Starburst is the steadiest mainstream slot you will find, and it has no free spins at all. Expanding wilds and respins are the whole feature, and 500× is the most it can pay. It suits a small bankroll and bonus wagering. The version a casino loads, 96.09% or lower, decides how much those free spins are really worth.
What Starburst Is
NetEnt's 2012 gem slot is where most free spins offers get played. It tops out at 500× your stake, so treat it as a slow, steady wagering game.
The UK Build Against The Offshore One
Operators can load a 96.09% or a reported 94.26% version. Since Starburst is the usual home for bonus spins, that choice quietly sets the value of any free spins package you claim offshore.
NetEnt's headline figure is 96.09%, and operators and slot databases also report a 94.26% version. Those bands come from secondary sources rather than a NetEnt document, so read them as an indication of the range. The gap matters more here than on most games because Starburst is where bonus spins are usually played: a lower build makes the same number of free spins worth less. The figure for the copy you open is in its information screen: finding RTP in a paytable.
The only feature: expanding wilds and respins
Plenty of regular Starburst players assume there is a free spins round somewhere. There isn't. You will not find a scatter symbol, a pick game or a bonus trail. The only special event is the Starburst wild landing on reel two, three or four.
When it does, it stretches to fill the whole reel, stays put and gives you one free respin. Another wild in that respin also expands and locks, with a fresh respin each time, up to a maximum of three wild reels. Once the respins finish, the wilds clear and the game resets.
With no feature to save up for, almost all of the 96.09% is paid through ordinary spins. That design choice explains the low volatility and the tight spread of results covered below.
How paying in both directions changes the feel
Starburst has ten lines, and each is read from the left reel and from the right reel. Three matching gems on reels three to five pay just as three on reels one to three would. In effect you get twenty chances to connect on every spin.
That roughly doubles how often you see a win. The cost is that each win is smaller, since the 96.09% return was set with both directions already counted. You get the same value spread more thinly and delivered more often.
Put that together with the lack of a bonus round and you get the flattest balance line of any big-name slot. Wins arrive constantly, the balance drifts down slowly, and big swings in either direction are rare.
Starburst and free spins offers: who benefits
So many welcome packages hand out spins on this one game for a simple reason: cost control. A casino giving away spins wants to know in advance roughly what they will pay out.
A high-volatility slot makes that hard, because most spin packages return little while the odd one hits a big feature. On Starburst the results bunch around the average because nothing can pay more than 500× the spin value. A hundred spins on this game cost the operator close to the same amount every time.
For you, a spins offer on Starburst is unlikely to produce a memorable win. Spin values are usually set at the minimum stake, so the best possible result from any one spin is small.
Check the build before you count the spins. An offer of 100 free spins says nothing about the return behind them. On the 94.26% version those spins are worth almost two points less per £100 of spin value than on the 96.09% version, and the offer page will not tell you which one is loaded.
What a 500× maximum means for your bankroll
500× is low next to modern slots. The other games covered on ReelTeller reach 2,100× or 5,000×, and many recent releases advertise five-figure maximums.
That low ceiling is what makes Starburst behave the way it does. Every slot returns a fixed share of stakes, and if the game cannot hold back a huge rare prize, it has to hand the money out in ordinary wins. Low volatility is simply the name for that pattern.
For a modest budget the result is useful: sessions finish close to the expected figure more often than on any other game here, and the money tends to last. If you are chasing a target sum, the game cannot get you there, and raising the stake only scales the same 500× limit. Compare it with a high-volatility title in the bankroll simulator and the difference is plain.
Anyone who signed up to GamStop because their gambling got out of hand should leave that exclusion running. GamCare's free helpline is 0808 8020 133.
Starburst XXXtreme and Starburst Touch compared
NetEnt has left the original largely alone, so the family is small. Its one real sequel works almost in reverse.
Starburst XXXtreme keeps the gems, the music and the expanding wilds, then adds random multipliers to those wilds and raises the cap enormously. Opening it expecting the original's calm would be a mistake.
| Game | Reels and lines | Max win | What you should know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starburst (2012) | 5×3, 10 lines both ways | 500× | The game on this page. Expanding wilds with respins and no free spins. Low volatility. |
| Starburst XXXtreme (2021) | 5×3, 9 lines | 200,000× | High volatility. Wilds can carry random multipliers of up to 150×. The session pattern described above does not apply. |
| Starburst Touch | 5×3, 10 lines both ways | 500× | An older mobile edition with the same maths, still listed separately in some lobbies. |
A bigger cap does not make a better game. XXXtreme and the original return a similar share of stakes over time. XXXtreme pays for its 200,000× maximum by giving back much less in everyday spins, which is exactly the trade the original avoids. If you liked Starburst for its steadiness, read the title before you spin.
What A Lower RTP On Starburst Costs You
Starburst is advertised at 96.09%. Casinos can load a lower configuration of the same game. Set the stake and session length to match how you play and the difference comes out in pounds.
These version figures are reported by operators and databases; we have not read them off a studio document, so treat them as orientation.
Worked example. Starburst at £1 a spin, 500 spins an hour for 10 hours is 5,000 spins and £5,000 staked.
| RTP version | Expected loss |
|---|---|
| 96.09% | −£195 |
| 94.06% | −£297 |
The lower version costs £102 more over the same play.
What A Session On Starburst Looks Like
With a 500× top prize and wins counted from both directions, Starburst sessions tend to finish near the expected average, rarely far above it and rarely wiped out quickly.
Worked example. £200 played at £1 a spin for 1,000 spins is £1,000 of turnover, more than the bankroll, because winnings are staked again.
| Starting bankroll | £200 |
| Turnover if the money lasts | £1,000 |
| Expected cost of that turnover | −£39 |
Enable JavaScript to run ten thousand sessions and see the spread of outcomes rather than this single average.
Where To Play Starburst Not On GamStop
- Welcome packs with no wagering
- 15+ provably fair Originals
- Rakeback and weekly cashback via loyalty
- Sportsbook on the same balance
- Originals with seed verification
- Large sportsbook
- Daily races and weekly raffles
- Very wide coin support
- Originals and lottery games
- Sportsbook
How this list is ranked: licence and transparency, UK access, bonus terms, cashier, games and track record. The full method.
Starburst: Questions Players Ask
Does Starburst have a bonus round?
Why do casinos attach free spins to Starburst so often?
What does paying both ways add?
Can I tell which RTP version a site is running?
Play with money you can afford to lose. Casino games are built to return less than is staked over time. Set a budget and use your account's deposit limits. Free, confidential support is available from GamCare on 0808 8020 133. More on staying in control.