1) Mega Winner (by Bally)
Mega Winner (by Bally Technologies) is a very interesting slot machine game and has become my favorite slot machine games to play in casinos. The Mega Winner game consists of 16 squares (4 x 4) with 40 possible lines and plays much different than most casino slot games. With Mega Winner, a winning combination must have four matching symbols in a pay line to be a winner. Most regular spins in the Mega Winner game will give you small payouts, but it is the bonus round where you win the big money.

The Mega Winner bonus round comes into play when five or more "Mega Winner" symbols come up on a spin; then you go into the bonus round which holds the existing Mega Winner symbols and gives you free spins as long as at least one more Mega Winner symbol comes up on each respin. The bonus round ends when you fail to get a Mega Winner symbol on a respin or when you have filled all 16 squares with Mega Winner symbols. Getting all 16 squares filled gives you the top award. On a forty cent bet, 16 Mega Winner symbols will pay $200, 15 symbols pays $100, and 14 pays $40. The maximum bet on Mega Winner is $4.00 per spin, so the top award pays $2000 at max credits.

What I like best about the Mega Winner games is that the bonus rounds come much more often then they do on other slot machine games. On average, you will get a Mega Winner bonus round once in every 29 spins (according to the manufacturer). I personally have filled 16 squares in the bonus round over 50 times, and have gotten 14 or 15 squares filled another 100 times. Usually I bet 80 cents or $1.20 per spin, and have had good success betting these amounts. There is a newer version of the game called Mega Winner II, which offers a "second chance" option during the bonus rounds, and I've had most of my success on this version of the game. Sadly, the Mega Winner games seem to be getting phased out of most casinos, as it is an older game, but if you find one in a casino give it a try! For more info, read this article: Slot Machine Review: Mega Winner Slots

2) Buffalo slots (by Aristocrat)
Aristocrat's BUFFALO slot machine is a very popular game that you will find in most casinos, and it has become one of my favorite slot machines to play due to the fact that you can win large amounts without having to bet maximum credits, plus it gives more frequent smaller wins than most slot machines do. Buffalo slots is one of Aristocrat's "Xtra Reel Power" games that features 1024 possible ways to win (not one of the traditional slots with dedicated pay lines), and has wild card symbols that turn into multipliers in the bonus rounds that create the big wins. The best paying symbol is the Buffalo symbol, and big wins come when you get Buffalo symbols on each of the five reels... and the more buffalo that appear on each reel, the bigger the win.

The Buffalo bonus round comes into play when you get three or more gold coin symbols on a spin. During the bonus round, the wild card symbols (that appear on reels 2, 3, and 4) turn into multipliers (either 2x or 3x multipliers). If you are lucky enough to get all three wild cards on a bonus round spin, they can increase your wins up to 27x. If you are even luckier to get buffalo symbols along with the three wild cards, you can win jackpot amounts. Personally, I usually bet 80 cents per spin on the Buffalo slot machines, and so far have won a $2200 jackpot (on a $1.50 bet), a $1549 jackpot (with an 80-cent bet), a $700 bonus round (with 80 cents), and a handful of $200-$300 winning spins with 80 cent spins. For more info on this game, read this article: Slot Machine Review: Buffalo Slots

3) Mega Vault (by IGT)
Mega Vault slots is one of IGT's "Multi-way Xtra" games that features 1024 possible ways to win, and has multipliers in the base and bonus games that create the big wins. It is a five reel game, and the multipliers include a 2x multiplier on the second reel, a 3x multiplier on the third reel, and a 4x multiplier on the fourth reel. The big wins in the base game come when you get all three multipliers in a spin, which multiplies all winning combinations up to 24x. The "dollar sign" symbol is the best paying symbol in the game, and that combined with the multipliers make for large payouts. On the Mega Vault slot machines in most casinos, the minimum bet is 40 cents per spin, and you can also bet 80 cents, $1.20, $1.60, $2.00, $2.40, $4, or $4.80. There also is a bonus round -- which features locked multipliers -- which comes into play when you get three or more "Mega Vault" bonus symbols on a spin.

The Mega Vault bonus round is where you have the chance to win very large amounts of money even without betting maximum credits. Getting at three "Mega Vault" bonus symbols on a spin gives you the bonus round with five free spins, four bonus symbols give you eight free spins and five bonus symbols gives you ten free spins. During the Mega Vault bonus rounds, the multipliers (if they land) will lock for the duration of the bonus round. If you are lucky enough to get all three multipliers, all wins will be multiplied by 24x. You can even get multiple multipliers on each reel which will give you huge wins. If you get these locking multipliers and can extend your bonus round (by getting two more bonus symbols on a respin) you can win huge amounts! Personally, so far I have won bonus round amounts of $1079, $660, $549, and $510, all on 80 cent spins.

The one downside of the Mega Vault slot machines is that since they routinely give huge payouts to some lucky sunofagun, most of the regular spins will be losers or just small payouts. The trick is to find a Mega Vault game that is ready to payout with a generous bonus round. For more info, read this article: Slot Machine Review: Mega Vault Slots

There you have it... the top three casino slot machines where you can win BIG amounts without betting big. I will continue to experiment with slot machines and update this article with more slot machines if I can find any that fit the bill. Until then, happy gaming and GOOD LUCK!