High Variance Slots That Sports Bettors Will Love

Mark Wadie, founder of online casino comparison site theslotbuzz.com, talks about why the latest high variance slots have an appeal for sports bettors.

The video slots market in the UK has seen a massive swing towards high variance games in recent months, driven in part by the popularity of Big Time Gaming’s Megaways™ format. But it’s not just traditional slots fans who are getting in on the action. With their edge of the seat gameplay and unpredictable, all or nothing payout models, high variance games now appeal to sports bettors, too.

Before Megaways™ the best high variance games all had something of a cult following. Titles like Microgaming’s Immortal Romance, WMS’ Raging Rhino and NetEnt’s Dead or Alive have always had a special place in the heart of every slots fanatic. The biggest casino forums are packed with threads about how to unlock a screen full of wilds on Dead or Alive, alongside dark conspiracy theories about why the maths model on such and such a game is rigged.

But Big Time Gaming’s slots, and the string of copy-cat games from rival producers that have come in their wake, have made high variance more of a mainstream concern.

The art of creating a good high variance slot has always been in creating a thrilling win sequence where several features dovetail on screen to drive cumulative win lines with high value symbols and often sky-high multipliers. Now games like Bonanza, White Rabbit and Extra Chili have hit that sweet spot in a bigger way than ever. These games usually make the player wait until the free spins round opens up where features like cascading wins tie in with progressive multipliers and re-triggers to create a burst of adrenaline-pumping big wins. The kind all big gamblers are waiting for.

The success of this format has driven these games to the top of the rankings for many online casinos and made other types of gambler sit up and take notice.

One group to whom these games will inevitably appeal is sports bettors.

By their nature, high variance slots are unpredictable but thrilling. They leave the player either crushed or elated. There can be long periods of lows, with no wins and a dwindling account balance, followed by a short, electric run of big wins. It’s take-no-prisoners stuff, and for some, it’s the kind of gambling experience that’s reminiscent of high risk, long odds betting on Accas or blindly backing your favourite team throughout the football season. We know that it rarely comes off, but like Leicester winning the title, or that ludicrous accumulator that actually paid out, the good times are really good!

There is currently a glut of these high variance games on the market. Not all are of such high quality, but here is a pick of three of the best from the last 12 months.

The Final Countdown by Big Time Gaming

The follow-up to the popular Danger! High Voltage uses an 80s stadium rock-anthem combined with a ‘cloning reels’ feature, ‘cloning wilds’ and massive multipliers to build tons of anticipation for gamblers looking to hit that elusive big win. The game has a maximum 888x multiplier in the ‘Heading for Venus’ round. Since its release, YouTube channels have been packed with videos showing just how big the payouts on The Final Countdown can get.

Genie Jackpots Megaways™ by Blueprint

Since Blueprint licensed the Megaways™ engine from Big Time Gaming a string of re-makes have been pushed out by their development team. Perhaps the best of the bunch is Genie Jackpots – a classic progressive slot getting the Megaways™ treatment. Once again there are lots of free spins and multipliers, as well as the appearance of the genie himself to bring about big wins for players lucky enough to hit pay dirt.

Raging Rhino Megaways™ by WMS

For high variance slots fans, Raging Rhino is a stone-cold classic. It’s 4,096 ways to win game mechanic has been copied many times since, but never bettered. Here, the game is locked into the Megaways™ engine to give it a super-charged feel with even more free spins and those all-important multipliers, as well as rumoured top payouts well in excess of 10,000x the player’s stake per spin.