Online gambling is growing more and more in its reach and popularity with each passing day. Technology is continually evolving and people are growing to embrace technology more into their daily lives. These days, a smartphone can be used to order a pizza, buy clothes online, or hire a plumber. And more than that, smartphones, tablets, and PCs have even proven to be perfectly adequate alternatives to physical and traditional casinos in the face of a pandemic that currently discourages the mass gathering of large numbers of people. Sure, online gambling has been experiencing significant growth since its birth in the mid-90s. But it went through a monumental surge in the middle of the pandemic when more people were forced indoors and were left to make do with whatever time and resources they had on their hands.
But we’re not going to go in-depth about the whole industry of online gambling in this post. Rather, we’re going to focus on one very important aspect of online gambling: online slots. Industry experts always say that online slots continue to be the most popular casino game in the world. There are many factors that go into why this is so. First of all, they’re incredibly easy to learn. You can literally win money with just a push of a button. But also, a lot of slot games have really innovated their design and gaming experience to ensure that people find the gameplay as enjoyable and as addicting as possible.
In this article, we are going to take a deeper look into the technology that drives online slots, how it works, and why users don’t have to worry about casinos rigging these online games.
The Principles Behind the Software
Every single slot game that is available to play online is running on an engine that’s rooted in the principles of a Random Number Generator or RNG. Essentially, RNG is an algorithm within a sophisticated framework of programming that mimics the randomness and probability of playing slots in real life. It generates random number sequences in intervals of a millisecond every single second of every single day. This means that every time you pull on that proverbial lever of an online slot machine, you are assured of getting a random number every single time.
RNG-based programs don’t have any kind of stored memory. This means that it doesn’t keep track of player winnings or betting patterns. Instead, the only thing that slots take note of is its payout percentage. A payout percentage is basically the amount of cash that a particular slot machine has paid out relative to the amount that players have bet. The higher a payout percentage, that means that the machine has a history of a higher odds of winning for the player. However, industry experts say that payout percentage isn’t a guarantee that payers will win money on a particular slot.
The Biggest Developers
The online gambling industry has a number of big developers who are looking to create fun casino games for online casino platforms. Typically, these developers have products that are regulated and overseen by third-party regulatory bodies so as to ensure the fairness of their programming. Often, these developers will try to outdo one another with graphics, gameplay, and overall game design as they sell their products to online casino operators.
Again, there are a number of software giants out there who are known in the industry for providing solid and reliable casino games. But the three biggest names that always pop up during these kinds of discussions are Netent, Microgaming, and PlayTech. However, there are also a bunch of other boutique companies who have proven their worth in developing quality games that many online gamblers have enjoyed over the years.
Variety of Games
One might think that you can only do so much to separate one slot game from another. But that’s not necessarily the case. There are so many developers that incorporate various aspects of pop culture and other forms of inspiration into the game design. All of these little innovations can do a lot for really setting one game apart from another. The sheer variety of slot games is one of the reasons why many avid gamblers tend to enjoy playing slots so much.
