What is an Online Slot Tournament?
An online slot tournament is a competitive event for playing slot machines hosted by land-based or online casinos. It often requires paying an entry fee, and the aim is to score points through winning spins, with each win enabling you to climb up the leaderboard. The winner takes home the cash prize, and there are also usually prizes for second and third place.
Entering an online slot tournament is a great way to have the opportunity to earn a cash prize while competing against other players, which adds an extra layer of excitement. You also get to take home your winnings from playing the slot machine itself.
Slot tournaments give you the opportunity to:
- Win big real money prizes
- Try out the hottest new games
- Compete with other players
- Keep your regular slots winnings
Where to Enter a Slots Tournament
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How do Slot Tournaments work?
Tournaments allow online slots players to compete in a leaderboard. At the end of the competition, a set amount of real money will be shared out between the winners. Winners can often win $1,000 or more, so tourneys are a great option.
When you play online, you can either enter a free tournament or pay an initial buy-in fee to enter a paid slot tournament. The entry fee that all entrants pay becomes the prize pool.
For example, a slots tournament that costs $100 to enter and has 100 players competing will have a prize pool of $10,000 – first place may win $5,000, second place $2,500, and so on.
If you already play slots online, this is a great way of bagging some extra cash. There's a lot of competition on the web, so casinos often offer slots tournaments to their customers. Tournament prize pools can often run into the thousands. They can sometimes be played for big prizes like gifts and holidays.
There are both free and paid slot tournaments available to enter online. Find out more about freeroll and buy-in slot tournaments below.
Free Online Slot Tournaments
Free slot tournaments, also called freeroll slot tournaments, don’t have an entry fee in order to take part in the tournament. While you may not win real money prizes by playing free slot tournaments, you may be rewarded with lots of free spins from the casino you’re playing at!
Buy-in Slot Tournaments
Buy-in slot tournaments cost a fee to enter. The cost will depend on the tournament and the casino, but you can enter slot tournaments for as little as $1. The benefit of entering a buy-in slot tournament is that you’ll be in to win real money prizes!
Different Types of Slot Tournaments
There are two major types of slots tournaments:
1. Leaderboard Tournaments
These involve paying an entry fee (sometimes) and playing certain games. You will score points by either wagering or winning money (sometimes both) to move up a leaderboard throughout a certain time period.
2. Points Tournaments
Your entry fee will grant you tokens or play chips. You can then use these to play in place of real money, and will win the pre-determined prize pool payouts.
Alternatively, tournament slots sites may set players a challenge: make the most money or highest percentage win over 20 or 30 consecutive winning spins. The spins must be consecutive in order to qualify, and there's usually a minimum stake per spin required.
Slot Tournament Rules
Now that you know about the two main types of slot tournaments – leaderboard and points – this section covers the many different variations of slot tournaments in more detail, including how they work and what the rules are.
Sign-Up Freeroll – This is a free slot tournament that can be offered by online casinos as a sign-up promotion for new players. You can register for free and be in to win a small prize pool of real money, usually not exceeding $100, or free spins.
Scheduled Slot Tournaments – This is one of the most common tournaments you can enter. It will be advertized by the casino in advance, and you can play by signing up and paying the buy-in fee. The real money prize is pooled from all entrants.
Reloader Tournaments – Similar to the re-buys in poker tournaments, this kind of slot tournament enables you to buy an additional session to re-join the tournament.
Extender Tournaments – An extender slots tournament is similar to the reloader tournament, however instead of re-buying into the tournament, you can buy extras to give you a higher chance of winning.
One-Shot Tournaments – This type of slot tournament only gives you one shot at qualifying for each stage of the tournament. If you don’t get past a stage, you’re out. You can’t re-join or buy your way back in.
Survivor Slot Tournaments – A survivor tournament includes elimination rounds between the players which sees the loser of the round being eliminated and the winners progressing onto the next round, until eventually there’s one survivor who wins the big prize.
Sit-and-Go Tournaments – Take a virtual seat at this open-seat tournament and the tournament will begin as soon as all the spaces are filled. There’s no need to pre-register in advance.
Comped Tournaments – Some online casinos have a loyalty program to reward loyal players. A comped tournament is a VIP event reserved for special customers, so it isn’t open to everyone.
The best online casino sites run slot tournaments every month. The hardest job is finding a competition that works for you. If you can't connect with the game or keep up with the wagering requirement, the promotion suddenly doesn't seem so good.
Avoid the hassle of disappointing online tournaments by signing up to an online casino that has been reviewed and recommended by our slots experts. Our recommended online casinos only feature the very best slots sites on the web, which regularly host slot tournaments.