There’s never been a better time to enjoy online gambling, as the initial flourishing of the internet has recently been augmented by mobile gambling, making it more convenient than ever before. On top of that, there are countless sites and games to play. But what are some of the best football themed slots for fans to enjoy? The last decade has seen increasingly strong links being forged between casinos and football clubs, so it’s not surprising to find football used as a theme in more and more slots.
Football: Champions Cup
Football: Champions Cup is a video slot game created by NetEnt, one of the leading software developers working in the gambling industry today. The game has 5 reels and 3 rows, featuring 20 paylines, free spins and overlay wild substitutions to act as jokers and increase your chance of winning. It’s also a high volatility slot game, so perhaps better suited to those who prefer a rollercoaster ride to a slow and steady approach.
On the graphical front, players find themselves on the pitch in the heart of a huge stadium, with cheering crowds around, helping to create an immersive atmosphere. There’s a bonus game where you have to try and beat the keeper for cash prizes. The return to player (RTP) is 96.82%. If you get into the Free Spins Tournament you get prizes for a top 3 finish of 20x for 3rd, 100x for 2nd, and 500x for 1st. The stakes vary a lot, from 20p to £100, so whether you play for bottle tops or lay down large wagers, it could be up your street.
There’s a great range of casinos games available via online gambling, including an ever increasing number of slots games. As with all types of betting, the excitement is not unlike the ebb and flow fans feel as they watch their favourite sports teams competing. One way to sharpen up your gambling, or to simply enjoy spinning slots without risk, is to go for the free play option, and as football is a strong theme in slots games there’s no reason not to combine online slots with the beautiful game.
Foxin’ Wins Football Fever
Created by NextGen Gaming, Foxin’ Wins Football Fever takes our vulpine hero and plunges him into the thick of the beautiful game. This slot follows up on Foxin’ Wins, so if you’ve played that there will be noticeable similarities with symbols and features, although the football stadium setting is entirely new. There are 5 reels and 25 paylines, featuring a vibrant colour scheme and the option to add SuperBets which mean more wilds and a better chance of finishing ahead.
After any spin the Random Bonus feature may be triggered, and if the leprechaun appears (and you catch him), you can get a cash prize of up to 50x your stake. The same potential prize can be yours if Mr Fox himself shows up and decides to fling cash your way. The stake range is normally from 25p to £62.50 although it can be significantly higher with the SuperBet option, with an RTP just a little over 95%. Jackpots of 2000x your stake can be won, if you’re lucky.
There’s a certain natural fit between football and gambling, as both rely on excitement brought about by uncertainty, hope of success, and fear of failure. The clubs and casinos/bookies themselves also increasingly work together, with half the Premier League (in the 2019-20 season) having gambling firms emblazoned across their shirts. Sponsorship benefits teams to the tune of just under £350m, and much of that comes from online gambling firms (collectively, about £69m).
Champion’s Goal
Coming from Elk Studios, Champion’s Goal has 5 reels and 20 paylines, and comes with a smorgasbord of features. There are free spins, sticky wilds, scoring scatters, and cascading wins. The stakes are of a similar range to those games already mentioned, from as low as 20p per spin up to £100 a spin, so Champion’s Goal will suit a variety of wallet sizes.
The studio deliberately designed the game to have a higher than usual level of volatility to mimic the adrenaline surges that can happen during real football matches (such as when a desperate defence turns into aggressive counter-attack). Because of this, you can expect purple patches of good luck, but also some tough times. The RTP is 95.7%. If absolutely everything falls your way, a jackpot £200,000 could be yours.
Football Star
Football Star is the creation of Microgaming, one of the top studios in the online gambling sector. There’s an RTP of 96.42% and the stakes can vary from 50p to £250, giving it the largest standard range of any game mentioned in this list.
The game has 5 reels and 3 rows, and is one of Microgaming’s 243 ways to win games, meaning, as you may have guessed, a very large number of opportunities to win on the average spin. Get three football scatters and you’ll get 15 free spins, with more awarded if you get even more scatters. There’s also a maximum jackpot of 1,050,000 coins, which isn’t bad at all.
These are some of the top football slots you can play right now in various online casinos. However, that’s far from the only way to bet on football. Bookies (or betting exchanges) remain highly popular with football fans who fancy they have a knack for reckoning who’s going to play well, and who isn’t. A problem punters can face is the vast array of markets that can be available, with literally hundreds per Premier League match. One way to weave your way through the maze of complexity is to take advantage of the huge amount of data and stats freely available, and use that to formulate a winning strategy at the bookies.
