It’s a new month and an exciting time for online casinos as we count down towards the launch of Ontario’s regulated gambling market. In Canada online slots are a massive draw and game providers are pushing out new titles each month to keep their fans engaged.

Here we have highlighted five of the best new slot games on release in March so you don’t miss out on the best new reel action. We’ve got a new Megaways™ slot from from Australia’s Big Time Gaming, grid action from Play n Go, something magical from Fantasma Games and more from Pragmatic Play and ELK Studios.

These are the top new slot games for March as voted by our team of writers. Enjoy and good luck!

• Release Date: March 23rd
• Reels: 6
• Rows:  Up to 7
• RTP: 96.58%
• Variance: High
• Top Payout: 116,030x

Australia’s Big Time Gaming go down as one of the most influential slot suppliers of the last decade thanks largely to their Megways™ game format that has revolutionised the slots industry. Randomly expanding reels, 100,000s of paylines per spin and super-high variance are what make these games so popular.

So, it’s exciting to see another Megaways™ release scheduled for release this month.

Wild Portals Megaways™ is a 5 reel by 7 row Cluster Pays game which introduces a new feature where 2×2 Wilds drop down to open up and reveal low value a low value symbol. When this happens, all instances of that symbol are removed and replaced with new ones. A Free Spins round with Progressive Multipliers and guaranteed portals on EVERY spin complete the picture.

Wild Portals has a massive win potential of over 100,000x but its highly volatile so not for the feint hearted.

• Release Date: March 31st
• Reels: 5
• Rows:  7
• RTP: 96.27%
• Variance: Medium
• Top Payout: 10,000x

Play n Go have a few rock n roll slots in their back catalogue, including Kiss Reels of Rock and House of Doom. Now they are drawing on another iconic 80s long-haired rocker combo, Def Leppard, and specifically their 1987 album, Hysteria, their best ever seller.

Def Leppard Hysteria draws inspiration from other games in Play n Go’s back catalogue, namely their Cluster Pays titles like Reactoonz. If you’ve played that one then you’ll know all about the Cascading Wins mechanic that gives multiple wins from one spin, and the symbol meter at the side of the grid that released wilds whenever it becomes full.

Play n Go have weaved song names into the gameplay – like the Pour Some Sugar on Me Free Spins round, the Break It Up Feature giving random extra wilds on non-winning spins.

This is a great choice if you like grid games but get put off by the high variance. Play n Go have dialled it down to medium and given you a 10,000x top prize to aim for.

• Release Date: March 1st
• Reels: 6
• Rows:  4 to 8
• RTP: 95%
• Variance: High
• Top Payout: 10,000x

ELK Studios are one of the smaller game providers working with real money casinos in Canada right now. But whilst they may not have the history and back catalogue of a NetEnt or Microgaming, they make up for it with quality and style. Every game tells an interesting story and most include compelling features that make them worth a spin.

Pacific Gold is something of a mystery game – the setting is an island in the Pacific where a cargo plane crashed in the 50s. Explorer Kane, star of other slots in the ‘Gold’ series is here seeking out treasures.

Central to the game mechanic is mega-sized symbols up to 4×4 that help drive up wins and the Ghost Boxes – collection of symbols that are gathered up during win cascades and re-distributed at the end of the sequence to create more wins.

Free Drops and Expanding Reels also help push the win potential up to 10,000x. This will be a fun game for those who like an intriguing backdrop and innovative features with their slots play.

• Release Date: March 17th
• Reels: 5
• Rows:  3
• RTP: 96.63%
• Variance: High
• Top Payout: 5,000x

For those who like their Irish-themed slots, and there are no shortage of them, we’ve picked out this new slot from Pragmatic Play, due for release on March 17^th. As you would expect, this game is replete with lots of Irish imagery, from golds and greens to wishing wells, clovers, lucky horseshoes and, of course, Leprechauns.

The first of two main features is a prize tracker that runs along the top above the main reels – prizes come in from the right and move along one space on the track before dropping off. If a leprechaun lands on the reel beneath the prize is triggered. Up to 100x can be won in this way. The other feature is a Free Spins round where the game switches to four reel-sets each with their own prize tracker for enhanced wins.

If you enjoy more complex slot mechanics with a high risk game engine then this wil be a good game to test your luck on.

• Release Date: March 31st
• Reels: 5
• Rows:  4
• RTP: 96.26%
• Variance: High
• Top Payout: 10,000x

Another of the smaller studios who we like to mention on The Casino Heat is Fantasma Games who are building a reputation amongst the slots community for producing exciting and original slots with bright artwork and fun features. Alice in Adventureland, a twist on the classic story, is all that and more.

This slot is stacked with fun features like Rocketkats in which Rocketkat symbols move across the reels from right to left, upgrading symbols as they go. They turn wild symbols into multiplier wilds and regulars into wilds. You’ll also find Ultrabombs that randomly upgrade a specified number of symbols on the reels when Rocketkats move over them, and a free spins round with both those features enhanced.

You can also buy your way into the bonus round with a 100x stake if you wish.

Alice in Adventureland is a medium to high risk game with a good top payout of 10,000x.

To conclude then, here are five intriguing game releases for the month of March 2022.

For high variance slots fans we recommend having a spin on Big Time Gaming’s Wild Portals, with a sufficient level of innovation to rise above the plethora of other expanding reels games on the market right now.

Those who like to rock out to a good soundtrack whilst spinning can get their kicks on Def Leppard Hysteria. Whilst fans of quirky narratives and innovative gameplay will enjoy Elk’s Pacific Gold or Fantasma’s Alice in Adventureland.

And to complete the picture we have a classic Irish luck game with Pragmatic’s Rainbow Gold, mixing old-fashoined leprechaun mayhem with some clever mutli reel innovations.

All bases covered this March! Now go and enjoy those spins.