- How to play high volatility slots starts with the stake: divide your budget by at least 200 to get a starting bet, so 25p a spin on £50 (or €50 / $50).
- Gates of Olympus has a published bonus frequency of about 1 in 448 spins, so 200 spins gives only around a 36% chance of seeing free spins. Plan for dry sessions.
- RTP is a long-run average, not a session forecast. Gates of Olympus has 96.50%, 95.51% and 94.50% versions, so check the info screen for yours.
- A big max win does not mean high volatility: in our data Le Bandit is medium volatility with a 10,000x ceiling, while Merge Up is very high with 5,000x.
- Under UK Gambling Commission rules online slot stakes are capped at £5 a spin (£2 for ages 18 to 24), so a headline multiplier is only ever worth that stake times the multiple.
How to play high volatility slots comes down to two numbers you choose before the first spin: your stake and how many spins that stake buys you. Pick those well and the game itself matters much less.
This guide gives the definition, a stake-sizing method, a worked example of how often a bonus round actually arrives, and named games compared with real figures from our database. For the full ranked list, see our top high volatility slots.
What are high volatility slots?
High volatility slots are games that pay out less often than average but with a wider spread of prize sizes, including a few very large ones. Volatility (also called variance) describes the shape of the payouts, while RTP, or return to player, is the long-run percentage of stakes a game pays back.
The two are separate. A high volatility slot and a low volatility slot can both list 96.5% RTP, but the high volatility one gets there through fewer, bigger wins. If you want the opposite experience, our low volatility slots list covers small, frequent wins.
This tool is coming soon.
How much should you stake on a high volatility slot?
Divide your session budget by 200 to get a starting stake. That gives you roughly 200 spins to ride out a cold run. It is our rule of thumb, not a guarantee, and it is a floor rather than a target.
The same maths works in any currency:
- £20 / €20 / $20 budget: 10p a spin gives 200 spins.
- £50 / €50 / $50 budget: 25p a spin gives 200 spins; 50p gives 100.
- £100 / €100 / $100 budget: 50p a spin gives 200 spins; £1 gives 100.
Check the minimum bet before you commit. Gates of Olympus, for example, starts at 20p according to OLBG’s game page, so a £20 budget buys 100 spins there, not 200. If the minimum is above your stake, pick another game rather than a bigger stake.
In Great Britain the ceiling is set for you: the UK Gambling Commission caps online slots at £5 per game cycle for ages 25 and over, and £2 for ages 18 to 24. Most budgets sit far below that.
Our Slot Bankroll Calculator adjusts the spin count to a specific game’s volatility.
How many spins does it take to reach the bonus round?
On a high volatility slot, 200 spins is often not enough to see the main bonus. Gates of Olympus is a clear example: its published free spins frequency is about 1 in 448 spins, and its published hit frequency is 28.82%, which means roughly seven spins in ten return nothing (OLBG). These figures are not in our game data, so treat them as published third-party numbers.
Turn that into your session. At the 20p minimum, 448 spins is £89.60 of stakes for one average trigger. Treating each spin as an independent 1-in-448 chance, the chance of at least one trigger is about 20% in 100 spins, 36% in 200, 63% in 448 and 89% in 1,000.
Calculated from a published trigger rate of about 1 in 448 spins, treating each spin as independent. An illustration of average odds, not a forecast for your session.
Save or share this infographicThat is why a 200-spin session on a feature-driven game so often ends in small returns only. It is not bad luck; it is the expected shape of the game. Decide up front whether you are happy to pay for entertainment from base-game play alone, because that is the most likely outcome.
The same source gives the 5,000x maximum win a probability of about 1 in 718,391 spins. At 20p that is roughly £143,678 of stakes per expected hit, which is a useful reality check on any max win headline.
What does RTP cost you on a high volatility slot?
RTP tells you the average cost over a very long run, not what will happen in your session. At 96.50% RTP the house edge is 3.50%, so every £100 staked costs £3.50 on average.
A worked example: 500 spins at 50p is £250 staked, and the average cost at 96.50% is £8.75. On a high volatility slot your real result could be losing the whole £50 budget or winning several times that, and the £8.75 average describes neither. That gap is what volatility measures. The RTP Calculator runs the average for your own stake and spin count.
Also check which RTP version you are playing. Gates of Olympus ships with 96.50%, 95.51% and 94.50% versions, so your casino may run a lower one. At 94.50% the same £250 of stakes costs £13.75 on average instead of £8.75, about 57% more. Open the game’s info screen to see the figure that applies.
Which high volatility slots are worth trying?
Three popular Pragmatic Play and NetEnt games show the range: Gates of Olympus, Dead or Alive 2 and Sweet Bonanza. All figures below are from our game data, and the last column is simply 100 minus RTP, per £100 staked.
| Game | Studio | RTP | Volatility | Max win | Bonus buy | Average cost per £100 | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gates of Olympus | Pragmatic Play | 96.50% | High | 5,000x | Yes | £3.50 | 25 Feb 2021 |
| Dead or Alive 2 | NetEnt | 96.80% | High | 100,000x | No | £3.20 | 24 Apr 2019 |
| Sweet Bonanza | Pragmatic Play | 96.49% | Medium | 21,175x | Yes | £3.51 | 27 Jun 2019 |
Gates of Olympus has the lowest ceiling of the three but a tough bonus frequency, as the maths above shows. Some publishers rate it very high volatility; our data lists it as high. Its bonus buy lets you pay for the feature directly, so size your stake against the buy price, not the base bet.
A hypothetical example: if a buy costs 100x the base bet, a 20p stake means £20 per buy, and a £50 budget covers two buys and a half. Check the real price in the game, then use the Bonus Buy Cost Calculator to see what it costs on average.
Dead or Alive 2 is the extreme one. It pairs the highest RTP in this group with a 100,000x max win and no bonus buy in our data, so the only route to its features is playing spins. That means the long-run stake sizing above applies in full. Our Dead or Alive 2 review has the detail.
Dead or Alive 2 has the highest RTP in our data (96.80%).
| Metric | Gates of OlympusPragmatic Play | Dead or Alive 2NetEnt |
|---|---|---|
| RTP in our data | 96.50% | 96.80% TOP |
| Score | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Volatility | High | High |
| Max win | 5,000x | 100,000x TOP |
| Bet range | 0.20 – 100.00 TOP | 0.09 – 9.00 |
| Bonus buy | Yes | No |
| Free spins | Yes | No |
| Megaways | No | No |
| Theme | Greek mythology | Halloween & Horror |
| Bankroll fit | Large | Large |
| Released | 25 Feb 2021 | 24 Apr 2019 |
| Promotion | Drops & Wins | — |
| Studio blocks | 17 key markets | 7 key markets |
| Play | Where to play | Where to play |
Is Sweet Bonanza high volatility?
In our data, Sweet Bonanza is medium volatility, so size your stake as for a medium game rather than a high one. Labels vary between sources and studios do not always publish a rating, so check the game’s information screen if it matters to you.
Practically, a 21,175x ceiling still gives it a long tail of rare big wins, but the stretches between returns should be shorter than on Dead or Alive 2. A 100-spin buffer is a reasonable floor.
Does a bigger max win mean higher volatility?
No. Max win is the ceiling on a single round, expressed as a multiple of your stake; volatility describes how often and how unevenly the game pays on the way there. Le Bandit and Merge Up show the difference.
| Game | Volatility label | Max win | At 20p | At £1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gates of Olympus | High | 5,000x | £1,000 | £5,000 |
| Merge Up | Very high | 5,000x | £1,000 | £5,000 |
| Le Bandit | Medium | 10,000x | £2,000 | £10,000 |
| Big Bass Bonanza 1000 | Very high | 20,000x | £4,000 | £20,000 |
| Sweet Bonanza | Medium | 21,175x | £4,235 | £21,175 |
| Fire in the Hole 3 | Very high | 70,000x | £14,000 | £70,000 |
| Mental 2 | Very high | 99,999x | £19,999.80 | £99,999 |
| Dead or Alive 2 | High | 100,000x | £20,000 | £100,000 |
Use the ceiling as context, not a plan. The Max Win Calculator shows what a multiple means at your own stake, and our top max win slots ranks the whole database. To browse by label, the list below pulls our top-scoring high and very high volatility games.
- RTP
- 96.02%
- Volatility
- High
- Max win
- 10,000x
- RTP
- 96.70%
- Volatility
- Very High
- Max win
- 20,000x
What mistakes do players make with high volatility slots?
The most common mistake is staking for the ceiling instead of the budget. Raising the bet after a cold run to “catch up” shortens the session and does nothing to change the odds.
- Too few spins. Under 100 spins, you are mostly sampling the dry stretch, and the bonus round probably will not arrive.
- Buying the feature repeatedly. A buy can cost many times the base stake, so a few buys can use the whole budget. Browse top bonus buy slots only once you know the buy price against your balance.
- Using high volatility to clear a bonus. Wagering needs many spins, and big swings can empty the balance first. Our guide to slots to clear a casino bonus with explains which games fit better.
- Ignoring the RTP version. A lower-RTP build costs more per £100 on every spin and the label on the lobby tile will not tell you.
- Reading volatility as a promise. A “high” label means a wider spread, not a bigger payout than the RTP allows.
For a feel of how a run can look, the RTP Simulator plays out 1,000 spins as an illustration, not a prediction.
A simple session plan
Set your budget first, then work backwards to a stake, and only then pick a game.
- Decide the budget you are happy to spend, for example £50.
- Divide by 200 for a starting stake: 25p.
- Check the game’s minimum bet, RTP version and bonus buy price.
- Try the demo for a few dozen spins to see how the game feels. A demo carries no real-money pressure, so it shows the rhythm, not how you will react.
- Play to the budget and stop there. Do not top up or raise the stake to recover.
If you are unsure which style suits you, the Game Match quiz ranks games against your preferences. As a rough guide, Sweet Bonanza is the milder choice, Gates of Olympus suits someone who accepts dry sessions for a capped ceiling, and Dead or Alive 2 suits someone comfortable with long cold runs for a very large one.
Questions people ask
What is the best stake for high volatility slots?
A common rule of thumb is your session budget divided by 200, which gives roughly 200 spins. On £50 that is 25p a spin. It reduces the chance of running out before a feature lands but guarantees nothing.
How many spins do you need on a high volatility slot?
At least 200, and more if the bonus round is rare. Gates of Olympus has a published free spins rate of about 1 in 448 spins, so 200 spins gives roughly a 36% chance of seeing it and 448 spins about 63%.
Do high volatility slots pay more?
Not on average. RTP is the long-run return, and a high volatility game can have the same RTP as a low volatility one. High volatility spreads the payouts into fewer, larger wins.
Is Gates of Olympus high volatility?
Our data lists Gates of Olympus by Pragmatic Play as high volatility, with a 96.50% RTP and a 5,000x max win. Some publishers rate it very high, and lower RTP versions of 95.51% and 94.50% also exist.
Is Sweet Bonanza high or medium volatility?
Our data lists Sweet Bonanza as medium volatility, with a 96.49% RTP and a 21,175x max win. Other sources may label it differently.
What is the maximum stake on online slots in the UK?
UK Gambling Commission rules cap online slots at £5 per game cycle for players aged 25 and over and £2 for ages 18 to 24.
