California Online Slots: Everything You Need to Know

Even though California online slots players cannot play casino games online for real money in CA, they do have options. Many social and sweepstakes sites offer ways for those in California to play slots online and even have a chance to redeem winnings for cash prizes. Read on for all you need to know about the current and best options available for playing online slots in California.

Best sites for playing online slots in CA

 

Where can you play online slots in California?

Several states allow real money online slots, but California is not one of them. However, social casinos offer slots and other games those in CA can play. These sites feature slots played with virtual currencies, although in some cases they offer ways to redeem your winnings for cash prizes.

Some of these sites are called sweepstakes casinos because they follow a sweepstakes model that is allowed in CA and other states. Games are available to play for free with no purchase necessary.

Many of these social and sweeps sites feature hundreds of slots or even over a thousand, rivaling the slot libraries of regular online casinos. The games are also developed by top studios and feature the same high level of graphics, animation, and soundtracks found in the most immersive and entertaining casino slots.

Top social casinos and sweepstakes sites for online slots in CA

Among the many different social and sweepstakes sites available in CA, here are some of our favorites when it comes to their extensive slot selections.

WOW Vegas

WOW Vegas has emerged as one of the most popular social and sweepstakes sites in the country. The enormous game library at WOW Vegas features over 1,200 slots, with more titles being added each week from developers like Betsoft, Evoplay, Pragmatic Play and a dozen others. These include classic slots, hold and spin slots, hold and win slots, Slingo and Megaways titles, and popular jackpot slots like Sweet Bonanza and Sugar Rush.

WOW Vegas uses both WOW Coins and Sweepstakes Coins in its games, and with the latter you can redeem SC for cash prizes. WOW Vegas has frequent promotions and bonuses including prize drops and drawings, daily login rewards, daily races, happy hours, email competitions and other social media-driven giveaways and contests. The Star System VIP & Loyalty Program at WOW Vegas also earns you extra perks and bonuses.

High 5 Casino

High 5 Casino is another social casino that has fast become a top choice with an easy-to-use layout and great selection of games. The slot library at High 5 Casino is growing at a rapid clip with more than 950 slots available at last check. These include exclusives plus familiar titles like Double Da Vinci Diamonds, Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania Slingo, and Secrets of the Forest.

Like other sites, High 5 Casino offers two different virtual currencies, Game Coins for free play and Sweeps Coins that can be redeemed for gift cards and cash prizes. You also get Diamonds you can use to purchase Boosts on Demand as you play, giving you a chance to win more. Keep an eye out for other bonuses like the Daily Harvest and 4-Hour Bonus among other ongoing promos.

McLuck

McLuck is another attractive social casino that now offers more than 1,000 slots from two dozen different providers. There are classic slots, jackpot slots, hold and win slots, cascading and tumble slots, Slingo and Megaways slots, and special Spins & Wins slots that give you a chance to win daily prize drops and let you spin your way up a leaderboard to win prizes. You’ll also find classic NetEnt slots at McLuck like Starburst, Twin Spin, Butterfly 2 Staxx, Fruit Shop Megaways, Divine Fortune Megaways, and others, something not every social casino has.

McLuck invites you to play games strictly for entertainment purposes with Gold Coins, or you can play with Sweepstakes Coins and if you win enough you can redeem those for cash prizes. Promos include a loyalty program, prize drops, tournaments, and the four progressive McJackpots (Grand, Major, Minor, Mini) that are always available (and growing) every time you spin.

Pulsz

Pulsz is a well established social casino that over several years has grown from a modest site with a few dozen slots to a major player with over 1,000 slots including classic slots, tumbling reels, hold and win slots, Megaways titles, Epic Wins slots, and popular exclusives like Pulsz Joker and Wisdom of Athena 1000.

At Pulsz you can play games with either Gold Coins or Sweepstakes Coins, and can redeem Sweepstakes Coins for digital gift cards or cash prizes. At Pulsz there are also daily login rewards, random drawings, social media contests, and coin giveaways via email. They additionally have a refer-a-friend program that can net you additional free Sweepstakes Coins.

Stake.us

Stake.us stands out from other social and sweepstakes sites for a number of reasons, starting with the site’s enormous slot library of more than 900 games. There are top titles from Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, BGaming and other studios, including popular online slots like Sweet Bonanza 1000, Wanted Dead or a Wild, Donny Dough, and others. Stake.us also features larger than average selections of table games and live dealer games, for fans of those.

Stake.us distinguishes itself by its many promos that include frequent “Challenges” inviting players to play certain slots with the biggest winners during the promotional period earning Gold Coins or Stake Cash. Look as well for Daily Races, Slot Battles, Multiplier Drops, and many other ways to collect more GC and SC as you play. Finally, Stake.us is different in that it exclusively uses cryptocurrencies for purchases and redemptions.

Chanced

Chanced is another relatively new social casino that offers online slots players a nice selection of over 900 titles from which to choose. You’ll find hundreds of Pragmatic Play titles such as favorites like Gates of Olympus and Front Runner (a Chanced exclusive), plus other developers like Hacksaw and Relax Gaming are well represented. Many of the slots feature bonus rounds and free games that help make game play more exciting.

Chanced does run promotions from time to time, although it helps to follow them on Telegram where they tend to share bonus drop codes and other offers. There aren’t the daily promos, though, you find at other sites such as those discussed above. Chanced does allow coin purchases both by debit and credit cards and via multiple cryptocurrencies.

Other social casinos and sweepstakes sites for CA online slots players

While the sites discussed above are particular favorites of ours for online slots, those in California have many other options as well, including:

• BetRivers.net
• Carnival Citi
• Chumba Casino
• Crown Coins
• DingDingDing
• Fortune Wheelz
• FunRize
• FunzCity
• Funzpoints
• Hello Millions
• Jackpota
• LuckyLand Slots
• NoLimitCoins
• Punt.com
• RealPrize
• Sweeptastic

Types of online slots

Classic Slots

Most of the sites listed above feature a category called classic slots which can be a catch-all term with lots of meanings. Often the term refers to popular slots that have been around for many years, but it can also refer to traditional three-reel slots such as featured in retail casinos. Thus might the term distinguish one group of slots from other, more complicated multi-reel slots with more paylines and features.

Video Slots

The introduction of video slots in casinos meant a move away from the mechanical reels to video screens with graphical displays. With online play, “video slots” often refers to five-reel slots but can also refer to other examples of slots with more complicated grids made possible by the freedoms of online play.

Hold and Spin Slots & Hold and Win Slots

Several social casinos feature hold and spin slots in which a special symbol appears and holds in place while the reels continue to spin around it. The mechanic is such that if a certain number of these symbols appear on the screen at once, that triggers a bonus game with extra free spins. Hold and win slots work similarly, triggering a bonus prize.

Jackpot Slots

Just like at regular online casinos, social and sweepstakes sites have many jackpot slots including both fixed jackpot and progressive jackpot slots. Fixed jackpot slots have unchanging jackpots that get awarded on a periodic basis, while progressive jackpot slots feature top prizes that continue to increase in value as long as the jackpot isn’t won.

Cascading Slots & Tumbling Slots

Cascading slots and tumbling slots vary from regular spinning reels to provide a different way to animate gameplay and make wins more exciting. Sometimes you’ll see the mechanic described in these games as “avalanche” in reference to the way the winning symbols explode and give way to let the higher symbols fall down into the newly empty spaces.

What you should know about online slots

Online slots players often choose games according to their themes, the graphics and animation, the soundtrack, and other factors that add to their entertainment when playing. Some like to play progressive jackpot slots with a hope of winning big prizes, while others are content with non-jackpot games with fewer ups and downs.

The more you play slots, the more you become accustomed to other relevant factors like the rate at which the game pays out, the size and frequency of the wins, game mechanics, and other elements affecting gameplay. Here are a few of those factors worth keeping in mind when choosing which slots to play.

Return to player (RTP) percentages

Each online slot game has a particular return to player (RTP) percentage programmed into the software. The games employ random number generators that guarantee a fair spin, but that also determine the average amount players will win on the game over the long term. For example, a slot with a 96% RTP will award $96 for every $100 wagered over the long term. That also tells you the house edge is 4%, as the house gets (on average) $4 of every $100 spent on the game.

Online slots tend to feature higher RTP percentages on average than do retail slots. A typical selection of online slots will have a majority of slots in the 95-96% range when it comes to RTP, whereas the slot machines in retail casinos tend to skew a little lower into the 85-95% range. Of course, one advantage of playing slots online is the fact that you usually can look up the RTP percentage within the game, whereas in a live casino that information can be harder to come by.

Slot volatility

Online slots also feature different levels of volatility and you can usually look up that information as well. You’ll see a slot listed as having high, med-high, medium, low-med, or low volatility, or sometimes you might see it described as “very high.” Volatility refers to how much winning spins tend to pay out as well as how frequently they do.

High volatility slots pay out large amounts but the wins come less frequently than other slots. Meanwhile, low volatility slots pays out more frequently but the wins are generally for less. Some players like to choose slots based on their volatility, either preferring big wins less often or small wins more often.

Slot hit rate

The hit rate of a slot is related to volatility but not quite the same thing. A slot’s hit rate simply refers to the average number of times the slot produces a winning spin. Hit rate can be expressed as a percentage (e.g., 33%) or a number indicating the average number of spins it takes for there to be a winning spin (e.g., 2.78 would mean 1 winner per 2.78 spins).

Hit rate doesn’t account for how much you win per spin, just if the spin is a winner or not. The average hit rate varies pretty widely for online slots, with most games landing in the 20-30% range but some potentially having a much lower hit rate (or higher, too).

Other online slots terms and concepts

Here are a few other terms worth knowing when playing online slots:

• free spins — extra spins won within the slot the player can use for free and have a chance at collecting additional winnings
• multipliers — symbols that appear on the slot’s reels that can multiply your winnings
• paylines — refers to the number of ways you can win on a slot as represented by a line of winning symbols
• pay table — a table showing all the winning combinations and their payouts for a given slot
• scatters — slot symbols that can appear anywhere on the grid (that is, not in a line but “scattered”) and still produce a payout
• wilds — wild symbols that can become any winning symbol to help fill out a payline, much like a wild card can become whatever is needed to improve a poker hand

Play California online slots today

Slots are by far the most popular casino game, whether playing in Las Vegas or in any of the many tribal casinos in California. And with social and sweepstakes sites, CA players don’t have to miss out on enjoying slots online, too.

Playing slots online not only adds convenience in that you can play at home or on the go using a mobile device, but also a great deal of variety including games not found in retail casinos. As the many sites listed above show, there are no shortage of options for CA online slots.