What we like / What could be better
What we like
- Stakes span £0.10 to £250.00, so the same game works for small bankrolls and high rollers
- Low volatility rating means more frequent smaller wins than the tumbling-multiplier originals it's based on
- 97.05 % is the top of three published RTP configurations, and it's worth checking which one a site runs
- A 25,000x ceiling keeps the top end interesting despite the low-volatility profile
What could be better
- RTP can be set as low as 94.57 % by the operator, and casinos rarely display which configuration is live
- The 25,000x figure is a theoretical ceiling, not a realistic session target
- Exact multiplier ranges and POP symbol prize values aren't published in detail, so expected returns can't be modelled precisely before you play
What the specs add up to
Three numbers define this slot: an RTP of 97.05 %, a volatility rating of low, and a ceiling of 25,000x the stake. On their own, none of them tell you much. Together, they describe a game built for a steadier run of smaller wins, with an occasional shot at something much bigger.
Low volatility usually comes paired with a modest top prize, since the maths that spreads wins out more evenly tends to cap how large any single one can be. Gates of Olympus POP keeps a 25,000x ceiling anyway, on the same 5x3 scatter-pays grid as the wider Gates of Olympus family from Pragmatic Play. Stakes run from £0.10 to £250.00 per spin, wide enough to size a session for almost any bankroll, from a short break to a serious high-roller session. The rest of this review works through what those numbers actually mean once you sit down to play.
The 25,000x ceiling at your stake
A 25,000x multiplier only means something once you attach it to a real stake. Here's what the ceiling looks like at a few common bet sizes:
| Stake per spin | Theoretical max win (25,000x) |
|---|---|
| £0.10 | £2,500 |
| £1.00 | £25,000 |
| £10.00 | £250,000 |
| £250.00 | £6,250,000 |
That top row is the game's stake minimum; the bottom is its maximum. Neither outcome is something a single session should be planned around. Pragmatic Play doesn't publish a hit-frequency table for the 25,000x tier specifically, so treat it as a rare, long-run event built from the free spins round, not a per-session possibility.
The practical takeaway: choose your stake from how many spins you want to play, not from the win you're hoping for. £20 at £0.20 a spin buys roughly 100 spins. £20 at £2 a spin buys ten. Low volatility means the £0.20 stake will likely see more, smaller returns along the way; the £2 stake sees fewer, larger ones. The 25,000x ceiling is available at either stake. It's just extremely unlikely to matter at either one.
Three RTP settings: check which one you're playing
Pragmatic Play certifies Gates of Olympus POP at three RTP levels: 97.05 %, 96.56 % and 94.57 %. The operator running the game chooses which configuration goes live, not the player. That's standard practice across Pragmatic Play's catalogue, but it means the same slot can pay differently, long-run, depending on where you play it.
The gap between top and bottom configuration is 2.48 percentage points, which is meaningful over thousands of spins even though it changes nothing about a single spin's outcome. Where a casino's game information panel discloses the live RTP, it's worth a quick check before you settle on a site for this title specifically.
Scatter pays and POP symbol instant prizes
Gates of Olympus POP drops paylines entirely. Symbols pay for landing in sufficient numbers anywhere on the 5x3 grid, the scatter-pays format Pragmatic Play built its Gates of Olympus line around. You don't need to line anything up; you need enough matching symbols on screen at once.
The POP symbol runs alongside that as a separate route to a payout. It's an instant-prize symbol on the base game, independent of the free spins trigger, so wins can land outside the bonus round as well as inside it. That gives the base game two ways to pay rather than one, which suits the low-volatility rating: more moments where something happens, even between bigger bonus hits.
Free spins and the total multiplier
Multiplier symbols can appear on the grid during play, and they carry into the free spins round differently from the base game. Inside free spins, Gates of Olympus POP keeps a running total: every multiplier symbol that lands adds to that total, and the accumulated figure applies to the round's biggest hits rather than resetting spin to spin.
That mechanic is what gets a low-volatility game anywhere near a 25,000x ceiling. It also means the free spins round, not the base game, is where the outsized results are actually built. We haven't published exact multiplier value ranges for this title. Treat the free spins round as the source of variance in an otherwise steady game, and size your stake with that in mind.
Gates of Olympus POP versus the original and Sweet Bonanza
Gates of Olympus POP sits inside a wider Pragmatic Play family. The original Gates of Olympus popularised the scatter-pays, tumbling-multiplier format the studio has since reused across several titles, including Sweet Bonanza. POP entries in the catalogue are typically built as shorter, more compact editions of an established game, aimed at quicker sessions rather than replacing the original outright.
What sets this version apart on paper is the RTP spread (97.05 % down to 94.57 %) and the specific pairing of low volatility with a 25,000x ceiling. If you've played the original Gates of Olympus or Sweet Bonanza, the rhythm here will feel familiar: scatter pays, tumbling multipliers, a free spins round built to escalate. The differences are in the numbers, not the format.
How to size your stake for this game
Decide how you're approaching a session before you set a stake. For a low-volatility, high-ceiling game like this one, the number of spins you get through matters more than any single result, because outcomes are decided by the game's random number generator and nothing you do at the controls changes that.
A simple way to set a stake:
- Set a bankroll for the session, separate from money you need elsewhere.
- Decide roughly how many spins you'd like that bankroll to cover.
- Divide the bankroll by the spin count to get your stake per spin.
- Adjust down for a longer session, or up if you're comfortable with fewer spins and a wider spread of outcomes.
- Test the maths in demo mode first, where the volatility pattern is visible without any of it costing money.
None of this changes your odds on any individual spin. It changes how many spins your money lasts, which is the only lever a player actually has.
Demo mode: play Gates of Olympus POP free first
Sites that list Pragmatic Play's catalogue typically carry a free-play version of Gates of Olympus POP alongside the real-money one. Demo mode uses the same RTP configuration and the same 5x3 grid, so it's a genuine way to see the low-volatility rhythm and the free spins round before a single stake is placed.
Use it to get a feel for how often the POP symbol pays on the base game, and how the free spins multiplier builds, rather than to chase a result. Demo credits reset and carry no cash value, so nothing you see there predicts what a specific real-money session will do.
Playing responsibly on UK-facing sites
This review is for players aged 18 and over. If you want support around your gambling, GamCare (gamcare.org.uk) offers a free, confidential helpline for anyone in the UK. GAMSTOP is the UK's self-exclusion scheme, and UK Gambling Commission licence holders are required to check it; you can register in a few minutes at gamstop.co.uk if you want a break from gambling sites.
Links to operators on this page are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you sign up through them. See our methodology page for how we research and check game data.