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Written by: Filip Gromovic Reviewed by: Nashon Khamala
Updated: Jun 2025
Drill the black oil from the Texas desert in the USA and become a wealthy tycoon with IGT Texas Tea Casino game. This guide takes you through this slot’s biggest symbols and special bonuses while exploring the best strategies to increase your win chances based on hands-on experience. Also discover the best platforms to play Texas Tea online for free and real cash.
Texas Tea is a 2005 5×3 video slot from IGT that sees players start their oil-drilling career in one of the US most popular destinations. The game has gained popularity not only in its home country but also across casinos in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The game has a default 92.5% RTP, 9 paylines, a low variance and a bet range of $9 to $18,000.
| Software Provider | IGT |
| Release Date | 2005 |
| RTP | 87.5%, 92.5%, 97.35%. |
| Volatility | Low |
| Max Win | $25,000,000 |
| Reels x Rows | 5×3 |
| Minimum – Maximum Bet | $9 to $18,000 |
| Features | Two bonus rounds, scatter, bonus symbols |
| Number of Paylines | 9 |
| Themes | Texas desert, oil, cartoon, humor |
At first glance, it may seem easy to tell what Texas Tea slot machine is all about from its title. The term ‘Texas Tea’ is a popular nickname for crude oil in the state.
Of course, the crude oil business is serious business and an almost sure way to amass generational wealth. So, you would think IGT would promote this game as a drilling mission to discover one of Earth’s most prized natural resources. No chance! The provider instead chose to take an unconventional comic route, poking fun at the oil rush phenomenon.
The game’s grid and symbols are presented in an overly exaggerated cartoonish way that is likely to leave players laughing while they spin. Most symbols do not even have any connection to an oil rig and do a great job of creating a frenetic spectacle on the reels.
Thankfully, despite the slot’s much-welcomed lighthearted theme and display, its win potential is massive. The ability to earn millions in wins is the only thing that aligns with oil drilling in this game.
Texas Tea casino game opens on a cartoonish 5×3 grid housing comical symbols. A vast desert with rocks and small vegetation shines brightly under the blazing sun in the background. Every time you spin the reels, fast-paced piano songs come on, becoming louder when you form win combinations.
Most of the slot’s navigation buttons sit at the grid feet.
As is usually the case with most IGT designs, the menus to access the Paytable, Game Rules and Sound are positioned at the top right of the screen.
We had fun playing this game and that is partly because of its simplistic navigation process. Once you launch the game, the grid screen immediately comes to view. We recommend checking the paytable and game rules tables before placing your bet. Better still you could just try the free Texas Tea slot online variant at our hub, FreeSlots99 to know how everything works without monetary commitment.
This title has 9 fixed paylines, 9 regular symbols and 2 bonus characters. 5 of the 9 regulars are high tier while 4 offer standard payout. They all pay by forming between 3-of-a-kind to 5-of-a-kind combinations, starting from the leftmost reels. Though some pay for two matching symbols on active lines while the Texas Tea symbol takes it up a notch, triggering wins for a solo appearance.
Derrick and Texas Ted are the two bonus symbols. They are very important for activating this title bonus feature but do not set off payouts on the standard grid. So we will hold off from talking about them just yet.
We provide comprehensive details on how each symbol pays on active lines based on your stake.
| Symbol | 1 of a Kind | 2 of a Kind | 3 of a Kind | 4 of a Kind | 5 of a Kind |
| Texas Tea Logo | 0.22x | 1.11x | 11.11x | 111.11x | 1,111.11x |
| Armadillo | – | 1.11x | 2.77x | 16.66x | 55.55x |
| Plane | – | 0.55x | 2.22x | 11.11x | 27.77x |
| Bull | – | 0.55x | 2.22x | 11.11x | 27.77x |
| Car | – | 0.55x | 2.22x | 11.11x | 27.77x |
| Yellow Flower | – | – | 1.11x | 2.77x | 11.11x |
| Blue Flower | – | – | 1.11x | 2.77x | 11.11x |
| Orange Flower | – | – | 1.11x | 2.77x | 11.11x |
| Cactus | – | – | 1.11x | 2.77x | 11.11x |
Some multipliers are approximated to fit into the table and may differ slightly (by less than a cent) compared to real time payouts.
For an IGT design, Texas Tea casino game bonuses and special features are a surprise and in a positive way. There are no free spins, stacked wilds or any of the popular play-to-the-book features. The offers here are unique, straight to the point and rewarding.
The Texas Ted symbol is the scatter here, portrayed as a rich oil tycoon with a cigar in his mouth. Land 3 or more scatters anywhere on the reels to activate the Oil Dividend Bonus. The feature takes you to a new screen where Ted congratulates you as his newest partner and writes you a handy check.
The value of the check depends on the number of Teds you score on the grid to activate the feature.
Pays 3x, 8x, 15x or 25x of your stake
Pays 8x, 10x, 25x, 40x or 50x of your stake
Pays 20x, 30x, 50x, 75x or 100x of your stake
You need to land at least 3 Derrick symbols on an active payline, starting from the leftmost reel to trigger the Big Oil Bonus. The bonus takes you to the Texas map with strategic oil spots. Your job is to place derricks in these spots to unveil random multipliers.
The number of derricks available to place on the oil spots aligns with the number that activated the bonus initially. If 4 derricks triggered the feature, then you receive 4 derricks that you can place in different oil spots. Also, note that the more derricks you have, the better your probability of unveiling bigger multipliers.
IGT has made multiple updates to Texas Tea casino game since its initial release, especially in the betting department. Currently, the slot demands a bit more in budget than most machines. The minimum wager possible is $9 and it goes up from there, reaching $18,000. Every bet covers the 9 fixed paylines. This situation means that you cannot place line bets and activate only a few paylines.
Despite its big betting demands, this design does deliver frequent wins and we love it. Our experts found it easy to form combinations and did not have problems entering the bonus games quite regularly. However, standard rules still apply regarding earning payouts. Only the highest matching symbol sequence is acknowledged during a win combination on a single line. It is also possible to form more than one combination and earn multiple payouts on a single spin.
One phenomenon we noticed is how bet sizes affect payouts and win potential. The provider never mentioned anything about this fact but our experts picked up on it when testing this game for review. We spun the reels 50 times with bet amounts of $9 to $90 and repeated the same for 3 to 5-digit wagers. While the returns for both batches were impressive, the latter delivered a better win ratio. Bets values of triple digits attracted the best combinations, and we found it much easier to activate the bonus features.
There are different versions of Texas Tea slots with unique Return to Player percentages. This is the Ranges concept where a studio develops different RTP for a specific game and allows partnering casinos and online platforms choose their preferred type. Specifically, this design has three well known RTP ranges – 87.5%, 92.5% and 97.35%.
The 87.5% is the lowest and reduces players’ chances of earning profits in the long term. A few casinos have this version and we advise that you avoid them. The 92.5% is actually the default choice from IGT and is the most popular option available globally. This version still falls below the industry average of 96% but is great enough to attract profit. A casino hosting this version automatically has a house edge of 7.5%, which isn’t exactly the best from players’ perspectives.
The best version is the 97.35% RTP, an ideal start for any casino game. The casino or slots hub only keeps 2.65% of players’ bets and pays the others as winnings.
It can be a bit tricky to know the RTP version available in an online platform. Thankfully, we can vouch for our own platform, FreeSlots99. We host the best RTP version of this title and that of other casino games, working with the best providers in the industry.
IGT is more direct with Texas Tea variance, which is at the low scale. This explains why it is very easy to form combinations, with an average of 1 win per 3 spins. Also, the payouts are not that bad for a low-volatility slot.
The Texas Tea casino game does not have an official jackpot prize, but most of its payouts do feel like one. It is actually possible to earn millions on the standard grid without activating any of the two bonus features. Simply hitting 5-of-a-kind matching Texas Tea logos on the $18,000 max bet will trigger over $19,900,000 in wins. With a combination of bonus features and a string of favorable spins, you could achieve a max cash out of $25,000,000. This value is the maximum amount you can win.
Once you achieve the maximum amount, you become the oil drilling god, reaching the pinnacle of your career. The title automatically ends after that, and you may decide to restart your session.
The potential to earn millions in this game is quite realistic compared to most options. Still, always work with your budget and understand that having fun should be the main priority.
While IGT’s Texas Tea slot machine promotes itself as a fun ride, it is still one of the most rewarding designs out there. It is a good choice for high rollers, offering them the potential to win millions during lucky combinations. There are two distinct bonus features to maximize and a host of rewarding symbols that pay quite well on average. The gameplay and design are straightforward and appealing with almost non-existent issues of glitches. Our independent reviews of the game features were mostly positive, earning our recommendation.
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Rating by: Nashon Khamala
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Filip Gromovic is a senior slots reviewer here at FreeSlots99 with over five years of experience evaluating the latest drops in the world of iGaming.
Being a slot fan himself, Filip approaches slot ratings just the way we like it – professionally, but also from a player’s standpoint.
That enables him to give his unbiased take on the slot’s features, gameplay and design, while only recommending top-tier releases to our readers.
More info on Filip Gromovic
Having served FreeSlots99 for more than 5 years as a senior content editor and reviewer, Nashon Khamala has extensive knowledge in game slots and iGaming.
His membership in the Editorial Freelancers Association helps him deliver content that reaches both editorial excellence standards and an engaging information level.
By using his expertise in slots games combined with player-focused analysis, Nashon delivers a professional evaluation of slot features and player experiences in his reviews.
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