Online slots come with all sorts of base game bonus features - instant wins, Wilds, Scatters - but nothing is featured more regularly than the Gamble Feature.
A popular feature in many games, the Gamble Feature lets you take a shot at doubling your money after hitting a winning payline. Lose, however, and you'll lose your whole win for that spin.
It's tempting to 'spin it up', but should you always take it? Let's take a closer look at how the Gamble bonus works.
Sometimes, winning an online slot prize just isn’t enough. You might want that little bit extra on top of your prize, and that’s what the gamble feature is for. Allowing you to gamble your winnings, this feature offers you the chance to double and quadruple your prizes. Click here to read more.
Enjoy the Gamble Feature at top slots at VegasSlots.co.uk:
Look at the layout of a typical online slot and you'll find familiar functions: Spin, Bet Max or Collect. But the Gamble feature will always be lurking underneath the reels, ready to be clicked on by the degenerate bettor desperate for a quick win.
So, how does it work? Well, most Gamble features trigger as soon as you hit a winning payline. The Gamble button will glow to let you select it. You'll now be presented with a mini-screen featuring - typically - a playing card. Your job is simple: just decide whether you think the next card drawn will be red or black.
You usually find Gamble features in low-volatility slots with small, regular wins. As a result, then, you won't often find Gamble in 243-ways-to-win slots or progressive jackpot games.
In most slots, you'll have to guess the colour or suit of a randomly-drawn playing card.
Playing Card Gamble Payouts:
Win, and your total win is doubled or quadrupled. Lose, however, and you lose everything.
Gamble features are common to many developers, and you'll quickly become familiar to how they differ the more you play. Here are some popular, and very different, Gamble features found in online slots:
The simplest version of the playing cards Gamble feature is the 'guess the colour' game. Just guess whether the next card drawn will be red or black, and you win double your win. You can keep pulling cards until you guess wrong and - Pass the Pigs-style - lose the lot.
In Playtech's classic Mr Cashback, like many early examples of slots with the Gamble feature, you can opt to cash in your gamble wins any time.
Microgaming is a popular developer for offering card-themed Gamble features. Pick the right colour and you'll double your win. Pick the right suit, however, and your win is quadrupled.
Play N Go slots - like the Irish-themed Leprechaun Goes Egypt - gives you the option of gambling AFTER a winning spin (GAMBLE and COLLECT buttons will flash on-screen).
Some slots, like Microgaming's Penguin Splash, even show you the previous five cards that have been dealt out. If you suffer from a roulette-like Gambler's Fallacy and think there is some pattern to randomly-selected cards, this is for you.
With this slot, you can have up to five Gamble chances before returning to the base game. Potentially, then, you have the chance to earn a total of 1024x your win. You can take the money and run any time.
3D pioneer, BetSoft, has a 'Double Up' feature after any winning spin which works as a Heads or Tails game. In their new release, 4 Seasons, players can double their current win by just guessing whether the coin toss will end in a heads or tails.
There are no 'Previous Results' to view, however, and no quadruple option. You can, however, keep gambling indefinitely and collect your wins at any point.
Microgaming's 1024-paylines Leagues of Fortune slot features a fun and innovative Gamble feature. After a winning spin, you'll have the chance to select the 'Your Gamble' Gambling Wheel.
The wheel consists of two areas: a red 'Lose' section, and a blue 'Win' portion. As you increase the 'Lose' area (increasing the risk) your potential win goes up. Similarly, as you make a win more likely by upping the blue area, your potential win goes down. With the feature, you can also hit the 'Bank' option and save 50% of your bet. Players can keep spinning until they hit the 'Collect' button and bank their winnings.
Usually found in classic UK fruit machines, the Hi-Lo feature involves a number on-screen, ranging from 1-12. Your job is to guess whether the next number featured will be higher or lower than the one shown.
Barcrest made its name from manufacturing fruit machines before expanding into classic online slots. As such, some of its online games have features familiar to land-based machines.
In some online slots, rather than guess the colour of the next card, you'll have to guess what's hiding behind the cards on-screen.
Play N Go slot, Hunt For Gold, gives you two Gamble options when you win: a Double Up or a Triple Up. You'll see four symbols (in Double Up) or three (in Triple Up) on the screen: pick one of the correct symbols to reveal your prize, or lose the lot trying.
You have the option to keep gambling, or collect your winnings. You can also switch between the Double Up and Triple Up game while you're playing.
Developer, Booming Games, has included a new feature in some of their online slots like Big Chief, Bedtime Stories and Sugar Shack. When you win in the base game, you are able to select Gamble - as in conventional slots.
You'll be able to select Heads or Tails in a double-or-nothing coin flip, just in a regular Gamble Feature. However, there's an added twist - the 'Split'.
When the player enters the gamble bonus, instead of putting the whole of that last win down on a double-or-nothing bet, the player can split that win in half. They will immediately bank half into their balance, and play the Gamble round with the other half.
Another option is the player can split their last win in half so that they can play the double-or-nothing round twice. This means that if the player loses the first round, instead of being sent back to the base game, they can gamble again.
Gamble Features are good if you're not risking too much on a spin. Let's say you're betting 50p per spin and win 50p - it could be worth it to double or quadruple your win. This is especially good if you can continue accumulating wins over 5 rounds.
The feature is also good in low-volatility slots which reward lots of small, regular wins. As you're not risking a rare massive payout it can be worth taking a shot.
Essentially, though, the Gamble Feature is a coin-flip, a 50/50 shot. It's important to ensure you're playing the feature at slots casinos with trustworthy RNGs (Random Number Generators). These are rigorously tested by external testing labs and ensure a totally fair game every time.