Is the Mega Vault Millionaire slot a high variance game? (video)

A quick straw poll of the different reviews of the Mega Vault Millionaire slot, the game linked to the Mega Moolah progressive jackpot prize, but which is exclusive to Casino Rewards Network casinos, seems to suggest that the Mega Vault Millionaire slot is a higher variance game.

However, we have evidence that seems to suggest quite the contrary, which comes from playing the actual game itself, rather than just reviewing it.

So the question we are going to post in this article, is whether Mega Vault Millionaire is a higher, mid level, or lower variance slot and what is the evidence for this?

And furthermore, if it is not a high variance slot as many reviews claim, why are they claiming that it is?

In this article, we are going to learn a lot more about a slot games RTP (Return to Player) percentage, as well as variance and what these two similar, but ultimately very different things mean and then how each manifests itself on the Mega Vault Millionaire slot.

It's a progressive, therefore it must be Higher Variance

Many reviewers have fallen into the somewhat understandable trap of thinking that as a slot is a progressive jackpot game, it must therefore be a higher variance offering.

Higher Variance games are games that have fewer smaller payouts, but which have some much larger than usual top jackpot prizes, and some higher value mid-range prizes, which it will pay out every now and then to a lucky player.

Lower Variance games are games that tend to have a lot of smaller value payouts, where you tend to win every two or three spins in the main, but where those big value mid and higher value wins tend to pay out less frequently.

Obviously, mid variance slots sit somewhere between these two and in truth, slot games can exist anywhere along the continuum from very high variance, to very low variance.

Now in the past, given that progressive jackpot slot games offered a much higher prize, and the fact that the casino needed to use a small percentage of their takings from every spin to fund the progressive prize, as well as using the cash you bet for funding the standard wins, early progressive jackpot slots tended to play a little tighter, or more high variance, than standard games.

In addition, to ensure they can afford the progressive jackpot games, earlier progressive jackpot games tended to have a much lower RTP percentage than standard slots, which again, tended to make people believe that they were higher variance games. The general feeling in the slots community being that the lower the RTP of a slot, the more likely it is to be a higher variance game.

It seems to me that many reviewers have since taken the view that all progressive games, due to how they are funded, their RTP percentage and the size of the prizes they can pay out compared to the bet sizes, must therefore be higher variance in order for them to work.

However, I believe that in the videos that we have accompanying this article, you can clearly see that Mega Vault Millionaire actually plays much more like a lower variance slot game, than a higher And furthermore, you can replicate these results across other Mega Moolah-powered slots too such as the original Mega Moolah, Absolootly Mad and Atlantean Treasures.

We will look at these videos in a bit more detail shortly, but first we will discover the differences between RTP percentage and Variance and why that is key in understanding a slot game and how it plays.

Our Mega Vault Millionaire variance video

What is the difference between RTP and Variance?

We have already states that in the early days of slot games, people thought RTP and Variance was one and the same thing. They are not and although they are linked, they are not linked perhaps in the way that many people expect.

The Return to Player percentage of a slot is a percentage, measured over billions of spins, of the amount of money that the slot tends to pay out to players from the amount (100% that it takes in). For example, if a slot has an RTP of 96% then this would mean on average, for every £100 a player spends on the slot they would receive 96%

However, what people do not realise is that this does not guarantee that if you spend £100, you will win £96 back. The RTP is calculated over billions of spins, so within that, you are going to have times when a £100 spend will see you get back more than £100 and thus make a profit. Similarly, there are going to be sessions when you make a loss on your spend, or even a heavy loss. RTP takes the average of all these sessions over billions of spins to make this calculation and it should never be used as an indicator of how much you WILL get back from a slot, only as a general rule of thumb.

The variance of the slot describes how the RTP percentage will be paid back to you. Either in lots of smaller value wins (as in a lower variance slot) or in fewer higher value wins (in higher variance slots) or a happy medium between the two (in mid-variance slots).

What is true about lower and higher variance slots is hat the higher the variance, then the more volatile the slot can be in terms of your bankroll, simply because you have less chance of hitting those critical bigger value wins as they do not happen often. In a lower variance slot, the game tends to pay out more lower value wins, so these games feel less volatile.

Now that we understand how RTP and Variance are linked, but very different things, it is now easier to see that you can have a slot that offers a RTP of say 92%, but which is still lower variance, and a game that offers a RTP of 97% but which is still a higher variance slot.

What is the evidence about the Variance for Mega Vault Millionaire?

As I have explained before, many reviews claim that Mega Vault Millionaire is a high variance slot. They point to the fact that it has a relatively low RTP (when you take the Jackpot Bonus Game out of the equation) and that traditionally, progressive slots have had to be higher variance games.

However, over many months and over thousands and thousands of real money spins on the Mega Vault Millionaire slot, including the ones we have videoed for you here, it seems clear to me that Mega Vault Millionaire plays very much like a lower variance slot.

Remember, lower variance slots pay often, pay generally smaller amounts and are generally less destructive to a players bankroll. Higher variance slots pay less often, tend to pay larger wins when they do trigger and can be very destructive to a bankroll if the player hits on a quiet, low-paying session.

In the video of our game-play, you can see that the Mega Vault Millionaire slot tends to trigger roughly around once every 3 spins, or even a little less than that. Sure there are times when you may hit a run of several spins without a win, but often they do not last very long.

In addition, the amounts you win on Mega Vault Millionaire in the main tend to be smaller amounts. Another characteristic of a lower variance slot. There are the occasional bigger value wins, but in general you tend to find that your bankroll either takes a small hit, makes a small profit, or stays about the same when playing Mega Vault Millionaire - a classic symptom of a lower variance slot.

Check the evidence in the video we have taken for this slot.

Conclusion

There are plenty of other videos we have of Mega Vault Millionaire and if you check those out, you can see similar results in the game-play on those games too. You will find sessions where I have lost money, and others where money has been made. However, it is consistent that Mega Vault Millionaire tends to produce more lower value wins, than fewer high value.

Not only that, but the other Mega Moolah slots in the series, Mega Moolah, Atlantean Treasures and Absolootly Mad, all display similar characteristics regarding their payouts. Which again suggests that these games are also lower variance. Or certainly much lower variance than many reviewers have stated.

Part of this confusion could be the amount you bet. I tend to play minimum bet for these videos, but if a reviewer is betting more per spin, or playing a demo version of the game, then you can get different results and the game can appear to be much higher variance than it actually is. Remember, higher variance games need more spins to pay out their RTP at the standard rate, as opposed to Lower Variance games, which sees steadier payouts over a shorter number of spins.

Regardless of that, we still feel that the Mega Moolah linked slots, and in particular Mega Vault Millionaire offer superb value lower variance gaming, only with the added attraction of a massive progressive jackpot prize to play for too.

Indeed, it may well be this fact that explains why the games remain hugely popular with slot fans to this very day.

Where to play Mega Vault Millionaire?

The Mega Vault Millionaire slot is a Casino Rewards exclusive game, which means it is only available for play at the casinos on our Rewards page.