular non-progressive title – ThunderStruck II – has a solid RTP of 96.6%

Loose NetEnt Slots: In contrast, the biggest jackpot slot at Net Entertainment casinos – Mega Fortune – has a solid 96.4% RTP. Other popular slots include Hall of Gods at 95.5% (on the low side for me) and Gonzo’s Quest at a more reasonable 96.1%. In general, it is hard to go too far wrong with NetEnt, most of their slots are in the 95%+ bracket. Good examples include Kings of Chicago at 97.8% and the new Tornado: Farm Escape at 97%.

Loose PlayTech Slots: You have to be a lot more selective with PlayTech than with most other slot software houses. There are a lot of slots in the 91% to 93% range, which is horribly tight compared to their rivals. Even some flagship Marvel titles are in the ‘no-go’ zone, with the Hulk 50 line one to completely avoid… none of the Marvel slots makes it into the ‘loose’ category. Good options include Sinbad’s Golden Voyage (97.01%) and Neptune’s Kingdom at 97.19%. Monty Python’s Spamalot, which has a huge jackpot has a lower 93.99% RTP.

You can find MicroGaming, PlayTech and NetEnt Slots at the popular www.unibet.com.

RTP of US Casino Slots

Loose RealTime Gaming Slots: The returns for RTG slots are adjustable by the casinos. These can range from 91% to 97% RTP, and you will not usually know what returns each casino is giving you. If you want to enjoy RealTime Gaming slots, it is vital that you do so at a big and well-known brand casino.

Loose Rival Gaming Slots: There are some very loose slots in the Rival Gaming range, which include some of their flagship iSlots. Conversely, some titles are ridiculously tight – for example Eggstravaganza only manages 89.5% and 1 Million Reels BC 90.6%. The best option is the iSlot ‘Cosmic Quest 2’ which returns 97.89%, another good RTP on an iSlot is the second instalment of ‘As the Reels Turn’ which clocks in at 97%.

Loose BetSoft Slots: You’ll find very few bad slots in the BetSoft range, with the majority of titles either side of 96%. There are a couple of bad deals, Gold Diggers for example is 91.23%. Some of the most popular titles are loose, with Good Girl / Bad Girl, Greedy Goblins and At The Copa all above 97% RTP.

You can find BetSoft, Rival and RTP slots at the popular www.bovada.com

How to Find Loose Slots to Play Online

The lists above are just a starting point. Once you figure what kind of slots to aim for, you will want to check how tight they are before you start playing.

I recommend you check the rules and / or terms of use for each game. This will give you a figure which is usually represented by the acronym ‘RTP’.

RTP stands for return to player, and is the percentage of stakes that will be paid out in prizes over the long term. There is one more thing you need to understand before going ahead – variance.

A jackpot slot which pays out $1 million once a year may well have the same RTP over time as a simple game which pays out smaller wins quite often. From the individual’s perspective, the jackpot game is not loose at all – those occasional giant payouts skew the average, and most players will experience an RTP which is on the tight side.

Think about the many games you have played. Most can be put into one of two categories – small frequent wins or larger wins that are less common. This is the variance of a game, the higher the variance the bigger the bankroll swings you will experience while playing.

High variance slots can be the most enjoyable to play (that excitement of a big win makes a nice difference). This depends on exactly why you are playing.

If you are playing to clear a bonus, or to relax with a nice long session then what you should aim for is a slot which is both loose and low variance.

If you have the cash and want to aim for a big win without throwing your cash away into a ‘tight’ slot, then high variance games (including those with big jackpots) may be just what you are after.

Staking and Loose Slots

Now that you understand the role of variance when assessing the RTP of a slot, you can consider how your bankroll management and staking preferences work with this. The idea here is that the higher the variance of a slot, the bigger bankroll you will need to play it. With slots that pay bigger and less frequently, you will sometimes find yourself out of credits before you hit a big win. If you prefer the lower variance loose slots, then you should find yourself turning over your bankroll multiple times – and will not need so much cash to start with to enjoy a long gaming session.

My rule of thumb is to bet less as a percentage of your entire bankroll the higher the inherent variance of a slot. Clues include TV / Movie tie-ins, big progressive jackpots and feature rounds with extra big prizes compared to the base game.

How to Make Loose Slots Event Looser!

Many of you will have figured that loose slots with lower variance are the ideal candidates to take advantage of casino bonuses with.

You should also understand that by picking the slot with the higher RTP, adding bonuses and comp (loyalty) points, you can turn the edge in your favour (at least while you are clearing the bonus) .

Loose Slot RTP – 97%

Add Bonus Clearance: 2%

Add Comp Point Value: 0.5%

In this example you have reduced the house edge to a tiny 0.5% - there are rarely better opportunities than that available in online casinos.

Where to Play Loose Slots in 2021?

Here are my recommendations, the first is for readers outside of the US. For US players, skip to the second recommendation below.

#1 Loose Slots at Unibet Casino

With more than 600 slots from all of the world’s biggest software houses available without needing a download, Unibet has become the go-to destination in Europe and beyond for huge numbers of slot fans. You can try out the games before you deposit, and will be extremely well looked after if you do join. You can get 50 free spins on the biggest jackpot slot around (Mega Riches) + a 100% deposit bonus – you’ll also get to enjoy the biggest selection of loose slots in 2021 for any big brand. Check out www.unibet.com for yourself now!

#2 Loose Slots at Bovada Casino

Bovada are the biggest and best of the offshore casinos welcoming US players. This brand used to be known as Bodog, before rebranding. Uniquely, you’ll find slots from 3 major software houses here with Rival Gaming, RTG and the amazing 3D titles from BetSoft all available. There are plenty of loose titles, and plenty of huge bonuses too – with a welcome package worth up to $3000 waiting for new players and top-rated promotions. Check out www.bovada.lv for more.

More Slot Guides

A slot machine is loose when it pays out a lot of money. It also needs to do this often to be considered loose. You’ll see some writers say that a loose slot machine is one with a high payback percentage, but that’s not enough to qualify as loose. It also needs to have low volatility.

What’s the difference?

The payback percentage is a function of how much the prizes pay compared to how often they hit. I could create a slot machine that pays off only one prize every million spins and that pays off 1.2 million coins when it does.

That machine would provide the player with an edge, a payback percentage of over 100%, but it still wouldn’t be a “loose” machine. In fact, it would be one of the tightest machines in the casino, because it only hits on average once every million spins.

That’s what volatility means when you’re playing slots. The more often a game hits a winning combination, the less volatile the game is. Most slot machine games have a hit ratio of around 30% or so now, which means that you’ll see some kind of win about 1/3 of the time.

The size of the wins is small enough that the game still makes a profit for the casino.

Your goal should be to find the loosest slot machines you can.

The Best You Can Do Is Estimate

The math behind slot machines and other gambling games is based on long-term results, not short-term results. You can make some guesses about the settings for a game based on short-term results, but they’re not necessarily accurate.

Here’s one way you could measure the hit ratio for a slot machine game, though:

You could track how many spins you make, and also track how many of those spins resulted in a win. That would provide you with the actual hit ratio for that session.

For example, if you made 300 spins on a slot machine over the course of half an hour, and you saw 100 winning spins, you had a hit ratio of 33.3%.

If you only saw 50 winning spins, your hit ratio would only be 16.67%.

The game with the 33.3% hit ratio is probably “looser” than the game with the 16.67% hit ratio.

The Concept of Naked Pulls

Years ago I read a book about strategy when playing slot machines by John Patrick. It’s a terrible book, and I don’t recommend it.

But he did offer one concept that I thought was interesting:

The naked pulls concept.

A naked pull is one in which you get no winnings at all.

Patrick’s advice is to quit playing a slot machine once you’ve had a certain number of naked pulls in a row. I don’t remember if the number he suggested was 7 or 9, but it was something like that.

Here’s the thing, though:

A slot machine could have a hit ratio of 50% and still see 7 or 9 losing pulls in a row. It won’t happen often, but it will still happen several times a day just because of random variance.

Slot machines aren’t set on times or cycles. They have a random number generator which determines how often a winning symbol gets hit, but it doesn’t have a memory of what happened on previous spins.

Every spin of the reels on a slot machine is an independent event. This means that it isn’t affected by the previous spin.

Some of the time, if you walk away from a machine that has had several losing spins in a row, you’ll have avoided a tight machine.

Other times, you’ll just be walking away from a loose machine for no reason other than short-term variance.

What’s More Important? Hit Ratio or Payback Percentage?

Deciding which of these 2 factors is more important is more about your temperament as a gambler than anything else.

If you’re impatient and don’t want to lose a lot of money fast, you should look for a game that seems to have a high hit ratio. I’ve played slot machines in land-based casinos which hit 40% of the time while I was there. I didn’t walk away with a lot of winnings, because the sizes of the prizes were low.

But I didn’t lose a lot of money, either.

You could find a game with a hit ratio of only 20% that has a payback percentage that’s 5% higher than a similar machine with a 40% hit ratio.

You can’t really rank these 2 factors in importance, because they fall into a relatively narrow range.

Most slot machines have a hit ratio in the 20% to 35% range, and their payback percentages fall in the 75% to 95% range.

The payback percentage has the bigger range, but it’s impossible to calculate with any degree of statistical confidence.

How Would You Calculate a Payback Percentage for a Slot Machine Based on Your Actual Results?

The math behind calculating a payback percentage isn’t hard. You just calculate how much money you’ve wagered in a machine and how much you have left when you’re done. The amount you’ve lost is divided by the amount you’ve wagered to give you the actual payback percentage for that session.

I did this as an experiment not long ago. I played a slot machine for $1.25 per spin over the course of 400 spins. It’s easy to see how much I wagered in that scenario – it was $500.

When I finished playing, I had lost $100, which meant that I’d gotten $400 back in winnings from the game.

This means I lost 20% of what I wagered, which would be the game’s “hold.”

The payback percentage was 80%.

What does that say about how loose or tight the game is?

Not much.

When you’re calculating things like payback percentage and house edge, you’re calculating statistical events.

And if you’ve read much of what I’ve written about probability and gambling, you already know that in the short run, anything can happen.

If I’d finished that session with $600 and a net win of $100, I’d have seen a payback percentage of 120%, and I can promise you one thing:

That’s NOT the long-term expected payback percentage for that slot machine.

It can be a fun exercise to keep up with your actual payback percentage over time. If nothing else, it slows down the number of bets per hour you’re making, which will have the indirect effect of reducing your average hourly losses.

Some Tips for Finding Loose Slot Machines

The problem with offering tips for finding loose slot machines is that many of them are based on pure conjecture.

For years, everyone suggested that you play the slot machines closest to the walkways in the casino. The premise was that some slot machine technician had suggested the managers put the loosest machines there so they could attract more gamblers.

Best Time To Play Slot Machines

This is a myth that has since been dispelled.

Another piece of advice you’ll often see is that you should play flat-top slot machines instead of progressives. In this case, I lean toward believing this one. You could play a progressive slot machine where the jackpot is high enough that you could have an edge over the casino, but it would still be tighter than a game with a 1000-coin jackpot.

1000 Free Slot Machine Online

Here’s why:

In other words, if you’re not likely to hit the jackpot in your lifetime, it might as well not exist when calculating how loose or tight the game is.

You’ll also see people advise you to play for higher stakes. The idea is that the payback percentage goes up as the denominations go up.

This is likely true, too, but you still shouldn’t play for stakes you’re not comfortable with.

Conclusion

The best possible advice I could give you about finding a loose slot machine is this:

Give it up.

It’s virtually impossible to accomplish this goal.

Also, almost any other game in the casino will cost you less money in the long run than the slot machines will.

But if you are going to play, at least try to play the games with the flat top jackpots for the highest denomination you can easily afford.