With traditional bricks-and-mortar casinos, games like Baccarat, Blackjack, and Roulette have been considered the high roller games, while slots were considered as side amusements for low rollers. Games like craps, baccarat, and blackjack have lower house edges than slots, so why are slots so astoundingly popular in online casinos?
In casinos online, men and women are fairly equally represented as slots players, and slots are clearly the most popular game at most online casinos. One reason is the great proliferation of themes and styles with slot machines. Whereas traditional casino games like poker and blackjack do develop variations (like Power Blackjack and Texas Hold'em Poker), the differences aren't as pronounced as the differences that can be exploited with slots machines, where theme options are practically endless.
In the world of the internet, where things evolve very rapidly, traditional games may seem stuck in the mud to some players. And slots developers are constantly introducing new bonus games that keep the genre fresh. At the same time, people who are fans of classic slots like Cleopatra can easily find those games online too.
The slots you find at any casino online are affordable too. Penny slots are obviously very cheap, and even in other slots you can only put in a couple of dollars at one time. So you're not going to blow an entire bankroll right up front by playing slots. With penny slots, you can play 100 times for just a dollar, which is hard to beat for entertainment purposes. And with slots you could well end the night with as much money as when you started, plus you were entertained.
Slots are definitely popular for their simplicity too. It would be hard to think of a game simpler to play than slots. And some sites even allow you to automate play, so that the site pulls the virtual lever for you. Many people prefer to go to an online casino to play slots to going to a land casino because they can take breaks, do other things, then start playing again without driving back and forth.
Of course, people do win jackpots playing slot machines, and this is a big part of their appeal. With a typical progressive slots game, a payout will usually occur a couple of times a year, depending on how many people play. By contrast, how often do you hear of someone winning, say, a million dollars at blackjack? In other words, the average person could conceivably win a million dollars in a slots game with a one dollar bet. But could the average person turn a dollar into a million at the blackjack table? Not likely.
Slots also have the appeal of possible instant gratification. Have you ever been in a bricks-and-mortar casino when a slot machine pays off? It's pretty exciting to see money literally cascading out of a machine. Of course, you don't get coins coming out of your computer when you play online, but you can bet the players who win big at online slots have their own little celebration in front of the screen.