Online Casino and Free Slots Tournaments Australia: Contests Running in 2024
No deposit, welcome, reload, and VIP rewards are the most sought-after bonuses at online casinos. Online slots tournaments and races are often neglected, despite improving your chances of winning massive free spins and cash prizes at no extra cost. Selected Aussie online casinos host networked tournaments tied to games of certain slot providers (Pragmatic Play, BGaming, Evolution Gaming, and more), while others develop their own contests through which you can win A$1000 to A$10,000 and upwards of 1000 free spins by landing the set multiplier or ranking high on the leaderboard. A guide and the best online casinos for tournament-type promos running daily, weekly, and monthly, can be found here.
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Introduction to Online Pokies Tournaments and Races
Online pokies are considered single player games, and for the most part they are. Tournaments and competitions are mostly associated with other gambling games like poker. However, a way in which slot machines have always been a competitive sport is their progressive jackpots; where players spin the reels of their favourite pokies competing for the top prizes as they steadily grow.
Slot tournaments are based on a similar premise, although some do not involve a progressive prize, rather fixed. Make sure to read the following slots tournament guide if you are interested in casinos and software providers running stunning site-wide or networked contests.
What is an Online Slot Tournament?
An online pokies tournament is a competition among players across one or more casinos. Players must wager over the designated amount on selected online slots to qualify for prizes or gather tournament points. Prizes are distributed when you reach a certain milestone, randomly, or by acquiring the highest place on the leaderboard. It all depends on the slot tournament type. Slot tournaments can get competitive due to their time-limits, as well as the fact that participating players are publicly listed along with their accrued points.
Tournaments have always been featured in physical casinos too, but the online sphere has removed space boundaries, so an unlimited amount of players can participate. In extension, tournament prizes can also be very high when playing at the right casino.
How Casino Slot Tournaments Work in Australia
In layman’s terms, a slot tournament is announced with a set starting and end date, along with the prizes, qualifying bets and games to ensure every participant has a fair chance of winning. Players simply need to wager on the selected games to qualify, and bet over the set limit; rarely is there a fee to participate in slot tournaments, although it can be apparent on smaller, on-site tournaments with high winning chances. The vast majority of casinos listed on this page host freeroll slot tournaments where players from Australia can participate by simply opting in and following the requirements.
Based on the accumulated points at the finishing date, players will win cash, free spins or a combination of the above. Some tournaments will award players CPs, which can then be exchanged for cash or rewards at the casino bonus shop. In most cases, tourney prizes come without any wagering requirements, which means that they are instantly withdrawable. Some tournaments end when a user satisfies the requirement or prizes are randomly awarded during the whole period. Leaderboard-based tournament prizes are distributed to the top 3, 5, 10, or 100 participants. Naturally, the winner takes home the largest chunk of free spins and cash rewards.
Types of Pokies Tournaments Available Online
Most online casinos have at least one or two daily or weekly tournaments, and often networked tournaments shared across several operators. Their marketing teams decide how to organize the tournament, branding, the prizes and the games. Below, we are summarizing the most common slots tournaments available at Aussie casinos (they can vary a lot depending on their type):
- New Player Tournaments: Besides welcome offers, online casinos often try to add more perks to incentivize new registrations; and tourneys only for the newbies are a good way. Still, the prizes here tend to be small, often capped at A$1000 prize pools or less.
- VIP Tournaments: In contrast, casino tournaments catered to high rollers have high minimum wagers and rewards exceeding A$10,000.
- Buy-in: Most poker tournaments require an entry fee, which is how the casino accumulates the total prize ultimately shared among players. Fees can be as low as A$0.10 to A$10 or more. Buy ins are rarely applicable to pokies tournaments because they come with an already high house edge.
- Freeroll Slot Tournaments: The best tournaments are the ones that do not require an entry fee, rather, allowing players to participate by just wagering enough per spin and on the right games.
- Casino Developers Tournaments: These are becoming increasingly popular, especially after the sheer amount of impressions Pragmatic Play’s Drops and Wins tourney has accumulated. To be honest, there is no better way for a provider to advertise its products, which explains why BGaming, Evolution, Booming, Yggdrasil, and more companies have now released their own networked tournaments.
- Slots Races: These tournaments are programmed by online casinos, with a small entry fee and a single qualifying game for each. The rewards are not that high, although the prize pool is progressive, increasing according to the amount of participating players. Slots Races tend to last 30 mins to 5 hours in most cases.
- Daily Tournaments: Similarly to slots races, daily tournaments rarely exceed prizes of A$1000, unless the number of participants is really large.
- Weekly Tournaments: With this category, things start to get serious. Weekly tournaments can pay over 5000 free spins or more to the winners, or cash prizes that exceed A$10,000. In most instances, an entry fee is required to participate.
- Monthly Tournaments: These are similar to the above category, with the prizes and fees being tremendous.
- Holidays Tournaments: Almost all online casinos launch promotional campaigns or periodical tournaments for slots players during the holidays, with often spectacular prizes and free spins for themed pokies.
- Slot of the Week: Such races run on most casinos and usually provide free spins on the qualifying game. The casino selects the weekly game you will be competing on, and you must wager A$1 or more to qualify. Such tournaments often payout the top 10 participants. You might encounter similar pokies tournaments called Slot Wars or Slot of the Month.
Although the vast majority of slot tournaments fall in the above categories, some vary on how the prizes are won. Most casino contests include a leaderboard where all players and their accumulated points are displayed. The top spots win the prizes in such scenarios. On the other hand, smaller contests and slot tournaments might set a requirement, like hitting a 5000x win on Gates of Olympus, and the tournament ends as soon as a player gets there.
Selecting the Best Online Casino Tournaments
There are a few elements that play into the selection of the best slots tournament, which we cover below so you know how to choose correctly:
- Schedule – even when a gaming tournament is splendid, if you cannot play during those hours, then it is not worth opting in. It is important that you have a lot of free time during the tournament times, so that you can regularly monitor your position and how your competitors stack up.
- Fee – tournaments that require a fee usually offer better prizes, but there is a lot of variation between the prizes from one tournament to another. Depending on whether you want to pay an entry fee or not, you must research accordingly.
- Prize Pool – the prize of the slots tournament is the next most important factor. If you are going to win pennies, why even bother? See the prizes, consider how much you would have to spend, calculate your odds, and then decide whether you should opt in for a casino tournament or not.
- Qualifying Games – to win at a slots tournament you will have to play for long periods. Therefore, it is important to fancy the designated tournament slots that can get you to the first place, otherwise, you will not really enjoy the process.
- Casino Size – depending on your favourite online casino, tournaments might be amazing or terrible. If the platform you are regularly playing at doesn’t have many active real money players, their tournaments are likely to be garbage. Thus, keep in mind that no deposit casinos that might seem popular might not really be the best places for competitive gambling.
- Terms & Conditions – last but not least, the T&Cs attached to the entry requirements, rankings and prizes are very important. You must read them carefully, since you could finish in the first or second place and still miss the prize. For instance, Playson’s current tournament requires a real money bet on the qualifying slots after the end of the tournament to win the prize that you have already qualified for. It’s crazy, but it is what it is.
Networked Slot Tournaments at Australian Online Casinos
Timed tournaments and slots races are very common across most Aussie casino sites, so indifferently to the platform, you will find something worthwhile. However, the best prizes are offered on the tournaments organized by slots developers, with the following being the most lucrative ongoing ones:
- ELA Games is a relatively new iGaming company running a weekly tournament with A$10,000 in prizes and a top one giving away A$1250. You can qualify by playing several among their games, including Fish & Spins, Kraken Bay, Sugar Spins, and Lucky Dwarfs. At least 100 players must opt in for the tournament to take place.
- Eyecon runs a long-standing tournament where players can win A$1000 by wagering on Fluffy Favourites slot games every Friday. This race is going by the name Fluffy Fridays.
- Microgaming casinos are renowned for their tournaments. The developer allows the site to employ Sit and Go, Scheduled, and Private tournaments as they see fit. Keep in mind that this feature is exclusively available at Microgaming-only powered casinos.
- Yggdrasil runs various tournaments throughout the year, but the best one runs during Christmas on selected casinos. There is a total prize pool of A$250,000, which is spread across a range of events that you can participate by playing Jackpot Raiders, Holmes and the Stolen Stores, 9K Yeti, and other slots.
- The Weekly Madness tourney by Playson is also a solid one, boasting A$60,000 prize pool. Any of the 15 featured games can qualify you for the prize, including Solar Queen, Spirit of Egypt Hold and Win, and Buffalo Power Megaways.
- Pragmatic Play’s Drops and Wins tournament is the longest-standing, running for nearly five years now. With a total monthly prize pool of A$2,000,000 spread in daily prize drops, players across the network can win by wagering on its live dealer games and selected slots.
- iSoftBet has also developed unique tournaments, which are offered at exclusively powered online casinos. The prizes are awarded to players who try their luck on Might Stallion Hold and Win, Book of Cai Shen, Extra Gold Megaways, and others.
- Playtech owns a huge progressive jackpot network but it is not the most innovative when it comes to tourneys. Still, some online platforms host exclusive Playtech tournaments for slots games, although these tend to be available in Europe.
- Quickspin Festival took place in 2019 for the first time with A$50,000 prize pool awarded to competitors within a month. It has been taking place twice a year since.
Try to play at online casinos that run these promotions, on top of proprietary slot races. In most cases, you can opt in for free and have a shot at massive prizes for playing the games you would anyway. Essentially, all networked tournaments hosted by iGaming developers are free rolls, where players have to play selected games and wager from an amount and above, usually at least A$0.50 per spin. Choosing the right casino is important though, since only larger online casinos can host several networked and on-site tournaments throughout the year.
Strategy and Tips to Win Pokies Tournaments & Races
In most cases, you will have to be the highest roller to win a slots tournament. Still, if you take into account the tournaments’ rules and our tips, you could bag the top prize without necessarily spending the most.
- Check the tournaments rules: Most players fail to read the details of each tournament, ending up wasting their money by not playing the right games or opting in. In many cases, the time spent on a slot could give you points, while on other instances, the money wagered count the most. Some tournaments might simply ask you to land a set multiplier, in which scenario you could end up winning by wagering as low as A$0.01 per spin!
- Bet accordingly: Placing the right size of bets and on the selected games is the most important step to winning the tournament. Opting in the tournament is also a requirement in most cases, don’t close the pop-window when entering or you will be missing out.
- Keep track of other players: Often, players get carried away and continue betting on the tournament slot machines when they have already won. If you have surpassed the competition by a wide margin, it is time to set your eyes on the next prize.
- Only opt in for tournaments you can win: If you can barely wager enough to participate in a tournament or have a very limited bankroll, then it is not worth narrowing your experience to the qualifying games of the tournament. Nevertheless, even a A$5 bankroll could get you a spot on the leaderboard with a little luck. Luck is the most important element of all gambling games, and you could be playing for hours or days without spending more than the minimum casino deposit.
- Gamble responsibly: Don’t be the type of player who keeps adding cash to their casino account so that they maintain the first place of the tournament or try to outplay the competition. Taking part in slot tournaments doesn’t mean you should bet more than you normally do, neither should you spend A$10,000 to win a $500 prize pool.
Where Can I Participate in Online Slots Tournaments?
Pretty much all online casinos offer some type of tournament. Single provider casinos will often run slot races or proprietary tourneys, while bigger casinos incorporate developers’ networked tournaments that refresh timely. To get started, you should join the highest-rated casinos listed above, which are safe and at the same time filled with tournaments! Here is what you can expect:
- Lady Hammer Casino runs its own Fight Club Tournaments, with prize pools starting at A$10, A$100, A$1000 and A$5000 or more weekly!
- Spinaru runs a weekly tournament with A$2000 for the top 20 players, while the Daily Jackpot Drops tourney by Red Tiger Gaming is up and running too!
- Surf at this casino for a prize pool of A$25,000 through its very own marketing team!
- At Casino Chan, players can take part in the Drops and Wins tourney by Pragmatic Play or opt in for its regular tournaments providing a combo of cash prizes and free spins. Make sure you check out Coins Splash and the Sprint!
- A$3000 and 800 free spins is the prize pool over at Woo Casino, up for grabs by a lucky player every week!
- Lastly, Wazamba has 10+ tournaments you take part by playing the corresponding games. Slot of the Week, Live Casino, Monthly Race, Weekday Drops, Ultimate Clash, Majestic Tourney, CashCrab Monthly Race, Blazing Gold Battle, Weekend Clash, and The Masters make up their exclusive tournaments and races. They include prize pools with loyalty points, cash prizes ranging from A$1000 to A$30,000, and numerous free spins. Networked tournaments are also featured in the lobby, including the Ela Games Tourney, Drops & Wins for Slots and Live Casino, and the Grand Holiday Tournaments. The latter shares a A$500,000 prize pool you can grab a share of by playing at Wazamba or its sister casinos: 7Signs, 5Gringos, AmunRa, Sportaza, and Rabona.
If you haven’t yet discovered the best online casino with tournament prizes for your taste, you can review our highest-rated brands for Aussie players here.
- About the Author
- Affiliate Disclosure
Michael has reviewed and verified all information on this page. Having worked in the iGaming industry for over 8 years, he is the most capable person to help you navigate online casinos, pokies, and the Australian gambling landscape.
