In recent weeks, we’ve come across a whole range of different stories about player X joining club Y. The funny is that while we all see money in football, there is an acceptance that the money in the game might just be about to drop a touch. The COVID-19 outbreak has left many football clubs unable to keep their transfer plans in place. This is not just logistically, but financially as well.

Major deals were being spoken of for the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar Jr. – can anyone really see any club having the hundreds of millions that it would need to sign either?

And in reality, is this going to bring about a quiet end to the major money moves we have seen for the last few years?

Within a short period of time, football went from Paul Pogba being a near-€100m player to Neymar costing in excess of €200m. The transfer record, and the wages that went with it, have exploded in recent years. This was always a bubble that could never be sustained, but will this viral outbreak play a major role in making people realise just how severe the issue is?

It’s going to become a major talking point in the weeks and the months to come. It’s also going to see many clubs re-evaluate where their money goes. While clubs have thrown around hundreds of millions for years now, the time of such ludicrous singings might be about to come to an end. For that reason, there’s a genuine interest in seeing what comes next. With football about to change almost entirely over the coming months, are the days of major contracts worth hundreds of thousands of pounds per week gone?

Is it possible for any club to realistically go back to the kind of figures being thrown around before this outbreak happened? Football has been shown just how vulnerable it really is. For all the wealth at the top, it’s been shown that even the biggest clubs lack the financial steel to survive something as intense as this – not without cuts and concessions.

For many football fans, the ending of leagues early has become something they are likely going to have to accept. But for many fans, the loss of games has meant a loss of personal time and enjoyment. And while that pales in comparison to what is happening the world over, some leagues have not stopped. And this has led to some of the smallest football leagues in Europe gaining much more interesting followings than many would have assumed.

A fine example of this comes from the Belarus Premier League. The top flight in Belarus has gained many new admirers, with fans who are desperate for some football to watch tuning in to watch the BPL. With the nations president Alexander Lukashenko unwilling to shut down the league and much of the country, it has become in many ways ‘the only show in town’.

That’s why so many fans today in Belarus are happy to see their league finally get some kind of recognition. For years, the league has been derided as one lacking quality – but that looks set to change. Clubs like Dynamo Brest and BATE Borisov might be regular names in European competition, but now they are becoming household names for fans who would normally never give their league a second glance.

This is a fine example of how something we are so used to – something like football – becomes so routine. Without our own teams to play in or teams to watch, people are getting their fix in any many ways. From watching classic old games to switching on to the game in Belarus, this just goes to show how football-hungry the whole world is.

If we can see thousands of people signing up to watch the Belarusian league, it just goes to show how many people let football become such a focal part of their lives.

For years, the English Premier League has been seen as the pinnacle of football in terms of commercial control. More or less every player who takes part in playing in the Premier League is playing at the highest domestic football level in the world. However, even this league – with all of its financial strength – can sustain long recessions and months-long breakoffs of the football. That’s why reports suggesting the Premier League is set for a loss as big as £1bn is not something to ignore.

The clubs have been on high alert for some time now, with many fans resigned to the season coming to a premature end. However, with losses set to come in the hundreds of millions, it could run as high as a billion loss across the entire league. This would result in many clubs having to drastically reshape their club and their ability to use the money they have. It would also likely result in a massive change in form for how the league works.

Since its inception, the Premier League has had no qualms making its financial wealth known around the world. This is one of the largest sporting leagues in the world, and so there is a natural desire to spend to try and capitalise on that attitude of being the best.

This is a big reason why so many fans are worried about what the losses actually mean. For many people, the concept of these figures means that clubs who already spend massive sums of their turnover on wages will either need to shed squad numbers or stop spending as they do.

It’s going to have a major impact on the entire football world, but the Premier League in England might be the most changed league in the world come the end. Will it still be the best after such a transformative change?

One of the main reasons people play online slots is because they hope to win some money and make a profit. Whenever you play any kind of casino game, the odds are against you. In other words, you’re more likely to walk away having made a loss than having won. Even so, that doesn’t stop many people around the world from trying their luck at online slot games, hoping to land the next big win. Payouts vary greatly from one slot to the next. If you’re looking to find some of the most profitable slots to play in 2020, keep on reading.

RTP

An important factor to take into account when deciding on slots to play for real money is RTP. This is a figure that indicates roughly how much of a player’s bet will be paid back over a large number of bets. The Reactoonz slot, for example, has an RTP of 94.51%. If you play this slot, you won’t receive exactly 94.51% of your money back every time you spin the reels, of course. Most of the time, you’ll lose and receive 0%. Sometimes you’ll win, and the percentage of your money that you’re paid back could be well over 100%. What’s important to understand about RTP is that it’s a long-term average. If you only have a few goes on Reactoonz, the overall amount of money you receive back probably won’t be close to the game’s RTP of 94.51%. However, if you keep on playing and place lots of bets on the game, the average amount of money you receive back per spin should get closer and closer to 94.51%.

Even though RTP is to do with long-term play, it’s still a good idea to take it into account, even if you don’t intend to play slot machines that much. Generally speaking, the higher the RTP of a slot is, the better. Play slot games with a higher RTP, and you should, in theory, be paid more; though this will only really become noticeable over long-term play. For most games, the RTP is around 96%, so if you’re really keen on making money, you should play the sets with an RTP of above 96%. Some great examples include:

– Ugga Bugga by Playtech (99.05%)

– Mega Joker by NetEnt (99%)

– Ooh Aah Dracula by Barcrest (99%)

– Jackpot 6000 by NetEnt (98.9%)

– 1429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick (98.5%)

– Jokerizer by Yggdrasil (98%)

– Blood Suckers by NetEnt (98%)

– Starmania by NextGen Gaming (97.87%)

Bear in mind that even though the slots mentioned above are likely to offer higher long-term payouts, there’s never a guarantee you’ll make a profit.

A term you may well come across is house edge. This is the direct opposite of RTP, since it refers to how much the casino (or house) makes when you play. If a slot’s RTP is 96%, its house edge is 4% – these two figures represent 96% of the money going to you, the player, and the remaining 4% going to the casino.

Volatility

Another factor worth mentioning is volatility. This refers to how often you can expect to win and how big your winnings can be. There are three main types of volatility: low, medium (or standard) and high. If a slot has a low volatility, you should win fairly often, though the payouts you receive will be on the smaller side. For slots with a high volatility, you will win quite rarely, though when you’re lucky enough to win, the payouts should be fairly large. As for medium volatility slots, they’re a sort of middle-range option: they produce fairly regular wins that are of a decent enough size, while producing larger payouts every once in a while.

Low volatility slots are ideal for anyone on a budget. High volatility slots, on the other hand, are best for those with more money to spend, since it can take many spins before you produce a win. The previously mentioned Reactoonz slot has a high volatility, so if you do decide to give this slot a spin, bear in mind that you won’t win that often. If you want to play Reactoonz for mobile, there are plenty of mobile casinos and apps with this slot’s mobile version available.

When playing online slot games, or any casino game for that matter, winning is never a guarantee. Some sets, however, should pay out larger sums of money than others. If you’re serious about trying to make money from online slots, you should stick with those that have a higher-than-average RTP – some of the top ones have been mentioned above. The rest of 2020 and beyond will no doubt see many more high-paying slots get released, so keep your eyes peeled for more high-RTP slots to hit your favourite online casinos.