3 Tips for Understanding RTP at Online Casinos

When you play computer-generated online slot machines, video poker, table and card games, and all other bingo and lottery-style games from award-winning providers on a fully licensed and regulated online casino, the results/outcomes you receive each time you hit the spin/draw/deal button are, in fact, produced by Random Number Generators, if you hadn’t already guessed by now.

An RNG is an advanced computer program that is designed to produce fair and realistic results that mimic real life and will never produce results with any discernible patterns. Live dealer games don’t use RNGs to produce the outcomes; except for the outcomes/results given in any computer-generated live dealer bonus rounds.

Whether games use RNGs or not to produce the outcomes each time we hit the play button, each online casino game has a Return to Player (RTP) percentage payout rate, which tells us roughly how much we can expect to win back from any given game based on how much money we spend on that game.

However, the RTP% payout rate doesn’t always guarantee we will receive that exact amount of money back. Let’s dive straight in to discover three basic tips for understanding how RTP works at online casinos.

Three Basic Tips for Understanding Online Casino RTP Payout Rates

Before we go into further detail explaining how online casino RTP payout rates are calculated and what this information means, here are three basic tips that will help you understand what RTP rates are at online casinos:

1. Mathematically speaking, the higher the RTP% payout rate is for a game, the greater your chances of winning are on that particular game
2. RTP is calculated by finding out how much money is spent on a game and how much of that money is returned to those same players as winnings
3. RTP payout rates are calculated in-house and by one or more independent, third-party, globally renowned online casino testing agencies, which typically publish their results each month for everyone to see

Most online casinos today have thousands of games, and each game will have an RTP% payout rate, which can normally be viewed by launching the game’s paytable.

Why Are High RTP Slots Better for Players?

Online slots with high or above-average RTP% payout rates are better for players because, theoretically speaking, you are more likely to win. Let’s take a quick look at a couple of examples.

If players have just spent $/€/£100, $/€/£10,000, $/€/£100,000, or $/€/£1,000,000 (or equivalent currency value) combined on, say, a famous animals-themed online slot machine called Mega Moolah, and, on average, this game returned a total of $/€/£97.99, $/€/£9,799, $/€/£97,990, or $/€/£979,900 in winnings, it means this game has a 97.99 RTP% payout rate, which is pretty good for players.

In comparison, if players spent the same amount but only received $/€/£91.06, $/€/£9,106, $/€/£91,060, or $/€/£910,600, it means the game only has a 91.06% RTP payout rate, which is pretty bad.

However, the important thing to remember is that just because an online slot machine might have a 99.00% RTP payout rate, it doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to win more money compared to playing an online slot machine with a 92.00% RTP payout rate. It’s all still down to lady luck and completely random who wins.

Millions of players across the planet could all be playing the same online slot machine at the same time, for example. One player might spend $/€/£100 and only receive $/€/£1.00 back in winnings, whereas you might spend $/€/£1.00 and end up winning $/€/£100.00.

The average RTP% payout rate is designed to give us a rough idea of how much the games typically pay back in winnings based on a certain amount being wagered on them.

Savvy players today will only play online casino games with high or above average RTP% payout rates and will avoid playing ones with low payout rates. It’s a great strategy, but it doesn’t always mean those players will win more.

Here are a few examples of what is considered a low, medium, and high or above-average RTP payout rate:

• Low – 92.00% or lower
• Medium – 92.01% to 94.99%
• Above-average – 95.0 to 96.99%
• High – 97.00% or higher

The payout rates are calculated frequently by trusted online casino testing agencies, such as eCOGRA, Gaming Laboratory International, Technical Systems Testing, iTech Global Pty Limited, Global Lab Limited, Quinel Ltd, and BMM Testlabs, to name a few.

Here are a few actual examples of real RTP % payout rates in several famous online slots from award-winning providers. Thunderkick 1429 – Uncharted Seas slot has a 98.60% RTP payout rate, and NetEnt’s famous Guns N’ Roses slot has a 96.98% payout rate.

Pragmatic Play’s John Hunter and the Book of Tut Respin has a 94.47% RTP payout rate, and Games Global’s Fishin’ Pots of Gold slot has a 94.06% payout rate.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know how RTP payout rates are calculated and what it all means, you may find that it changes how you decide which online slots to play.

Don’t forget that winning and losing still boils down to randomness and luck, even though the outcomes we see in today’s computer-generated online casinos are pre-determined and produced by highly sophisticated and frequently tested Random Number Generators.