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Mastering the Symbols, Features and Paylines of Online Slots
To the uninitiated, online slots can feel like a confusing world. A long way from the fruit machines you used to play down the local pub, modern slots are much more extravagant games. At the same time, they can offer much bigger jackpots, as well as the chance to scoop big wins from innovative bonus features and combination pays.
Understanding the symbols, features and paylines of online slots can enhance your playing experience, as well as improve your chances of making good decisions on your way to landing a big win. Knowing the common types of symbols and their roles, along with common ways of triggering bonus features can give you fresh insight into whatâs going on when you spin the reels in the hope of landing a win.
Expert slot reviews are one of the best ways to explore all the features of different games, and to decide the right games for you. Ultimately, each slot game is different. But at its core, there are some features of the slot format that will crop up again and again.
Symbols, Reels and Paylines
Lining up symbols in matching combinations is the name of the game in slots. There tend to be a number of regular paying symbols – combinations of usually three or more of these in adjacent positions across the reels will pay out a win, which is calculated by multiplying your stake according to the value of the combination.
There are usually different paylines in play – these are the directions on the reels that will pay out when you land matching symbols in adjacent spaces. Sometimes these are fixed paylines, and only combinations landing on one of these lines will pay a win. In other cases, paylines are adjustable, or win all ways – i.e. paying out on any combination in any direction. This is down to the specifics of the game itself, but itâs worth knowing before you start spinning so you can gauge when youâve landed a win.
Every slot has a paytable which explains the paylines, as well as the symbol values. Itâs always advisable to have a quick scan of the paytable first, to get a firm idea of the different combination values and how much the game pays for matching symbols. This will also note the values and functions of the special symbols, of which there are usually at least two or three in most modern slot games.
The most common is the wild symbol, a symbol that substitutes for any other in the game to help form winning combinations. Scatter symbols are the next most common, which usually need to land three or more times to trigger a free spins feature or other bonus round. Youâll also commonly find separate bonus or jackpot symbols, which will launch the features and the bonus rounds – youâll want to find these in order to kick yourself into the higher paying quarters of most slots games, where the big money jackpots are to be found.
Special Structures and Features
Aside from the core structures youâll find across most slot games, developers are now increasingly innovative in their game designs, to deliver an enhanced playing experience and help their games stand out from the crowd.
Expanding symbols are increasingly common, where a single symbol can expand to cover the entire height of a real. Similarly, stacked symbols are in play in some games, which bring a vertical stack of symbols on top of each other onto the reels, giving you more chances to match these symbols in combination with positions on other reels.
Features like tumbling reels or cascading reels are another more commonly seen sight. When these are in play, winning combinations vacate their reel positions, allowing symbols to tumble from above into new positions on the reels. This can have the effect of creating successive wins from a single combination, effectively multiplying the amount you can win from any single spin.
Other features such as multipliers and mystery boxes are also commonplace. In the case of multipliers, itâs a feature that allows you to multiply anything you win, usually incrementally as the game progresses, to deliver the possibility of larger wins. Mystery boxes tend to be symbols that explode to reveal some other symbol or prize, effectively an added bonus feature to further enhance your game.
Practice Makes Perfect
If this all sounds a bit confusing, donât be alarmed. While fun and straightforward in essence, slots have come on leaps and bounds since basic fruit machines, and it can take some time to get the hang of everything. If you want to learn the ropes without risking your money up front, demo games are the perfect way to get a feel for how it all works.
Thereâs very little skill in slots, and it tends to be a case of crossing your fingers with every spin. But at least with some experience of demo games under your belt, youâll have a better understanding of the kind of features that are common across slot games, and on your way to mastering the symbols, features and paylines in online slots.

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Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs
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N1 Partners continues to strengthen its position in the iGaming market by expanding its portfolio with the launch of a new brand â Goldex Casino.
Goldex Casino is strategically focused on key Tier-1 GEOs, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and Slovenia. The product supports eight languages with localised content, ensuring broad reach and engagement.
Goldex Casino features a portfolio of over 5,000 games, while its unique Journey Map system transforms gameplay into a personalised adventure with rewards of up to âŹ/$5,000 and 1,000 free spins. VIP players benefit from an exclusive program offering tailored bonuses, higher limits, dedicated account management, and a final prize â a Rolex Sky-Dweller or its cash equivalent of âŹ20,000.
Special attention has been paid to adaptive design across devices, an intuitive interface, and a suite of features that enhance the user experience and drive player retention. Fully licensed, the brand guarantees a high level of transaction security.
With Goldex Casino, partners gain a robust tool to scale traffic across top GEOs and secure long-term profitability. Join N1 Partners and achieve top-tier results together.
On a related note, N1 Partners is currently running its large-scale N1 Puzzle Promo. All registered teams earn puzzle pieces for driving traffic to N1 brands, including Goldex Casino, with the most active participants competing for luxury prizes. The ultimate reward â a private Robinson helicopter, awarded to the winning team at the end of the promo. The campaign runs until the end of the year.
The post Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Latest News
Goldex Casino by N1 Partners: a new brand tailored for top GEOs
N1 Partners continues to strengthen its position in the iGaming market by expanding its portfolio with the launch of a new brand â Goldex Casino.
Goldex Casino is strategically focused on key Tier-1 GEOs, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and Slovenia. The product supports eight languages with localised content, ensuring broad reach and engagement.
Goldex Casino features a portfolio of over 5,000 games, while its unique Journey Map system transforms gameplay into a personalised adventure with rewards of up to âŹ/$5,000 and 1,000 free spins. VIP players benefit from an exclusive program offering tailored bonuses, higher limits, dedicated account management, and a final prize â a Rolex Sky-Dweller or its cash equivalent of âŹ20,000.
Special attention has been paid to adaptive design across devices, an intuitive interface, and a suite of features that enhance the user experience and drive player retention. Fully licensed, the brand guarantees a high level of transaction security.
With Goldex Casino, partners gain a robust tool to scale traffic across top GEOs and secure long-term profitability. Join N1 Partners and achieve top-tier results together.
On a related note, N1 Partners is currently running its large-scale N1 Puzzle Promo. All registered teams earn puzzle pieces for driving traffic to N1 brands, including Goldex Casino, with the most active participants competing for luxury prizes. The ultimate reward â a private Robinson helicopter, awarded to the winning team at the end of the promo. The campaign runs until the end of the year.
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HIPTHER Community Voices: Interview with CEO of Media 24 Martins Lasmanis
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From his early days in digital marketing to leading one of the most dynamic affiliate networks in iGaming, Martins Lasmanis brings nearly two decades of hands-on experience and strategic insight to the table. In this edition of Community Voices, Martins reflects on the evolution of the industry, the bold moves that shaped Media 24âs growth, and how the company is embracing AI and a product-first mindset to stay ahead. Dive into his story of resilience, speed, and smart risk-taking â and what it takes to build a future-ready affiliate powerhouse.
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Can you tell us about your journey into the iGaming industry, how your role and experiences have grown over the years, and what key lessons youâve learned along the way?
I started in digital marketing about 18 years ago, focusing on SEO. I remember spending my first two weeks just reading everything I could find online. A lot of it turned out to be useless, but it gave me the basics. From there, I worked at a few companies, launched and sold my own digital marketing agency, and later became a freelancer.
In 2016, an affiliate marketer reached out to me through a mutual connection who recommended me based on previous work. I joined his company in 2017 as an employee. That move felt like a risk, but I saw potential.
I spent about four and a half years there. Over time, I started to see big opportunities in markets the company wasnât willing to explore. Eventually, I decided to leave, sold my shares, and took a break. In May 2022, I joined Media 24.
One key lesson Iâve learned is that long-term consistency often matters more than one brilliant idea. And when youâre scaling fast, being agile and willing to adapt quickly is sometimes more important than being perfect.
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After 8+ years in iGaming, what are the biggest changes youâve seen in the industry, and how has Media 24 kept up with them? What key things have helped Media 24 stay strong?
Even though the industry never stops evolving, the fundamentals of affiliate marketing havenât changed much. What has changed is the pace of Google updates. They are a constant source of stress for many SEO-focused affiliates. They now come one after another and sometimes have a big impact.
And now when AI begins to reshape how people search, affiliates will need to rethink how they attract organic traffic. In some cases, weâve already seen that AI-driven results take away up to 30% of traffic from organic searches. Its growing impact means we should prepare for fundamental changes coming ahead.
Whatâs helped us most is staying extremely focused. We ran at a loss for almost two years after starting the company. It is often the reality when you are starting a SEO based business. It was incredibly stressful, we nearly ran out of money for salaries at one point. But we kept going with one plan â to make it work.
Now we have grown to 60+ websites, 300 partners and a team of over 50 people. And we didnât aim for perfection, we aimed for progress. That speed-first mindset helped us significantly.
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In a competitive industry like iGaming, looking back, can you think of an idea or plan that felt very risky at first but ended up being a big success for Media 24? What did you learn from that?
One of the riskier moves was our âplant seeds everywhereâ strategy. We decided early on to enter almost every market where sports betting was popular. Around 90 GEOs in total. In some cases, the numbers said we shouldnât bother doing that. But we trusted our instinct.
In that way we were able to quickly identify promising markets, then double down where the data started to make sense. It taught us that data is crucial, but so is intuition. Especially in an industry where emerging markets can surprise you.
It also helped us distribute risk. With presence on so many markets, external factors like Google updates or website blocking had a much smaller impact on the overall business. That made Media 24 much stronger and agile in the long run.
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Does Media 24 use new technologies like AI? If so, how does using these technologies help the company get stronger or better at what it does?
Definitely. AI-powered tools have already helped us a lot. For example, we noticed a content formatting task that took our managers hours every day. It was repetitive and added up to dozens of lost hours weekly. So, we built an AI-powered algorithm to automate it. Now it takes just minutes, saving our team days and weeks of work each year.
Weâre watching AI closely and see a lot of potential. A few months ago, we started developing an AI-first mindset across the team, setting up bi-monthly meetings and workshops to explore how we use these tools and whatâs possible. Itâs already changing how we work, and we hope to build up on that. The goal is to figure out how we can optimize our work processes and eliminate as many routine, repetitive tasks as possible. We want to free our employees as much time as possible to think, to create, to be proactive, and to create value.
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If you could give one piece of advice to someone wanting to build a successful company in iGaming today, what would it be?
Focus on building something future-proof. That means strong partnerships, transparency, and a long-term mindset. In affiliate marketing, a lot of your success depends on trust. Both with users and with operators.
Also, donât wait for everything to be perfect before launching. Start fast, learn fast, and improve as you go. The ability to move quickly is still one of the biggest advantages you can have in this space.
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What are the main future plans for Media 24, and what kind of impact do you hope the company will have on the iGaming world in the years to come?
Our focus is on becoming a product-driven company. Weâre seeing a shift in the industry, many affiliates are building tools and user experiences that go far beyond what was considered enough a few years ago. Thatâs the direction weâre heading as well.
The new generation of players wants better experiences. We hope Media 24 can play a leading role in creating what the future of affiliate marketing looks like. Agile, technological, and always focused on the user.
The post HIPTHER Community Voices: Interview with CEO of Media 24 Martins Lasmanis appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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