Why Casino Games Are Giving Players More Decisions Without Rewriting the Core Rules?

Slot developers are leaning more towards skill- and decision-based play. Yet they are managing to do this without changing the fundamental mathematics and rules of the game.

Traditional slot machines are very different to their modern digital counterparts. They involved pulling a metal arm and watching as three reels spun. If they lined up correctly, you won; if they didn’t, you lost. Today, complex mechanics and ideas taken from mobile gaming have changed the playing field.

Developers are beginning to increase the use of decision-making touchpoints in slot games, while trying to keep house edge intact. This leaves many games feeling identical on the surface, but very different under the hood.

The Psychology of the Player

When you log onto a game of slots, known as online pokies in Australia and New Zealand, then it is more than likely you will be met with a packed lobby of games. While they still exist, very few are the simple three-reel affairs mentioned above.

At Spinbit, players browsing games by NetEnt and Pragmatic Play can see this shift directly in bonus buy screens, where the choice between more spins at a lower multiplier or fewer spins at a higher one is laid out before the round even starts.

A recent study titled ‘The winner takes it all: The effect of in-game success and need satisfaction on mood repair and enjoyment’ published on Science Direct found that gaming enjoyment is driven by a need to feel satisfied, primarily in finding autonomy and competence.

It explored the relationship between in-game success and need satisfaction on mood repair and enjoyment. They did this by testing whether the ranking in a racing game shaped the impact of video games on mood repair, but more applicable, whether the satisfaction of the need for competence and autonomy predicted enjoyment with the computer game.

Their findings were noted as such: “Our results suggest that mood repair and enjoyment as game outcomes are influenced by different factors.

Mood repair was predicted by in-game success (ranking) while enjoyment is mainly driven by need satisfaction (autonomy and competence). These results point toward the idea that mood repair is thought to be directly experienced and therefore affected by game characteristics”

For developers, the player satisfaction that comes from heightened interaction results in less burnout and more time spent on a game.

This then translates to more money being fed into the titles, and more profit. It is this balance that has managed to grow the online casino industry so much over the past few years. Below is a table showing the global growth in revenue and predicted growth over the last few years.

How Does This Manifest in Modern Slots?

There are several ways this has manifested in modern slots titles. An example lies in volatility. This is a measure of how often a game pays out, with low volatility games paying out less more frequently, and high volatility games paying out infrequently but in larger amounts when it does.

This is increasingly being written into bonus rounds. Players get choices, such as choosing a certain amount of free spins with a set multiplier, then being offered fewer free spins though with a higher multiplier.

Other bonus rounds lean more into casual mobile gaming territory. It could involve the use of minigames, such as shooting gallery-style tasks.

There are even options to skip base games entirely through buying bonus features. Yet with all of these, none of the basic fundamentals under the surface, namely return to player (RTP), are changed.

Return to player is a percentage and shows how much money is returned to players should they gamble over a long period of time.

This is worked out over thousands of spins. If a game has an RTP of 96%, and a player played it for a year gambling £1 each spin, they could expect to get 96% of it back by the end.

The Impact on Table Games

Table games have always had this element of decision-making embedded in them. Poker, in particular, is heavily skills-based. Yet even titles like blackjack require a player to assess probability and make decisions, a far stretch from the passive nature of pressing a button to spin a slot.

This has been enhanced in modern gaming. It is hard to scour blackjack games online and not find ones that have added rules and sidebets.

Side bets like Perfect Pairs typically carry a house edge upwards of 11%, far steeper than the base blackjack game’s sub-1% edge when played with basic strategy. This means that the ‘extra decision’ is also where the casino’s margin actually lives.”

Nowhere has active participation been more apparent than in the rise of live dealer games. Many of them have core mechanics that have been around for some time. Evolution Crazy Time, with its four bonus rounds that have made it the most played live game on earth, is essentially a variation on a wheel spin title.

Spinbit’s live lobby includes Evolution’s Crazy Time alongside roulette variants like Lightning Roulette, where the added multiplier mechanic gives players the same kind of choice-driven engagement described above, but with a live host narrating the stakes in real time.

Yet what sets them apart are the social interactions. Hosts will chat to players, and they can chat back. When bonus rounds arrive, they often have high levels of choice. All of this makes them feel like they are actively participating, guiding the path the game is taking while discussing it with the host.

In this way, it is very much like a game show, and it is no coincidence that so many game shows, and traditional games themselves, have lent their IP to live casino gaming. A selection of the main ones are:

1. Deal or No Deal
2. Deal or No Deal The Big Draw
3. Who Wants to be a Millionaire
4. Family Feud Live
5. Wheel of Fortune
6. Monopoly
7. Monopoly Big Baller Live

There are several reasons why these titles, particularly in their RTP ratings, stay the same. Firstly, casinos need to have some sort of financial stability, which they can predict with these models.

There is also regulatory compliance to abide by, which demands transparency of games and rigorous testing. Testing houses like eCOGRA and GLI independently verify RTP against the certified math model before a game goes live, and jurisdictions like the UKGC require operators to display that certified RTP on request. This is why the number on the bonus-buy screen can’t move even as the choices around it multiply.

While much talk may be given about AI in gaming personalising experiences, it seems many people want choice. This may actually see a backlash, with games handing an increasing number of choices over to players, letting them take ownership of their casino experience.

Responsible Gambling – Gambling should only ever be undertaken by those who are 18+. This is a form of entertainment, and you should never look at it as a way to make money. When gambling becomes a problem, or you believe it is becoming one, then get assistance. Your operator will have tools like limit setting and self-exclusion to help you.