Choosing a pokie is easier when you read three numbers: the RTP, the volatility and the maximum win. We lay them out below for 15 games from the studios Australian players meet most, explain what Megaways, Hold & Win, cluster pays and Bonus Buy mean for your balance, and say plainly what no one can tell you, which is when a machine will pay. A casino may load a lower-RTP build of the same game, so treat the figures as the studio headline.
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Game counts are the figures each casino prints. Pokies and total games are listed separately where the casino separates them.
RTP is the share of stakes a game returns over a vast number of spins. Volatility describes how bumpy the ride is. Max win is the top prize as a multiple of your bet. Together they describe a game far better than a name or a theme.
| Pokie | Studio | RTP | Volatility | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonanza Trillion | BGaming | 97.17% | High | 5,000x |
| Wild Cash Gold | BGaming | 97.02% | Very high | 25,000x |
| Aztec Clusters | BGaming | 97.00% | Very high | 10,000x |
| Divine Queen: Power of Sun | BGaming | 97.00% | Medium-high | 5,000x |
| Lady Wolf Moon Megaways | BGaming | 96.75% | Very high | 6,000x |
| Big Bass Bonanza | Pragmatic Play | 96.71% | High | 2,100x |
| Rise of Merlin | Play’n GO | 96.58% | High | 5,000x |
| Gates of Olympus | Pragmatic Play | 96.50% | High | 5,000x |
| Sweet Bonanza | Pragmatic Play | 96.48% | High | 21,175x |
| Wanted Dead or a Wild | Hacksaw Gaming | up to 96.38% | 4 / 5 (studio score) | 12,500x |
| Red and Hot Chilli | BGaming | 96.35% | Medium-low | 5,000x |
| Book of Dead | Play’n GO | up to 96.21% | High | 5,000x |
| Joker Mask | BGaming + LudexPlay | 96.12% | High | 15,000x |
| Starburst | NetEnt | 96.09% | Low | about 500x |
| Mental | Nolimit City | 96.08% | Not stated | 66,666x |
The RTP shown is the studio’s headline figure. Some casinos run reduced versions, so the same title can return less at one site than another. Published RTP tables list Gates of Olympus at 84.08% and Book of Dead at 94.25% in lower configurations. Always open the game’s info screen at the casino where you play.
We take RTP, volatility and maximum win from the studio’s own page where it prints them, and from published RTP tables where it does not. Pragmatic Play, for instance, prints RTP and multiplier values but no volatility label we can cite, so those cells come from published RTP tables. Cells we cannot source are left empty rather than guessed.
Two games can share a 96.5% RTP and feel completely different. A low-volatility title such as Starburst pays small wins often. A very high title such as Aztec Clusters or Wild Cash Gold can go cold, then deliver a big result. Your bankroll should dictate which you pick.
Stake A$100 across a very large number of spins on a 97% RTP game and the expected return is A$97. On a 96% game it is A$96. That A$1 gap matters less in one evening than the volatility, which can swing your result either side of those averages by many times that amount.
Max win is a ceiling, not a target. Wild Cash Gold lists 25,000x and Mental 66,666x, but hitting anything near that is extremely rare. At an A$1 stake, 25,000x would be A$25,000, so treat it as the reason to play, not a reason to raise your stake.
Not every pokie plays the same, and a few formats dominate Australian lobbies.
The reel set changes on each spin, creating thousands of ways to win. BGaming rates Lady Wolf Moon Megaways at 96.75%, gives it very high volatility and caps wins at 6,000x, and a Wheel of Fortune sets the free spins and a multiplier.
Instead of paylines, wins form when matching symbols touch or appear anywhere. Aztec Clusters uses a 6x8 grid, while Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza and Divine Queen pay anywhere with tumbling reels.
Coins lock in place while you get respins. Joker Mask has four fixed jackpot tiers from x15 to x1,000. For networked jackpots, Mega Moolah has a four-tier progressive and a low 88.12% base RTP, the price of the jackpot pool.
Bonus Buy lets you pay a price set in multiples of the bet to trigger the feature. WinCrown lists 2,200+ such titles and Casinonic 500+. Classic three-reel style games are rarer: Wild Cash is a 3x3 with five paylines and a 3-reel bonus with a multiplier up to 999x. Our types of pokies guide goes deeper.
A BGaming release with a three-level bonus, Standard, Gold and Extreme, that builds a multiplier through respins. RTP is 97.02%, volatility very high and the top win 25,000x. Three Buy Bonus options and a Chance x2 stake are available. Expect long quiet stretches against a very large ceiling.
Wins refill the grid and cell multipliers up to x128 persist through free spins. RTP is 97.00% with medium-high volatility and a 5,000x top win. It is one of the highest-returning pokies in our table without being at the extreme end of volatility.
A BGaming and LudexPlay game with a 3x5 layout and a Hold and Win bonus that gives three respins with x2, x3 and x5 multipliers. RTP is 96.12%, volatility high and the maximum win 15,000x. Buy Bonus options cost 30x, 60x or 90x your bet.
Refilling reels pay anywhere, and multipliers of 2x to 100x only appear in the free spins, triggered by four, five or six scatters for 10, 20 or 30 spins. RTP is 95.97%, volatility high per the studio FAQ and the top win 15,000x.
If top prize is what draws you, these are the largest figures the studios print for titles we track.
| Game | Studio | Max win | RTP | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mental | Nolimit City | 66,666x | 96.08% | Not stated |
| Wild Cash Gold | BGaming | 25,000x | 97.02% | Very high |
| Epic SixSixSix | Hacksaw Gaming | 20,666x | Up to 96% | 5 / 5 |
| Joker Mask | BGaming + LudexPlay | 15,000x | 96.12% | High |
| Bonanza Billion | BGaming | 15,000x | 95.97% | High |
| Wanted Dead or a Wild | Hacksaw Gaming | 12,500x | Up to 96.38% | 4 / 5 |
Hacksaw prints a score out of five instead of a word, so 5 / 5 is its most volatile rating. Treat a high score as a warning that long losing runs are normal. A big ceiling usually goes with a modest hit rate, which is why these games suit small stakes.
Most of the pokies above come from a short list of studios, and knowing them helps you choose a lobby.
BGaming supplies several of the highest-returning titles in our table. Pragmatic Play makes Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza and Big Bass Bonanza. Play’n GO makes Rise of Merlin and Book of Dead, NetEnt makes Starburst, and Hacksaw Gaming and Nolimit City make the high-ceiling releases. Mega Moolah comes from Games Global, formerly Microgaming.
SkyCrown lists Playson, Voltent and Clawbuster among its studios, Neospin lists BGaming, Netgame, Betsoft, Habanero and more, and Wild Tokyo lists Hacksaw Gaming, NetEnt, Nolimit City, Play’n GO, Relax Gaming, BGaming and Pragmatic Play. Because lobbies differ, search for the exact title before you deposit. The providers overview below shows who lists whom.
| Studio | Pokies in our guides | Highest RTP among them | Listed at |
|---|---|---|---|
| BGaming | Bonanza Trillion, Wild Cash Gold, Aztec Clusters, Divine Queen: Power of Sun, Lady Wolf Moon Megaways, Red and Hot Chilli, Wild Cash, Bonanza Billion, Elvis Frog in Vegas | 97.17% (Bonanza Trillion) | Neospin, Wild Tokyo, WinCrown |
| BGaming + LudexPlay | Joker Mask | 96.12% (Joker Mask) | – |
| Play’n GO | Rise of Merlin, Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead, Triple Tumblin' Totems, Beasts of Fire Inferno, Tower Run Treasure Steps | 96.58% (Rise of Merlin) | Wild Tokyo, Crown Slots, Gambiva |
| Pragmatic Play | Sweet Bonanza POP, Big Bass Bonanza, Big Bass Splash, Wonders of Aztec, Super Golden Spins, Killer Night, The Dog House, Wild West Gold, Gates of Olympus, Sugar Rush, Starlight Princess, Fruit Party, Gates of Olympus 1000, Sweet Bonanza, Wolf Gold | 97.05% (Sweet Bonanza POP) | Wild Tokyo, WinCrown, Crown Slots |
| Voltent | 9 Coins | 96.06% (9 Coins) | SkyCrown, WinCrown, Drakaris |
| NetEnt | Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, Dead or Alive 2 | 96.09% (Starburst) | Wild Tokyo |
| Games Global (Microgaming) | Immortal Romance, Mega Moolah | 96.86% (Immortal Romance) | – |
| Hacksaw Gaming | Wanted Dead or a Wild, Le Bandit, Le Clubber, Coffee Dealer, Epic SixSixSix | up to 96.38% (Wanted Dead or a Wild) | Wild Tokyo |
| Nolimit City | Mental | 96.08% (Mental) | Neospin, Wild Tokyo |
Searches for online casino games for real money cover far more than pokies. Casinos in Australia list live dealers, roulette, blackjack-style card games, video poker and crash games alongside the slots.
WinCrown lists 150+ live tables, Neospin carries live games from Evolution, and Crazy Tower adds roulette and game shows. Neospin and Crownpokies also list crash games. The mix is broader than it looks in the pokies lobby, but the maths differ from pokies, and house edge varies by game.
Bonus wagering rarely counts every game equally. Crownpokies gives pokies 100%, live and table 10%, video poker 5% and crash 0%. Casinonic gives slots 100% and roulette, video poker and card games 5%. If you intend to play tables, a no-bonus deposit is usually the cleaner option. Read the weightings in our online casino guide.
Every pokie lists its features in the info panel. A few terms cause most of the confusion.
Scatters usually trigger free spins; in Gates of Olympus, four or more award 15. Wilds substitute for other symbols, and multipliers raise a win by a set factor. The orbs in Gates of Olympus and the cell multipliers in Divine Queen are variations on the same idea.
Buy Bonus options let you pay a price set in multiples of the stake to skip straight to the feature, for instance 100x to 800x your bet at Aztec Clusters. Chance x2 raises your bet to improve the odds of triggering free spins. Both increase the cost of each round, so they magnify swings, not your expected return. Mental’s feature buy may be removed in regulated markets, as its studio notes.
Some games let you gamble a win for a chance to double it. Red and Hot Chilli caps its gamble at 5,000x. The gamble does not improve your long-run return, so use it sparingly if at all.
Studios release new titles every month, and our new pokies guide tracks them. Newer games such as Wild Cash Gold and Joker Mask sit beside older standards like Book of Dead, which dates from 2016, and Starburst. Older games are well documented and easy to compare. Newer ones can carry bigger ceilings, but check their RTP version at your casino before you assume it matches the studio page.
Knowing which game to play comes down to a few checks. No method predicts a payout.
Open the info panel. Note the RTP, the volatility and the maximum win. Prefer the higher RTP when two games feel equally fun, and make sure the casino is not running a reduced version.
If your stake is A$0.50 and you want a long session, choose medium-low or medium volatility. If you accept dry runs for a shot at a large win, a very high game fits. Our high RTP guide ranks the best-returning titles.
Where a studio demo is available, use it to learn the features. See our free pokies guide for how that works.
A library only helps if you can use it. WinCrown counts 8,200+ games, 5,000+ of them pokies, from 60+ providers. Casinonic lists 3,000+ pokies and 1,000+ jackpot pokies. Neospin lists 7,000+ games from studios such as BGaming, Netgame, Betsoft, Habanero, Yggdrasil and Nolimit City. Drakaris lists stake ranges from A$0.10 to A$70,000. Pokies are for entertainment, so set deposit and loss limits first and keep play to money you can afford. Play only if you are at least 18, and Gambling Help Online gives free support on 1800 858 858, day and night.
There is no single best. By published RTP, Bonanza Trillion leads our table at 97.17%, with Wild Cash Gold at 97.02% and Aztec Clusters and Divine Queen at 97.00%. By top win, Mental reaches 66,666x and Wild Cash Gold 25,000x. Pick on the balance of return and volatility that suits your budget.
No machine wins the most, because each spin is independent and set by a random number generator. What differs between games is the long-run RTP, the volatility and the maximum win. A higher RTP returns more per A$100 staked over a very large number of spins, but it promises nothing about a single session.
No. Results come from a random number generator, so a game that has been quiet is no more due than one that just paid. The only published guides are RTP, volatility and the paytable. Claims of patterns or timing are marketing, and we do not offer any.
Yes. In Australia, slot machines are called pokies, and online slots, online pokies and video slots all describe the same kind of game. Casinos group them with other casino games, such as live tables, crash games and video poker, but those have different rules and bonus weightings.
Only a little. Crownpokies weights pokies at 100%, video poker at 5% and live and table games at 10%. Casinonic counts slots at 100% and roulette, video poker and card games at 5%. If you plan to play tables, a pokies-weighted bonus will take a very long time to clear.
Match volatility to bankroll. Medium-low games such as Red and Hot Chilli return smaller wins more often. High and very high games, such as Aztec Clusters, can run dry then hit big. Set a stake where a few hundred spins cost an amount you accept losing, and read the info panel before you play.
Stake only what you can spare
Online pokies are for adults 18 and over. Set a deposit limit before your first spin and treat every session as paid entertainment, not income. Free, confidential help runs around the clock at Gambling Help Online, phone 1800 858 858. BetStop excludes you from licensed Australian wagering, but it does not reach offshore casinos, so use the self-exclusion tool inside the casino as well.