Images of a winter wonderland, Jolly Old St. Nick climbing down the chimney, and gifts galore spread out in front of a sparklingly decorated tree surround us at this time of year.

Even at NJ online casinos.

That’s because Christmas is coming up on Dec. 25. And of course, several online slots feature the same themes as the annual holiday that has become as much about the season of giving as anything else.

Like the countless other slots available at NJ online casinos, most Christmas-themed online slots feature multiple paylines and fun bonus games that can sometimes be tough to figure out. Thankfully, this NJ Online Slots 101 turned Christmas Slots 101 series is here to help.

We’ve taken a close look at some of the most popular Christmas-themed online slots in the NJ market today and emerged with easy-to-follow guides for how to play them.

There’s no guarantee reading a guide will make you a Christmas winner. However, knowing how to win might give you the edge you’re looking for this holiday season.

In honor of Christmas, the series continues here with a Christmas-themed NetEnt-designed online slot that truly captures the holiday spirit. The Secrets of Christmas online slot is available at just about every NJ online casino, including:

• Golden Nugget
• Betfair
• 888 Casino
• PlaySugarHouse
• Caesars
• BetMGM
• Virgin
• Tropicana

Secrets of Christmas: The secret to playing and winning

Secrets of Christmas is the ultimate Christmas-themed slot on the NJ online casino market, making the most wonderful time of the year the perfect time to play it.

The slot transports players to a rustic cabin situated in a snowy winter wonderland and allows them to experience the joys and rewards of the holiday season.

A soundtrack filled with familiar Christmas tunes completes the Holiday-themed experience perfectly.

It’s Christmas time again

Secrets of Christmas is a five-reel and 25-payline online slot. It also includes lucrative Free Spins Bonus Game with a Wild Reels feature offering players the chance to win big.

The game features a standard five by three-row column layout filled with Christmas-themed symbols. There are 25 ways to line up the various symbols that pay off.

On the bottom left of the screen, you’ll find the slot’s information tab. Just click on the “i” symbol to see information about the slot, its symbols and bonus features, and the pattern for all 25 paylines.

Starting the Secrets of Christmas online slot

You can start playing Secrets of Christmas right away by clicking the red spin button in the center of the bottom part of the screen.

To the left of it is the slot’s autoplay button. Here’s where you can set the reels to spin up to 1,000 times automatically. Although, this feature can be stopped at any time during the automatic spins.

To the right of the spin is the game’s max bet button, allowing you to instantly make the maximum bet available.

You can also toggle through ten bet levels from 25 to 250 coins and change the coin value from $.01 to $.50 to customize your bet. Your total bet is always the bet level multiplied by the coin value, making the maximum bet per spin $125.

The highest-paying symbols

Like almost every slot, basic Secrets of Christmas gameplay is all about lining up three to five of the same symbols along any of the slot’s 25 paylines.

The highest paying symbols are the Christmas Bells. Line up five and you’ll be rewarded with 1,250 coins.

Next up are the Christmas Candles, Gingerbread Houses, Milk and Cookies, and Christmas Stockings. These are followed by the wreathed playing card values ace through ten.

The animated Santa wild symbol acts as a substitute for all others except the sack of toys scatter symbol. These scatter symbols trigger the bonus feature.

Secrets of Christmas bonus features

The Secrets of Christmas special bonus feature is a Free Spins Bonus triggered anytime the sack of toys scatter-symbol lands on three or more of the reels.

Secrets of Christmas guarantees players at least 10 free spins and the chance to win more.

The game instantly transports players to a screen displaying 20 Christmas gifts to play a pick ‘em game where they can add to the ten spins once the feature is triggered.

The number of gifts you can pick depends on how many sacks of toys you landed, up to five.

Each gift will reveal one of the following prizes:

• 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 additional free spins
• 1x or 2x multiplier
• Additional Wild symbols. Candle and/or Bell symbols become Wild symbols during Free Spins
• Wild Reels where reel 2 and/or 4 are turned completely wild for all free spins

Free Spins are played at the same bet level and coin value as the initial spin. Additional Free Spins can not be won during Free Spins.

Secrets of Christmas RTP

Secrets of Christmas is fun, and it’s as Christmas-themed as a slot can get, but what really makes Secrets of Christmas worth playing is its outstanding Return to Player rate (RTP).

NetEnt slots have some of the best RTP rates in the business, averaging around 96%. That means, over time, the average NetEnt slot gives back roughly 96 cents of every dollar pumped into it.

However, Secrets of Christmas has one of the highest RTPs of all time at 96.72%. It really is the season of giving’s slot.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Secrets of Christmas will give you back 96.72 cents of every dollar you put in the machine on any given day. You’ll get more or less depending on what side of variance you’re on.

But it does mean a low house edge over time. So, you’ll probably get more play out of Secrets of Christmas than most.

It’s truly a medium volatility slot that isn’t likely to take your whole bankroll in one session or pay out any huge jackpots. It is, however, the perfect holiday-themed slot for racking up playing time, and therefore frequent player points at most NJ online casinos.