Return to Player (RTP) explained
What’s important to know is that even though slot games are considered to be ‘games of chance’, you can increase your chance of winning by picking the right online casino and slot games.
When a software developer develops a new slot game, the software includes a random generator that will control the randomness of each spin of the reels. After the game has been completed, it is required to undergo randomness testing from a top auditing laboratory such as eCOGRA. The resulting data is used to determine what percentage of each bet wagered is going to be returned to the player based on the game’s pay chart.
In general, online slots payout around 95-97% of deposits, whereas table games return up to 99% and more to players.
Of course, the payout percentages are calculated and verified over thousands and thousands of spins. A short playing time could see your actual winnings deviate above or below the published RTP. Yet it is fair to say that the higher the Return to Player, the better the odds for the player.
RTP is the theoretical percentage of all deposits that each game pays back to its players over time. If an online slot has an RTP of 96.88%, then, in theory, for each 1 Euro, players receive 0.9688 Cents back. The difference is the online casino’s revenue, commonly referred to as the house edge.
All software providers publish RTP for each and every one of their games. Some casinos publish these.
Volatility, Variance, Hit Frequency
Whilst RTP is an important guideline, it tells you nothing at all about the variance. Variance also called volatility, are one and the same. They explain the risk involved in playing a certain slot. Low volatility means low risk gameplay and high volatility means high risk.
This gives the player an understanding on how often wins are hit and how big those wins or payouts are. With high variance slots, wins are infrequent, but, the payouts tend to be big. Low variance slots on the other hand have a high win frequency, with many smaller wins.
Important: Many slot games include a mechanism that allows the online casino operator to slightly adjust the payout odds. This will have a small impact on the RTP percentage. However it does not effect the randomness. The operator’s ability to adjust the RTP percentage is exactly why regulators want online casinos to publish that information on each game for the gambler’s benefit.
Thunderstruck II – Microgaming – RTP: 96.63