Editorial Team & Standards

Meet the team

Antti Kivimäki Slot & iGaming Content Specialist Antti writes and reviews SLOTyi's slot pages, game guides and casino reviews, with a focus on how slots actually play: RTP settings, volatility, hit frequency and bonus mechanics.

Marko Wenz Casino & iGaming Content Specialist Marko writes and reviews SLOTyi's casino reviews, live casino guides and industry news, with a focus on licensing, bonus terms, payouts and live game shows.

How the SLOTyi Score works

Every slot page shows a SLOTyi Score out of 100. It is calculated automatically from the game data on that page, the same way for every slot, and recalculated whenever the data changes. It is not a paid placement: no casino or studio can buy a higher score.

• RTP, 32%: the listed return to player. Most slots sit between 96% and 97%, so small differences there move the score most. Progressive jackpot slots, whose base RTP funds the jackpot, are not marked down below a floor.
• Features, 22%: how varied the bonus mechanics are: free spins, multipliers, wild types, cascades, ways, bonus buys, jackpots, respins, bonus games, mystery symbols and gamble features. The game’s feature list counts most; mechanics named only in its description or review count a little.
• Studio, 18%: the track record of the studio that made the game, in three tiers.
• Win potential, 14%: the published maximum win, from our data or the game’s own description, otherwise the volatility.
• Series, 10%: whether the studio built a series on the game, with sequels and spin-offs in our catalogue. Studios make sequels of the games players keep coming back to.
• Extras, 4%: whether a free demo is available and how recent the game is.

To keep comparisons fair, the original game of a series earns more series credit than its sequels and is credited with the mechanics its sequels list, and older games, whose entries in our catalogue tend to be shorter, get a small allowance on features.

Scores of 85 and above are Excellent, 75 to 84 Very good, 65 to 74 Good, 55 to 64 Average and below 55 Below average. Table games, crash games and SLOTyi’s own games are not scored. Nobody sets a score by hand.

What the team is responsible for

• Maintaining the slot catalogue and the RTP, volatility, bet range and bonus feature fields attached to each game.
• Checking that demo links launch the correct title and removing links that stop working.
• Operating the live casino RTP trackers and the statistics published on those pages.
• Writing and updating casino reviews, comparisons and guides.
• Reviewing affiliate relationships so they stay separate from ranking decisions.

Where slot data comes from

RTP, volatility, bet limits, release dates and bonus feature lists are taken from the game provider's own published material: paytables shown inside the game client, provider fact sheets and official studio pages. Where a provider ships several RTP configurations for one title, the figure we list is the one published as the default; operators are free to run a lower configuration, so treat our number as the reference value rather than a guarantee for any specific casino.

We do not copy data sets from other affiliate sites. When a provider changes a published figure, the catalogue entry is updated and the change carries a new modification date.

How demos are handled

Demo games are loaded directly from the provider in an iframe on the game page. Nothing is re-hosted or modified, and no account, deposit or download is involved. Demos run on virtual credits only and cannot pay out.

Not every title in the catalogue has a demo available. Where no working demo exists, the page says so plainly and does not show a play button. We would rather publish a game page with data and no demo than imply a demo that is not there.

Live RTP tracking

Our live casino trackers record outcomes from public game feeds as rounds are played and publish the resulting distributions. These figures are observed results over a finite window, not the theoretical RTP of the game, and short windows will deviate from the long-run figure. Each tracker page states the window it covers.

How casinos are reviewed

Casino reviews are based on licensing and ownership, published bonus terms including wagering requirements and maximum cashout, banking and withdrawal handling, game range, and the operator's complaint history. Bonus terms are read in full rather than summarised from the marketing page.

Reviews are revisited when terms change materially. A review that has not been rechecked recently shows its last update date so you can judge how current it is.

Affiliate disclosure

SLOTyi earns commission from some of the casino operators listed on this site. That relationship pays for the catalogue and the trackers. It does not buy placement: commission rates are not an input to rankings, and operators cannot pay to have criticism removed or to be added to a comparison. We are not owned by, and do not operate, any casino.

Corrections

If a figure, a bonus term or a demo link on this site is wrong, tell us and we will check it against the provider or operator source and correct it. Write to [email protected] with the page address. Corrections to a published figure update the modification date on that page.

Responsible gambling

Everything here is for players aged 18 or over. Slots and live casino games are designed to return less than they take in over time, and no RTP figure, tracker or strategy changes that. If gambling has stopped being entertainment, see our responsible gambling resources or contact BeGambleAware.