If you are like me and have played games at online casinos, you may have heard about RTP% (Return to Player) percentage payout rates and house edge and wondered what it all means. If so, you’re not alone.
The RTP% payout rate at online casinos is the percentage value or how much a player’s initial stake is, on average, expected to be returned.
Whether you play computer-generated online casino games (e.g., slots, video poker, table & card games, crash games, bingo, or scratchcards) that rely on Random Number Generators (RNGs) to produce the outcomes or cutting-edge live dealer casino games that don’t rely on RNGs to produce the outcomes, the RTP payout rate is something that can be calculated for all games.
Understanding the finer details of games has been a growing and dominating trend in recent years.
In the video game industry, with the game itself so written and pre-determined – even if the developers leave so much space for creativity and personalized gameplay – the finer details, the core of the game and how people should best approach it is called ‘the meta’.
Essentially, what all gamers want to do, is create advantageous margins. They want to know what the best way to either beat the game or beat the opponent by pushing the limits of the game – by playing it so perfectly and precisely in a way the game favours that there is less chance of it being wrong.
If you spend any amount of time on sports games, for instance, it becomes immediately clear. For iGaming fans, the RTP payout percentage offers them the chance to know, roughly speaking, what to expect when they play a game.
It gives them knowledge ahead of time and how they should approach the game, what strategies they should employ and when they should mix it up.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look at what all this means and demystify RTP payout percentage rates and house edge to improve your betting strategies and give you a slightly better advantage over the house.
Is RTP The Same As House Edge?
The best way to look at it is that the Return To Player percentage (RTP%) payout rate in any online casino game is calculated oppositely to how a casino game’s house edge is calculated.
For example, if you notice that your game has a 3.50% house edge, the total RTP% payout rate for this same game would be the remainder of that, minus 100, therefore 96.50%.
Here is another example. If you go to the paytable of an online slot machine you have just launched to look for that game’s current RTP% amount, you may find that it’s 97.50%, meaning the house edge over the player in this game is 2.50%.
Mathematically speaking, if you wager a total of $/€/£1,000 on that game with an average 97.50% RTP, you are expected to receive $/€/£975.00 back in winnings.
However, don’t forget that computer-generated online casino games rely on highly sophisticated Random Number Generator mathematical algorithm programs.
They produce pre-determined results each time you hit the spin/deal/draw/play button with no discernible pattern.
In other words, winning is still random, and just because some games have a higher average RTP% payout rate than other games, it doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to win, although theoretically and mathematically speaking, you are more likely to win on the slot games with the highest RTP odds there is compared to the lowest RTP slot there is.
It sounds confusing, and if you’re not mathematically minded like me, it may also seem a little overwhelming.
It’s still relatively straightforward, and the more you think about RTP rates and house edge, the easier it is to understand, just like anything.
What Is Considered A Good RTP% Payout Rate?
There are thousands of online casino games in 2024, with close estimates putting the figure at around 9,000.
They are brought to you by around 100 major online casino software providers and independent game development studios.
However, in 2024, you will find that very few online casinos have 7,000 to 9,000 games and that most have anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 from 20 to 40 or more market-leading providers.
The low, medium, and high RTP payout rates in today’s best games are considered to be the following:
- Low RTP% payout rate – 92.99% or lower
- Average RTP% payout rate – 93.00% to 97.99%
- High RTP% payout rate – 98.00% or higher
Before playing online casino games in real money mode, many players specifically look for high RTP slots and other casino games and avoid playing slots with low RTP payout rates.
As mentioned, although it’s a great strategy, it doesn’t guarantee you will win more. I must admit, I used to only play slots with a 97.00% or higher RTP payout rate, but not any more. If I like the look of a game, I play, regardless of its RTP payout rate.
Some online casinos have made it easier to find these games by having a ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’ section.
In other words, the games in the ‘Hot’ section are currently paying out or are expected to pay out, and the games in the ‘Cold’ section are those that haven’t been paying out or aren’t expected to pay out.
Going to the Hot and Cold section saves you from having to look at the RTP% payout rate each time you want to play a game, which is fantastic for some players and saves them a bit of time and effort.
The house will always have a slight edge over the player because they would quickly go out of business if they didn’t. This is why the odds are as they appear in most games.
At the end of the day, winning is still down to good old lady luck. However, to reduce the edge the house has over you, some of you may want to stick to playing high-RTP casino games and avoid playing low-RTP casino games.
