Online slots are the modern version of slot machines you’ve seen at brick-and-mortar casinos. They range from classic fruit machines to the latest video slots and jackpot games.
We’ll show you what to look for in a slot and what aspects are important to players. With our help, you will definitely find the best free slots. Here we’ll focus on what really matters; what and where are the best slots out there?
Browse our list of casinos with the biggest selection of online slots in the US.
With slots being one of the most popular free casino games, you’d be hard-pressed to find a casino that doesn’t give you a chance to play.
USA players love to play online casino free slots. Although there are different types available, they all share the same basic idea: you play online slots with virtual cash for the chance to win some more.
It’s not easy to pick the perfect game by trial and error. On Slototimes, you can learn about the basic functions and features, how volatility affects payout rates, and much more. With the basics covered, you’ll be well-prepared to compare and choose the best slots for you.
The list above introduces the best casinos where you can play free slots. The casino reviews help you to get more perspective on if a casino or a slot is right for you.
Online casinos in the US have countless great games that can suit anyone’s tastes and preferences. You can join a poker game, try your hand at baccarat, or test your luck with roulette.
If you’re like most players, however, you’ll always return to free slots to play for fun. Since they were invented, they’ve been the most popular game in offline and online casinos alike.
Some of the main benefits and advantages that slots bring are as follows.
You’ll rarely find free slot machines in real-life casinos, but online casinos are full of them. Almost every online casino you visit will allow players to enjoy their favorite game without paying a dime. That is especially true for new players, as most sites want to give newcomers a taste of what the casino offers.
So, if you’re short on cash or prefer playing without leaving your credit card info on every site you visit, free slot machine games are just the thing for you.
You wouldn’t expect any great rewards from a free game, but online slots still come with great incentives and bonuses. It’s a strategy as old as time – offline and online casinos try to attract players to stay longer by offering bonuses, rewards, and incentives for playing. And players are aware of this, taking advantage of it to increase their payouts.
While most other games usually offer rewards and bonuses to newcomers, as we’ve discussed, slots are a bit different. Rewards aren’t reserved solely for new players.
Most sites offering free slots with no download will also reward loyal players, giving bonuses based on the number of games played or how frequently they visit the site. So, there’s always some valuable incentive for you to keep playing.
Maybe the most significant benefit of online slots is that they’re easy to play. You don’t have to spend months learning the rules, developing strategies, or studying how others play. You have to join the game and have some fun!
You could be waiting in line at the grocery store, sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, or commuting to work, and you could start the game for the first time in your life and still make some earnings, even as a noob.
Some casinos might have a different type of poker than you like to play, while others might offer a game as popular as baccarat. But almost every casino will have slots for you to play.
You won’t have to dig to the fifth page of Google to enjoy gambling slots free. Chances are that any online casino you come across will offer an exciting game of slots. So, you’ll always have something to do in your free time.
The game’s mechanics are always the same, but every casino will have a different theme for their slot games, making them that much more exciting. Some casinos will have a pirate theme, others a space theme. Others still will have fantasy elements that take you to another dimension.
There’s a slots theme to suit anyone’s interests, so you can enjoy yourself while watching fun graphics and working on hitting the jackpot.
Of course, almost every casino-style game allows you to set your stakes. But most will have a minimum and a maximum limit.
With slots, you can wager as much as you want. As you already know, you can play free slot games without wagering, but you can also set higher stakes if you’re going to make the game more exciting.
The biggest benefit of them all is that slots, free or not, can have excellent payouts. Jackpots are sometimes out of this world, with the biggest jackpots frequently going well over $20 million.
But even if you don’t hit the jackpot, you can still expect great winnings. The chance of a higher payout can make any game that much more immersive.
Slots are slots, regardless of their themes, payouts, bonuses for newcomers, or rewards for loyal players. But there are still significant differences between free slots you can play without deposits and real money slot games.
Take a look at the table below to learn the main differences:
| Free slot games | Real money slots |
|---|---|
| ✅You can get familiar with the game without risking real money | ✅You can unlock valuable rewards and bonuses |
| ✅You can learn how to unlock bonuses and rewards | ✅You can benefit from progressive jackpots and earn unbelievable amounts of money |
| ✅You can have some fun without signing up or giving your personal information | ✅You can withdraw real money |
| ❎You cannot earn real money | ❎You risk losing real money if you don’t win |
| ❎Bonuses for free slot games aren’t that great | ❎It’s more challenging to win games with higher payouts |
The bottom line is – free slots are fun to play, but real money games can give you better winnings.
Slot-type games are the most popular choice in offline and online casinos alike. Wherever you go, you can play a round or two and test your luck. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you should jump the gun and join a game as soon as you get the chance to.
No matter how popular or available slots are, they are a gambling game. That means they’re not legal in every US state.
At the federal level, playing slots is entirely legal, so you’ll have nothing to worry about. The problem is that every individual state decides how it will treat slots and other casino-style games, so there are legal differences between the states.
Some differences are minor – in some areas, you need to be 18 or older to play slots, while in others, you need to be at least 21. Some differences are much greater, so while playing slots is entirely legal in some states, in others, it’s forbidden.
At the moment, states that have legalized online gambling and playing slots include:
California; Delaware; Florida; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Louisiana; Michigan; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; West Virginia.
If you’re living in any one of these states, you can enjoy your favorite casino-style game online without issues. However, you still have to check whether the casino you’re using is legal in your area. Check whether your chosen online casino has authorization from the state commission or gambling regulatory authority before you start using it.
Itchy to play the best free slots US online casinos have on offer? Try these ones!
Gonzo’s Quest is considered one of the cornerstones of modern online slots. It tells the tale of Gonzo, the great treasure hunter who wants to find El Dorado, the mythical city with roads paved with gold.
The slot itself is very straightforward. It has five reels, three rows, and 20 paylines from left to right. The game has a unique feature called the Avalanche, which drops new symbols to the reels once the winning symbols have paid out and exploded out of sight. You’ll also notice that each Avalanche advances the winning multiplier presented near the reels.
Once you get at least three golden symbols to the same payline on reels 1, 2, and 3, you unlock 10 Free Fall spins. The winnings might get up to a 15x multiplier during the Free Fall spins!
In Japan, spring is the time when people get together and watch the cherry trees in their full bloom. NextGen’s Cherry Blossoms is a tribute to the sakura petals covering the streets and being one of the highlights of the season.
Cherry Blossoms is a 5-reel and 3-row slot with 20 paylines from left to right. The symbol with a smiling Geisha is Wild which substitutes all other symbols (except Scatter) and doubles the win. Hit five Wilds on a single payline to win 12,500 coins.
Landing at least three Scatters on the reels triggers the Free Games feature of 15 Free Spins. During the feature, all payouts are tripled.
Watch out for the enraged buffalos in this action-packed slot from Playtech! In Buffalo Blitz, you find yourself wandering on the grassy plains. The background music is soothing, but there are signs of a storm brewing. The thick, dark clouds have already gathered in the sky, and there’s electricity in the air.
This 6-reel and 4-row game features 4,096 paylines and a chance of winning up to 100 Free Spins. Landing three Scatters triggers 8 Free Spins, and landing 6 Scatters starts the feature with 100 Free Spins. You may win more Free Spins during the free games, too.
The Diamond is the Wild in the game, substituting all but Scatter. A random multiplier is added to each landing Wild during the Free Spins.
Bonanza was one of the first slots to have up to 117,649 paylines, thanks to the trademarked Megaways feature. Set in the heydays of gold mining, Bonanza is filled with precious gems and exploding Wilds.
The base game holds 6 reels and a horizontal “bonus reel” on top of reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. Each regular reel can hold 2-7 symbols, plus one extra symbol for the reels under the bonus reel. The number of symbols on the reels is randomly picked every time you hit the spin button, so the paylines can be anything between 64 and 117,649. Bonanza also has the Cascading wins feature, which replaces winning symbols with new ones.
You can trigger the Free Spins by collecting four or more golden Scatters on the reels. Four Scatters spell GOLD, and any additional Scatters will give you extra spins. The basic Free Spins start with 12 spins, and during this feature, every win will increase your winning multiplier. The multiplier doesn’t reset and doesn’t have a cap.
NetEnt’s Wild Wild West: The Great Train Heist is a fast-paced slot where you’re the newest member of a group of heinous train-robbing villains!
Wild Wild West is a 5-reel, 3-row slot with 10 paylines, Wild symbols, Scatters, four different Free Spin features, and a Pick and Click bonus. Wilds substitute the other game symbols except for Scatter and Bonus. Collecting three or more Scatters awards you 10 Free Spins, and a Bonus symbol on reels 1, 3, and 5 triggers the Pick and Click Bonus with cash prices.
Each of the four Free Spin features has its own Wild; a regular Wild, an expanding Wild, a 2x multiplier Wild, and a spreading Wild. When you trigger the Free Spins in the base game, the feature is then picked randomly on a lucky wheel spin.
What’s more fun than uncovering a mystery? In Red Tiger’s Mystery Reels slot, you can do just that and win up to 5,000x on your bet.
The basic idea of the slot is easy. You have a 5-reel, 3-row game with 20 paylines from left to right. The symbols are also familiar to anyone who has ever played a slot game; fruits, blazing sevens, and bells. But wait, there are surprises, too!
Landing one or more Bonus Wheel symbols activates the Wheel Bonus with win multipliers. You can even win more spins on the wheel. In the base game, you can also land a golden apple which is the Mystery symbol. The Mystery symbol has a number inside, which determines how many steps it will randomly walk while copying itself on the reels until revealing the real symbol.
Triple Red Hot 7s from IGT takes you straight to Las Vegas with its classic design and catchy tunes. Get ready for some sizzling action!
The slot contains three reels, three rows, and five paylines. You can easily adjust the number of actively paying reels and line bets to get the total bet you want to play with. On each reel, you can find 3x Wild Multiplier Symbols that boost the payouts.
Landing three Bonus Symbols on any position on each reel triggers the Free Games with 7 free spins. You may retrigger the feature the same way the Free Games were initially won, all the way up to 700 free spins per bonus! During the Free Games, all wins get multiplied between 2 and 7 by Spitfire Multiplier.
Honoring the classic slot machines, Jackpot Inferno from Everi is an old-school game where the wheels are hot, and it features even hotter with 12 different Jackpots!
Jackpot Inferno is a 5-reel and 4-row slot game with 50 paylines from left to right. The symbols are your classics, such as hearts, fruits, sevens, and crowns. Landing three or more Bonus symbols triggers the Free Spin bonus, where only the high-paying symbols and Wilds are active.
Five or more Scatters activate the Jackpot Jump. In Jackpot Jump, you can select three mystery symbols from 20 available on the screen and reveal either more picks, cash prizes, or Jackpot Inferno Symbols. The Jackpot Inferno symbols advance the locked-in progressive tier one step higher.
Wheel of Fortune is probably one of the best-known TV show formats in the entire world. It’s also been made into several board games, and it’s also been a popular theme in casino games.
Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme Spin is a 5-reel slot that offers 720 ways to win from both sides. By adjusting your coin value, you can affect your total bet as well as the top award shown on the game screen.
Landing three or more Scatters activates the Mini Wheel Bonus, which turns the Scatters into wheels with values on each sector. After the wheels stop, the values are added together and multiplied by the current coin value.
Should you land three or more Bonus symbols on the reels, you are presented with 12 envelopes. You may select as many envelopes as how many Bonus symbols you triggered the feature with. The envelopes hold pointers for blue, yellow, and red wheels, of which the blue and red wheels have coin wins, and the yellow wheel contains multipliers.
African Savannahs offer a home for various animals – you can hear them bellowing, chirping, and roaring in WMS Interactive’s slot game Raging Rhino.
Raging Rhino has six reels, four rows, and 4,096 paylines from left to right. The high-paying symbols are animals, whereas the low-paying symbols only contain letters and numbers. Wilds, which look like sunsets, substitute all other symbols except the Diamond Scatters.
3, 4, 5, or 6 Scatters landing anywhere on the reels reward 8, 15, 20, or 50 Free Spins, respectively. Landing Scatters also pay coin wins; 3 Scatters pay 2x your bet, and 6 Scatters pay 1,000x. During the Free Spins feature, each Wild will carry either a 2x or a 3x multiplier.
Even if you’ve never been in a casino before, you likely know what slots are precisely and how they work. You pull the (physical or virtual) lever, watch the reels spin, cross your fingers, and hope the images on them match.
But just because the mechanics of all slot games are the same doesn’t mean there’s no variety to the game.
The following are the most popular types of online slot machines you can enjoy.
It’s all in the name – 3D slots feature immersive 3D graphics and catchy designs. You don’t have to sit there and watch as flat reels spin. Thanks to the power of technology, you can enjoy a fully immersive experience using your PC, tablet, or smartphone to play.
3D slots are usually based on popular culture, movies, and TV shows, so you’ll often get a glimpse into a short cut scene from your favorite media.
Progressive jackpot slots might be the most popular option out there. With regular slots, there’s a regular payout. You keep playing, hoping to win the same jackpot amount each time.
With a progressive jackpot, thighs are more interesting. Every time you lose the game, the jackpot increases. That’s how you hear about the mind-blowing winnings of some of the most persistent players. It’s not unheard of for progressive jackpot slots to offer multi-million-dollar prizes.
The chances of winning are slim, but even a slight chance can be well worth it when the stakes are so high.
You might not have heard the name, but you’ve likely encountered penny slots. They’re best suited for the price-conscious player, as the minimum bet per line is usually just a single cent (the max hangs around $2).
With such a low bet, you can’t expect great winnings. But the good news is that the frequency of payouts has increased.
Most penny slots also feature progressive jackpots, but the payout is still limited.
Contrasting the penny slots are high-limit slots. Whereas the entry bet for penny slots can be just a single penny, the entry bet for high-limit slots can go up to a few hundred dollars, if not more.
Your risk with high-limit slots can be well rewarded if you win. The payout percentage is commonly much higher than with any other slot type.
Classic slots are the good old-fashioned online slots with fun, colorful graphics, symbols such as “7s” and “cherries”, and three spinning reels.
They don’t come with many bells and whistles of slot games such as progressive jackpot, but they’re immersive, reliable, and affordable minimum bets with generous payouts.
Fruit slots are a step up from the classic slots. They usually have a vintage aesthetic, making you feel like you’re in a real-life casino in the 20s.
Since they boast symbols such as “cherries” and “lemons”, they’re referred to as “fruit” slots.
While classic slots stick to the 3-reel system, fruit slots can have up to five reels. They also offer pleasant bonuses and rewards, making them highly exciting to play.
As previously discussed, many casinos will have a specific theme for their slots – pirates, underwater theme, space theme, and more. Some casinos will even have holiday specials, creating uniquely themed slots such as Halloween slots, Christmas slots, or St. Patrick’s Day slots.
They don’t differ much from the classic slot game. The mechanics and entry bets are the same, though payouts could sometimes be greater. The only real difference is the appearance, but the graphics make these games so enjoyable.
NetEnt, Microgaming, Betsoft, Play ’n GO, Yggdrasil… What makes one game developer superior to another? Which one of them makes the best slots to play online?
If it’s the age, then Microgaming and NetEnt are at the top of the list.
Microgaming had a long head-start with online gaming, as their first game and casino software were published as early as 1994. NetEnt followed in 2004, which is still quite early, and Play ’n GO in 2006.
Naturally, with age comes experience and knowing your customers better. It’s a great help while creating new slots if you actually know your audience and the trending features.
Those who have played slots for some time can easily distinguish one supplier’s games from others. The suppliers do have a distinct style that they’re known for. That causes some of the players to favor certain developers more.
In the US, each state with legalized online gambling has its own approach to game supplier licensing. The gaming regulator in each state usually has a dedicated unit that ensures all casino games available in the state are licensed and above board.
The game providers usually need to apply for a vendor license to offer their games in a specific state. The state regulator then processes the application and either grants or denies the license.
Below, you’ll find a list of relevant government bodies that check and license game providers in each state:
In addition to the license for the game provider, each game needs to be submitted and checked too. For this, the regulators have specialized labs that vet both online and offline casino games.
You’ll find a list of licenses in the game supplier listings on Bojoko. If the game provider is unavailable in your state, you cannot play its games.
So, what are the best slots? We can’t tell you that because there are as many best slots as there are players. However, with these pointers, you’ll easily figure out the right answer for you.
RTP tells you how much the slot pays back to the players in the long run.
The level of volatility indicates the level of risk. If the slot is marked as highly volatile, you can expect the payouts to be scarce but higher.
Lastly, the level of variance tells you the likelihood of hitting any winning combination on a given spin. It’s often mixed up with volatility as it also refers to the risk involved.
Colorful slots with upbeat jingles are easy to be drawn to. They invite you over with often cartoonish looks, or they’re themed after something that interests you, like food, cars, music, or your favorite TV show. They’re also fast-paced games where you may lose track of time and your balance.
Online slots have a lot of different kinds of mechanics and visual aids to keep your attention on the reels. That’s why it’s crucial to remember to play responsibly. Here are a few tips on how you can do that:
Slots also come in different levels of volatility, so a highly volatile slot may pay heftier, but it’s not as likely to hit big wins. Low volatile slots generally pay less but more often.
Simply put: the higher the volatility, the bigger the risks you’re taking.
Yes, even free online slots offer excellent winnings, but you cannot cash out your earnings. You’ll need to pay real money to play if you want to collect your payments.
Most online casinos will offer easy online access to their slot games, so you don’t have to download any apps or software (unless you want to). You have to visit your favorite online casino’s website, create an account, and start playing. Online casinos are PC and mobile-friendly.
In theory, there aren’t any differences between free slots and real money slots. The mechanics of the games are the same, but the winnings are different. Free slots typically offer fun bonuses such as free spins. Real money slots offer much better rewards, allowing you to cash out your earnings and hit massive jackpots.
Slot volatility refers to how frequently a player can hit the jackpot and how great their earnings can be. High volatility slots have much bigger payouts, but you won’t win very often. Low volatility slots have much smaller payouts, but you’ll find yourself winning more frequently.
Online and offline slots are similar but different. They work the same way, boasting levers and spinning reels, but online slots offer more variability. Since online casinos have lower overhead expenses, they can offer more bonuses and rewards, bigger payouts, and more frequent winnings.
