Slots Tournaments vs Drops & Wins: Which are Easier to Win?

Online slots are a bunch of fun, thanks to their enticing visuals and gameplay features. Yet, tournaments are a great way to add even more excitement to slots. Since they are easy to join and offer generous prizes, slots tournaments are very popular with gamblers. All you need to enter is a small fee, and you can be competing in a thrilling slots tournament at your favourite online casino. 

Many bettors make the mistake of thinking slot tournaments are far too complex and avoid participating. However, they are actually relatively simple to understand. When a casino site has a tournament running, players sign up in advance and receive a slot machine number. The operator will also provide you with a specific number of credits to use during the slot tournament.

During the window of play, you play the slot game as you ordinarily would and attempt to accumulate the most winnings. Players with the most winnings at the end of the tournament can claim a prize. 

While the fundamentals of slots tournaments are similar, there are various types of competitions worth knowing about. Understanding the difference between tournaments can help you choose the best event for your budget, betting style, and other factors. Let’s take a closer look.

When browsing our recommended top online casinos, you will find exciting slot tournaments at most sites. However, how the operator approaches the competition may vary. There are two ways to play a slot tournament; over a network or locally at the casino site. While the competition structure may be similar, there are some fundamental differences between these tournament types:

• Prize pools over a network are usually larger because multiple casinos are involved. However, you will be competing against more players, so you have less chance of winning.
• Network competitions such as those from Playson (CashDays) and Pragmatic Play (Drops & Wins) cover casinos where the provider is available.
• Local slot tournaments are held by the casino operator, and only registered customers can join.
• A casino-run tournament may only have one or a few eligible games to accumulate points.
• Multiple slots from a provider are eligible for network slots tournaments

Online casinos love celebrating major events, so you can regularly find the hottest slots tournaments around the holidays. Sites often hold lucrative competitions during Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and other special days throughout the year. Casino operators or slot networks may also offer long-running tournaments to celebrate a whole season, such as a winter or summer slots tournament.

Weekly (or even daily) slots tournaments are the standard competition type at online casinos. You may find a tournament held to celebrate the launch of a new game or to celebrate a specific provider or event. Either way, a weekly slot tournament will attract the most players. These tournaments are simply set around points gathering, to see which players accumulate the most winnings.

“Free” and real money winning opportunities at online casinos are not two things that often go together. That’s why free slots tournaments are very popular. As the name suggests, these competitions do not require you to stake money to enter. While the prizes are much smaller than standard tournaments, who can complain when it’s free?

For most slots tournaments, once you’re out, you’re out. When your given bankroll for the competition runs dry, you are eliminated. Pay-to-Play (or Buy-in) tournaments are different, allowing you to buy your way back into the competition. All you need to do is pay the re-enter fee, and you can compete once again.

Online slot tournaments are very popular amongst players and are an effective way for casino operators to keep existing customers happy. That’s why you will find slot tournaments at most online casino sites. However, if you find a casino that supports Pragmatic Play Drops & Wins slots, you will also have access to the provider’s massive network tournaments.

Whether you prefer a network or local competition, you can find slot tournaments easily at online casinos. You can check the casino promotions page to uncover the latest tournaments, while some sites have a dedicated section in the game lobby. Because slots tournaments are a big deal, the online casino may also advertise them in a banner on the homepage.

Drops & Wins are becoming increasingly popular at both major and smaller online casinos, giving customers access to games with special jackpots. However, it is essential to remember that the casino is not responsible for these prizes. Instead, Drops & Wins come from Pragmatic Play, one of the leading iGaming software providers.

A Drops & Wins slot is a game that has a secondary special offer jackpot attached. In the simplest terms, the title will have the regular game jackpot and a potential jackpot over a network. Therefore, this means a Drops & Wins game is like a standard online slot and progressive jackpot game in one. The core difference between a progressive slot and the Drops & Wins jackpot is that the latter can trigger randomly on any spin while playing any of the qualifying games.

Some online casinos operate their own Drops & Wins slots tournaments. The operator generates its own jackpot for these competitions from several selected slot games. Yet, the difference here is the casino will not be using games from a single provider but from a pool of slots from multiple developers.

The easiest way to understand the difference between Pragmatic Play’s exclusives and general casino Drops and Wins is in the name. Pragmatic uses a stylized brand known as “Drop & Wins”, while regular casino jackpots will be Drops and Wins.

As we mentioned above, the jackpot attached to a Drops and Wins (or Drops & Wins) game is progressive, meaning it grows across a network of slot games the more people spend on those slots. Although, a Drops & Wins game will never reach the same multi-million level of a traditional Progressive jackpot. That is because a Drops & Wins jackpot triggers randomly within specific intervals. The most common types of Drops & Wins are Daily, Hourly, and Weekly drops.

Having a clear understanding of the differences between slot tournaments and Drops & Wins can help you choose the best competition for you. Our table below will provide the precise information you need to make the right decision:

Whether you wish to compete in a traditional slots tournament or play Drops & Wins games, you play under one basic rule; all outcomes are based solely on luck. Of course, that’s the whole story of slots since they are games of chance that don’t require too much skill. Still, there are things experienced players do to maximize their chances of success during a tournament.

Standard online slots tournaments work by simply counting a players’ score during regular playthroughs on eligible slot games. Therefore, this means the casino compares which players win the most during the tournament timeframe. Once the tournament is over (which may be a quick one-hour or a 2-week marathon), prizes are given to players with the most points.

Your chances of winning depend on various factors, such as how many other participants there are, which games you play, and how much you bet. Certainly, the more you spend on eligible games, the more likely you are to win and gather points. Even so, the final result will come down to luck and whether you were able to trigger enough wins playing slots.

Compared to Drops & Wins, you’re still going to need luck on your side, but winning the jackpot is more straightforward. As you now know, the jackpot accumulates over a network of slots from a provider or casino operator. One difference to regular slots tournaments is you do not gather points towards winning.

Instead, the jackpot drops randomly for lucky players on eligible slots. Your chances of success again depend on how many participants there are, but how much you spend or win on the slot games does not factor into the random jackpot drop.

Pragmatic Play is the leader in Drops & Wins slots thanks to its thrilling games with the Drops & Wins branding. The provider has dozens of titles that allow you to participate in Drops & Wins jackpots, and the prize pool regularly tops £1 million. Also, Bet365 has a robust local Drops and Wins Dual Drop system, where there is a weekly prize and a Communal jackpot that pays out the instant it reaches a specific limit.

Online iGaming software developer Playson runs regular tournaments for its popular games, such as daily races, weekly competitions, and monthly tournaments.

Modern online casinos provide complete functionality across platforms, allowing customers to play slots tournaments and Drops & Wins across both desktop and mobile. Through the use of HTML5 technology, online slots transition seamlessly across all screen sizes, whether you are playing on a laptop, smartphone, or tablet.

Many top casino sites also provide a dedicated mobile slots app that gives you a bespoke mobile experience. Importantly, if a casino operator hosts a slot tournament or offers Drops & Wins slots, you can play them on your Android or iOS device.

While many online casino players may confuse slots tournaments with Drops & Wins, there are clear differences between the two. Tournaments are a points-gathering structure where the more wins you have on the reels, the more chance you have of winning the competition. Drops & Wins don’t rely on you winning games. All you need to do is participate in eligible slots to have a chance of winning the random jackpot.