Rules set out by casino licensing organisations mean that players should always be able to find out the RTP of any slot game they want to play. This may be mentioned in the game description by the casino, and you might be able to sort slots by their RTP stats. Otherwise, opening up the paytable in any slot should show the game’s given RTP percentage. A common practice of casino is to use slots with RTP within 95-97%. These 3-5% of non-refund is a guarantee that the establishment will get a profit. The return parameter should be inscribed in the background information provided on the casino’s website, but there are some exceptions to this rule. Return To Player, or RTP, is a way of seeing how much any slot pays out on average. Sometimes referred to as payout percentage, RTP offers an easy method of comparing slots like for like, even if you’re planning on betting different amounts. Every game has its own RTP, which is calculated over a long period of time.
RTP: A Beginner’s Guide
The RTP – which stands for the Return To Player – is a percentage seen in many online gambling games, that gives you an indication of how much money the machine can be expected to pay back to players, over time. If you frequent the Casinomeister Forum, there’s a good chance you’ll already be familiar with RTP – and what it means. It’s been discussed in a number of threads, and thankfully, players are now more savvy about it than ever before. On this page, we’re going to be taking a look at what the RTP actually is – and how it can (and should) affect your choice of which games you play.
What Is The RTP?
Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re playing an online video slot with an RTP of 96%. What this essentially means, is that if you were to play 100 spins on this slot at a stake of £1/spin, the machine would be expected to pay out £96. The other £4 – the 4% – is what the casino or online gambling operator can expect to make from the slot. In this example, the 4% is the house edge – or, in other words, the amount of money that the casino can expect to profit from each wager.
While – on the surface – the RTP can seem fairly straightforward, it’s worth pointing out that in actuality it’s not as simple as this. For example, when developers are testing their games, they put millions – or, in some cases billions – of spin simulations through. This gives them an idea of what the RTP should be over the long-run. In the short term, the RTP can vary quite substantially. This is because a slot can produce a big win right away for a player. On the flip side, it can also go through long non-winning periods where the player’s balance appears to disappear quickly.
Because of this, the RTP is also sometimes referred to as the theoretical return to player. Of course, when you’re deciding whether to play a slot or not, the RTP is one factor which should be taken into account. It’s not, however, a good indication of whether you’ll win at that game for that specific session. Even if you put tens of thousands of spins through a slot machine, your personal RTP could be significantly different to the machine’s theoretical RTP.
Why Is The RTP Important?
So, by now, we know that the RTP gives a rough indication of how much the casino can expect to make from a slot machine – and how much the player can expect to lose – but we finished off the last section of this post by telling you that in the short term, it’s not overly important. So, what is the point of the RTP then?
Well, the RTP can also give an indication of how the slot will perform. For example, a video slot with a higher RTP means that there’s more ‘available money’ to payout to players – and this means that you’re likely to see more (and more frequent) free-spins bonuses and other bonus rounds. Also worth pointing out, is that – generally speaking – the higher the RTP, the less volatile the machine is. Similarly, the lower the RTP, the more volatile a machine can be expected to be.
So what RTP should you look for when playing a slot online? Thanks to low overheads, most online casinos are able to offer slot machines with an RTP of around 96%. Anything higher than this is good – and as a general rule of thumb, anything below around the 94% mark is considered bad. Still, online players have it easy – if you head to land-based casinos and arcades, it’s not uncommon to see RTPs as low as 85% and this can make a significant impact on your gameplay.
Does Anything Else Influence An RTP?
So, now we know what the RTP is, and why it matters, let’s take a look at whether there are any other factors that can influence it. The house edge is one of the most important of these factors, and as we’ve briefly already covered, this calculates the total edge of the operator/casino offering the game. This is why you’ll never find a real money slot machine with an RTP of 100%. The casino’s have to make money somehow – and while there are a couple 98%+ machines, most are around the 96% mark we mentioned. After all, the casinos are businesses and need to turn a profit!
Another factor that relates to the RTP is the hit frequency. Unfortunately, unlike RTP percentages, developers are not legally obliged to tell you what the hit frequencies are for their games. A slot’s hit frequency gives you an indication of how many spins it will take for you to win. For example, a slot with a hit rate of 1 in 5 will hit a winning spin – on average – once in every five spins. A slot with a higher hit rate means it will typically be lower variance – meaning you’ll see more wins, but fewer big wins. On the other hand, a slot machine with a low hit rate will typically be more volatile – meaning the wins will be rarer, but bigger.
The Top 10 Slots With The Best RTPs
In this section, we’re going to be taking a comprehensive look at ten of the best slot machines when it comes to RTPs. Remember, just because a slot has a higher RTP does not mean you’re more likely to win on it. It simply means that – in the long run – you can expect to lose slightly less money. Let’s take a look at the top 10 games to play with the lowest RTP.
Mega Joker: Mega Joker is a 3-row, 3-reel video slot from NetEnt that has just five payines. It’s seen as somewhat legendary in the online gambling world, as the game’s RTP is 99% – meaning the house edge is incredibly low. Playable from between £1 and £5, the game can be slightly expensive to play – but it’s not uncommon to see long playing sessions on this game, even when starting with a fairly low balance.
Jackpot 6000: Jackpot 6000 is another popular slot from NetEnt, and it’s developed around a retro one-armed bandit. The game uses three reels and three rows, and again – there’s just five paylines. The maximum stake on this machine is just £2 – it’s capable of producing some pretty big wins – and with an RTP between 95.10% and 98.90%, it can offer some fantastic play-time.
1429 Uncharted Seas: 1429 Uncharted Seas is a video slot from Thunderkick – and with an RTP of 98.6%, it’s one of the highest RTPs you’ll find in a video slot today. The game is uniquely designed, and the reels are designed to look as though they’re set on a map. You’ll also find a decent free-spins bonus, where you can win up to 50 spins! The game’s also incredibly low variance, so it’s the ideal slot for those wanting a more relaxing, laid-back experience.
Blood Suckers: For many years, Blood Suckers has been mentioned on the forums – for a couple of reasons. Firstly, with an RTP of 98%, it offers one of the highest RTPs on the planet. Secondly – it’s excluded from most casino’s bonus promotions. This is down to the fact that the RTP is so high, casinos fear too many players would be able to clear wagering requirements easily by playing it. The game is from a game developer known as NetEnt – who also happen to be one of the world’s leading software providers. There’s plenty of action within the game, including free-spins, scatter pays, wilds – and you’ll also be able to trigger a unique vampire slaying game!
Starmania: Starmania is a video slot from NextGen Gaming, and it harbours an RTP of 97.87%, making it an excellent game for those wanting high RTP slots. The game is built around a 5-reel, 3-row format, and there’s 10 paylines active on each spin. The game’s symbols are designed to look like stars – although we feel as though NextGen Gaming’s definition of a star is quite loose. Landing three scatter symbols will trigger the main bonus round, and there’s also a gamble function which allows you to try and double or quadruple your wins.
Kings of Chicago: Kings of Chicago is a unique video slot from NetEnt that’s designed to look as though you’re playing a game of poker. With an RTP of 97.8%, it offers a very high return to player. The game’s built around a 5-reel, 3-row format, and there’s just five paylines. You’ll also see scatter symbols attached to some of the symbols, and landing three or more of these in view will activate the free deals bonus. During this bonus, all wins are subject to a 2X multiplier, and it’s also possible to win more spins.
Devil’s Delight: Despite being quite hard to find online (at reputable online casinos anyway), Devil’s Delight is famed for its high RTP – coming in at 97.6%. The game’s from NetEnt, and offers up a couple of decent features. Firstly, you’ve got a free-spins round, and during this bonus wins are multiplied by as much as 5X. You’ll also see a ‘Soul-O-Meter’ at the bottom of the screen. Once you’ve collected 15 souls, this meter will fill up, and you’ll then trigger the Sin Spins feature, which gives you a much better chance of hitting big wins.
Retro Reels Extreme Heat: The first game from Microgaming to appear on this list, Retro Reels Extreme Heat is an old-school game with 5-reels and 3-rows. There are 30 paylines, all of which are fixed in place. The game also utilises a unique ‘re-spin’ feature, where you can re-spin one or more of the reels. There’s also a free-spins bonus, where you can win up to 20 free-spins – during these spins, all wins are multiplied by 2X. With an RTP of 97.5%, Retro Reels Extreme Heat is a great game to play – if you can still find it!
Simbalism: Unfortunately, Simbalish looks to have been phased out by NetEnt – whether they’ll choose to re-release it in HTML5 remains to be seen, but it appears unlikely. Still, with an RTP of 97.5%, the game offered players an exciting playing experience, and landing three rabbit symbols on the reels triggered an exciting bonus game. The game also boasted a free-spins feature, during which all wins were multiplied by 3X.
Jack Hammer 2: Fishy Business: Jack Hammer 2: Fishy Business is one of NetEnt’s most popular ‘old school’ slots, and it’s not hard to see why. The game offers up an outstanding visual experience, and a funky soundtrack accompanies all winning spins. The game also boasts a decent ‘locking symbols’ feature. On each spin during the base-game, landing a winning combo will lock these symbols in place, and the reels then re-spin. Any additional winning symbols also lock in place, and this continues for as long as wins are formed. There’s also an exciting free-spins feature which is activated by landing five or more scatter symbols in a single spin. Plus, with an RTP of 97.1%, it’s up there as one of the games with the highest RTPs.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a number of video slots currently available to play (and a couple of others that have unfortunately been taken out of circulation) that offer a super-high RTP. However, it’s worth remembering that just because a game has a high RTP, it doesn’t mean you’ll end up winning on it – it just means that in the long run, your losses are likely to be smaller.
Do you have any favourite games that offer a high RTP you’d like to tell us about? Feel free to let us know in the forums. We’re always interested in hearing about your favourite games, and in this case, the higher the RTP, the better!
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If you’ve been playing slots for any length of time or have just been watching streamer play slots online, you’ve probably heard the term RTP mentioned more than once. Even if you have no idea what it means, it is clear that this elusive RTP is an important factor for slots. In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about this concept, how it is integrated with slots, and how it should influence your decision about what games (not) to play.
RTP in a Nutshell
RTP stands for Return To Player and it describes the amount a slot pays back to the players over a large number of spins, usually expressed as a percentage. For example, a slot with RTP of 97% will give back €97 for every €100 that goes into it. So, this piece of information basically explains how much you can expect to lose playing a particular slot game.
It is important to understand that this number is calculated based on a huge number of spins, usually millions. So, over a short session of a few hundred or a few thousands spins, everything can happen, which is exactly what makes slots exciting. A game that would pay back exactly €95 back after 100 spins played at €1 would hardly be entertaining to play.
RTP in Slots: Complicated Math Behind the Scenes
Setting up RTP for a slot machine is a complicated process and it gets harder the more elaborate the game is. If there are many features and a large number of paylines involved, game developers need to figure it all out in such a way that, when it is all said and done, the game returns exactly the percentage expected.
In a nutshell, though, a slot is always programmed in a way to give back the percentage of the total money that goes into it. The distribution of the RTP can vary, which we will discuss in a moment, but at the end of a day, a slot with 98% RTP will give back 98 percent of all the money that goes into it over an infinite number of spins.
Variance & RTP: Two Similar but Different Things
RTP is often mistaken for variance of a game (and vice-versa). Although these two concepts are usually closely related, they aren’t the same thing. We’ve already explained Return to Player and what it means in a nutshell. Let’s now briefly touch upon a variance.
Variance basically defines the way in which game’s RTP is realized. Lower variance slots are programmed in a way where you’ll have frequent smaller hits, which will help you keep your head above the water and play many spins without busting. Higher variance games usually have a lot of its RTP situated in bonus features and can provide some really big hits. However, to compensate for these big hits, these slots don’t have as many small to medium wins in the base game.
This is to say that not all slots with high RTP are necessarily very friendly on your bankroll. In general, games with higher are RTP are always a better choice than the ones with a lower percentage but if your game of choice is very volatile, you can go through many thousands spins before coming anywhere close to true RTP.
Land-based vs. Online Slots: Which Have Better RTP?
Casino Slots Rtp
Most players who transition to online slots from land-based casinos or play online and brick and mortar venues soon come to a conclusion that online slots seem to play better. Although the gambling world is full of fallacies and wrong beliefs, this isn’t one of them.
Online slots do, in fact, play better in a large majority of cases.
Most slots online, even if it is the exactly same game, have significantly higher RTP. Land-based slots are usually set to return anywhere from 70% to 90%, with very few games ever going over 92%. Online, slots that are under 94% - 95% are usually considered bad and many of the newer games have RTPs north of 96%.
This isn’t some brick and mortar conspiracy, though. The reason why slots in physical venues are set to return less is because land-based casinos are limited in space so they have to make more money from physical machines placed on their floors to keep up with expenses and make profit.
Online casinos, on the other hand, can have hundreds or even thousands of machines available for play at any given time with no physical restrictions. Thus, they can afford to offer games with much higher RTP.
Truths and Myths About RTP in Slots
To wrap this article up, we’ll address some of the truths and myths about RTP in slots. Over the years, players have developed a number of ideas about how RTP works and what can and can’t be done so we’ll try to put some of these to rest.
Online casinos can manipulate RTP of their slots
This is not true. Online casinos don’t own the slots they offer for play. They merely rent the slots from game developers and games are usually stored on the developers’ servers, which means that casinos don’t have the kind of access required to change core settings such as RTP. Some providers do offer games with several RTP variations (like Play’n GO) but casinos can’t change a random game at will.
RTP is completely irrelevant for a single session.
This is both true and not true. While anything can happen in a single slot session and actual RTP of the game is unlikely to be reached either way, this piece of information isn’t as important. However, on average, a slot with 96% RTP will play better than the one with 85% RTP. So, while you can still win and lose on both, you’ll win more often on the game with higher RTP, so you’re better off playing that one.
Progressive jackpots influence real RTP of a slot.
This is true in most cases. Slots with progressive jackpots may have advertised RTP of 94%, for example, but a part of that RTP is usually realized through progressive jackpots. This means that, unless you actually win the jackpot, you’ll be playing the game with RTP significantly lower than what is advertised.
Extra: Top 10 Slots with Best RTP
Now that you know all that you need to know about RTP in slots, let’s take a look into some of the slot games that offer the highest Return to Player. These games aren’t necessarily your best choice if you’re after a big win but usually play pretty well and will give you a decent amount of play-time.
Mega Joker – up to 99% RTP
Mega Joker is a NetEnt classic slot with three reels and fruity symbols. Game’s RTP actually changes depending on the stake level you play at and to reach the best return, you’ll need to bet 10 coins. Additionally, there is a slight skill element to this game as you need to know when to collect the winnings from the Supermeter.
Jackpot 6000 – up to 98.8% RTP
Jackpot 6000 is another classic slot from NetEnt, quite similar to Mega Joker. You’ll also need to play this game at the maximum bet of 10 coins and study the Supermeter strategy a bit to reach the best possible returns. This is a good game for those players who like to be involved and actually able to influence their result at least to some extent.
Chess Mate - -98.7%
Chess Mate is a game from a relatively unknown developer, Multi Slot. This colorful and nicely animated slot offers 15 paylines, a couple of bonus features (including free spins with the win multiplier up to 9x), and very high RTP of 98.7%. Although the game isn’t available at many online casinos, it is definitely worth a try if you come across it.
1429 Uncharted Seas – 98.6%
Developed by Thunderkick, the 1429 Uncharted Seas slot is one of the older games from this developer. While this slot doesn’t bring anything spectacular in terms of graphics or features, its very high RTP of 98.6% makes it worth a few spins.
Monopoly on the Money – up to 98.1%
Developed by Barcrest, Monopoly on the Money is a slot themed after one of the most popular board games ever invented. In the base game, this slot has RTP of just 94% but it is the Big Bet mode where you should be looking as playing in this mode can give you RTP as high as 98.1%.
Bloodsuckers – 98%
The Bloodsuckers slot is another game developed by NetEnt but unlike the ones mentioned previously, this is actually a proper video slot with two different bonuses, 25 paylines across 5 reels, and very low volatility. If you’re into vampire-themed slots as it is, Bloodsuckers is well worth your time with its outstanding RTP of 98%.
Starmania – 97.87%
Created by NextGen Gaming, Starmania will definitely remind you of another well-known game that we don’t even need to mention if you’d ever taken free spins at an online casino. Set among the starts with colorful symbols on the reels, this 10-payline slot pays both ways and features RTP of 97.87%.
Kings of Chicago – 97.8%
We’re coming back to NetEnt and their Kings of Chicago slot, a game entirely based on poker. Instead of classic win combinations, you’ll get paid for making poker hands here, such as trips, straights, flushes, full houses, and quads. If you love poker and casino gambling, this game is a perfect combo for you, especially with its very high RTP of 97.8%.
Devil’s Delight – 97.6%
The final NetEnt slot to be featured in this list, Devil’s Delight comes with RTP of 97.6%. This nicely animated game with several bonus features and the entertaining Soul-O-Meter would be well worth a try even without this high RTP. With it, it is definitely a must-play.
Casino Slot Machine Playing
Big Bad Wolf – 97.4%
Barely making the list of top 10 slot with the best RTP is Quickspin’s Big Bad Wolf. Based on a well-known fairytale, this game can be quite exciting with little pigs turning into wilds and symbols cascading on the reels. Of course, with high RTP of 97.4% and low volatility, this game is a good choice if you’re looking to kill some time without doing the same to your bankroll.