Online casino penny slots
Best Online Penny Slots and Online Penny Slot Casinos
Historically, a penny slot was a slot machine that you could play for, you guessed it, one cent. But that rather quaint idea had disappeared from places like Las Vegas around the same time exploding volcanos and dolphins first appeared on the Strip.
Sure, they had machines they called penny slot machines, but they cost a lot more than that to play, and hey, we get it. Today’s fancy slot machines are costly, and neither is the space they fill up. Playing a penny-a-spin is never going to be economical for brick-and-mortar casinos.
But now, with the advent of legal online casinos in multiple states, we are seeing the return of penny slot machines through the lens of online slots. No one is probably interested in betting just a penny anymore, but the option is there.
We will cover how to play them, where to play them, and what to look for when deciding which penny slots are suitable for you.
What are Online Penny Slots?
Penny slots are simply slots that allow you to wager as little as one cent on a payline. But we can probably all agree that one pay line isn’t going to be very exciting, and maybe the game needs 5 cents a pay line to trigger the best jackpot, and you probably want to have at least some pay lines across all nine of the reels; and well, that’s how penny slots work.
You can bet a penny, but if you want all the bells and whistles, all of the jackpots triggered, and all of the bonus rounds available, then you’re going to have to shell out a $1 or $2, with a few exceptions.
When we talk about online penny slots, we mean any of the slot machines available at online casinos that are being legalized in state after state. Many of these casinos are operated by some of the biggest names in casino gaming, like BetMGM or Caesar’s. When you play penny slots at these online casinos, you can also earn valuable comps and rewards through their VIP programs that you can use in Las Vegas or a brick-and-mortar casino near you.
Since online casinos don’t have to buy expensive slot machines, pay for the electricity to run them, or the slot attendants to maintain them, they often offer far more penny slots than you would find in a land-based casino and with bigger returns. Most of these will allow you to toggle from penny to nickel to dollar without anything else changing, so you can play for whatever stakes you desire.
How to Play Online Penny Slot Games
Once you register for the online casino of your choice, it is still best to play the penny slot you choose in demo mode for a bit so you can get a feel for it and decide if it is something worth spending real money on. Free penny slots may not sound that exciting, but the average slot player bets almost 600 spins per hour. At $1 a spin, you will put more than $600 through this machine per hour. It’s best to be sure it is something you enjoy.
You can also google reviews on the penny slots of your choosing to get a detailed description of anything you need to be aware of regarding gameplay, bonus rounds, or minimums needed to trigger jackpots.
Playing Online Penny Slots at Online Casinos
Once you’ve found a suitable machine and learned a bit about it, you can deposit money with the online casino and play real money slots. They make depositing straightforward and quick and will often offer a significant initial deposit bonus to win your business. In some cases, there may even be a no-deposit bonus that you could use to test your new machine with free credits. Online slots play just like real ones, so there is nothing to worry about there.
More Online Slots Resources for You
Best Online Casinos to Play Online Penny Slots
As usual, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to playing penny slots online.
Perhaps you’d like to play progressive penny slots for a chance to win big jackpots, or maybe you value Caesar’s reward points because they have a casino near you where you can earn free rooms, or perhaps you need hundreds of penny slots to choose from to satisfy your need for variety.
There’s no wrong or right, and penny slot machines come in many different forms. The best penny slot machines are the ones that make you happy.
BetMGM Penny Slots
BETMGM is the perfect choice if you are looking for variety. They have one of the largest slot libraries in the U.S. and offer hundreds of penny slots, including some progressive jackpot slots.
They have an excellent reputation and are licensed in dozens of states as either an online casino, brick-and-mortar casino, or sports book. So you can be sure that their software is on the up and up.
They don’t have a ton of filters to search for just penny slots, so you may have to do a little digging, but they do offer the machines’ Return To Player (RTP)and their volatility level, which is great info to have.
Caesar’s Palace Online Penny Slots
Caesar’s Palace is another gaming behemoth that has had great success with its online casinos. And again, that is because they have hundreds of penny slot machine titles available in every conceivable niche.
From Ancient Egypt to Outer Space, they’ve got it. You will also find dozens of penny progressive machines as well as the Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme.
Caesar’s has more than 50 casinos around the U.S., so there’s likely one near you where you might put all those Caesar’s Reward Points you can earn on their penny slots to good use.
And, of course, you know you can trust the Caesar’s brand when it comes to fair games and easy withdrawals.
BetRivers Online Penny Slots
BetRivers is another excellent choice for you to play penny slots online. While Betrivers has lots of penny slots, BetRivers doesn’t tell you which ones they are. This isn’t good. But Betrivers does have a casino-for-fun option that lets you play many of their penny slot machines for free, which is good.
They also have many exclusive penny slots that you can only find at BetRivers, some from slot powerhouses like NetEnt and 3 Oaks.
Betrivers lags a bit behind Caesar’s and BetMGM in both the size of bonuses and ease of use of reward points. But they do have some excellent promotions and drawings for things like cruises and cars.
FanDuel Penny Slots
Fanduel is a well-known fantasy sports operator and now Sportsbook. But they also have online casinos in five states.
Tens of millions of Americans already have online accounts with Fanduel and know that they are a trustworthy and innovative casino company.
If you are looking to play penny slots and have a chance at winning lots of swag, Fanduel is the place for you.
Again, they need a designated place to find your favorite penny slot machine, but the search bar is mostly reliable, and the online slots all come from the top manufacturers. They also have free penny slots with their demo mode, so you can take them for a test drive before you gamble real money.
Borgata Penny Slots
Strictly speaking, the Borgata in Atlantic City is owned by MGM. Still, due to some vagaries in the New Jersey online casino laws, they got their own online casino, which proved so popular it expanded to other states with legal online gaming. Borgata shares many, but not all, of their slot library with BetMGM, and while they have only about half the titles of their bigger brother, they still manage to have some great penny slot exclusives.
While Penny Slots and the luxury Borgata brand may seem like something other than a likely pairing, they have a surprising amount of organized and easy-to-find penny slots. Their promotions and drawings are heavily Borgata-centric, with High-End Suite giveaways, comped meals at their 5-star restaurants, and tickets for big-name entertainment at their venues.
Best Online Penny Slot Titles
Divine Fortune is a slot game from NetENT. While it has been around for many years, its simple gameplay and Greek God theme keep people coming back again and again. However, its outstanding RTP of 96.6% and medium volatility probably have a lot to do with that as well.
Since many penny machines are a bit stingy on the amount they Return To Player (RTP), any machine over 96% should be considered a keeper.
Golden Goddess is yet another Ancient Greece-themed penny slot that is beloved by slot players around the world. With 40 pay lines, this one might only set you back 40 cents a spin. It’s a gorgeous game made by IGT, with a haunting soundtrack and, once again, a stellar 96.15% RTP.
Starburst is another decade-old penny slot that is still on the most-played charts. This game is best described as high-intensity with a punchy soundtrack and lots of bold colors and visuals; NetEnt won a lot of awards with this one back in the day. It’s out-of-this-world theme matches it’s out-of-this-world RTP of 96%.
Legacy Of Dead bucks our list of older penny slots. Released by PlayNGo in 2020, it’s an Egyptian-themed, ten pay line slot that features just a stunning backdrop of an Egyptian Burial Chamber, along with Anubis, a Mummy, Isis and a Pharoh in great visual detail.
It is a higher volatility game, meaning that much of the payback comes in infrequent large wins, not more frequent smaller ones, but with an overall RTP of 96.5%, it might have us excavating pyramids.
Penny Slot Machines at Retail Casinos
While many bemoan the tragic demise of penny slots in land-based casinos, they aren’t gone. They’ve just morphed like everything else into something new.
The advent of electronic machines meant that as many pay lines as you want can be added to a slot machine; some of the Megaway machines have over 100,000 pay lines. So, while playing for a penny isn’t always an option, paying for a penny a payline still is.
One warning about the penny slots in land-based casinos is that data from the Nevada Gaming Commission back up the rumors that they don’t pay as well as higher denominations. $5 slots have a house edge in Nevada, on average of 5.46%, while penny slots had an average of 9.81%.
Are there Free Online Penny Slots?
Unfortunately, not everyone lives in one of the six states with legal online penny slot machines. But there are many other ways to play free casino games, sometimes with a chance at winning real prizes like cruises, concert tickets, and even cash.
Social casinos are one of the most popular places to play free penny slots. These casinos don’t allow you to play for real money, but you can buy gold coins in their free slot machines. When you purchase these coins, you also win sweepstakes or “sweeps” coins that can be bet at slot machines or table games.
If you acquire enough of them, they can be redeemed for gift cards or cash at some sites like Pulsz or High Five Casino. They are legal in all but Idaho, Washington, and Nevada, so almost anyone can play their free penny slots for either the gold coins or the cash-like sweeps coins at these sweepstakes casinos.
These social casinos also offer many promotions, initial bonuses on your first purchase of gold coins, daily tournaments, drawings, and other ways to keep their customers coming back to play. Even if you are only playing for free, there are still lots of ways to win and valuable prizes on offer.
Another route, as we mentioned earlier, is playing the online casino slots in demo mode. Many of these sites, like BetRiver, actively encourage people in states without legal slot machines to play for free and often offer prizes and promotions to get your email and stay in touch with possible future customers.
Online Penny Slots FAQs
Depending on who you ask, a penny slot may be a machine where the minimum bet is just one cent. But most people, including the Nevada Gaming Commission, will define penny slots as machines where you can wager as low as one cent on each available pay line.
Besides the ones we mentioned above, other popular penny slots include Book Of Dead, Valley of the Gods, and Blaze of Ra.
Penny slots, especially progressive penny slots, can award jackpots in the millions. In 2012, the Aria paid a penny slot player $12.8 million on a jackpot. In 2022, the Circa delivered a $1.25 million-dollar jackpot to a penny slot player on a Buffalo Diamond Machine. Admittedly, he had the max bet of $4 in, but still a good return on investment. Playing penny slots could lead to a life-changing jackpot.
Absolutely. Every online casino will count your penny slot play towards both your tier points and your reward points. Remember they are happy to have you there since often the RTP on penny slots lags that of other slot machines in their library. So they want you to keep returning and will see that you are rewarded for your play.
Look, the odds are stacked against you here, but first, do your research. Only play on penny slot machines with at least a 96% RTP. Find the best online casino bonuses you can, and use the freeplay, comps, and other offers to offset the house advantage. Stick to your bankroll, don’t ever dig yourself into a hole, only bet your budget and never more. These tips won’t be enough to overcome the house edge in the long run, but they’ll undoubtedly mean you can get much more playtime.