Return to player (RTP) is the average payback percentage of a casino game on average. For example, a 90% RTP pays back $90 for every $100 bet on it overall. The average RTP for slots is about 95.5%. But what is a good RTP for slots? Once a player learns how to play slots, that’s the logical next question. Whether you’re looking for real money slots online or at a retail casino or you’re just playing free slots, good RTP can be, quite literally, a game-changer.
Good RTP for Slots
A good RTP for a slot is 97% or better. Slot machines allow players to wager small amounts for the chance to win huge jackpots, so the odds are generally worse compared to table games. A good RTP for table games is 98.5% or better, with games like blackjack offering payback as high as 99.8%. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a slot with odds that good, but it’s not impossible to find slots RTP as high as 98%.
Check out our list of the best payout slot machines.
Why Is Slots RTP Important?
Slots RTP is important because it sets expectations. If you’re looking to give yourself the best possible odds of keeping your money, a slot with a good RTP is the way to go. If you’re simply looking to win as much as possible, the slots with the biggest progressive jackpots will do.
Slots RTP represents the average amount a game pays back to the players. If a slot’s RTP is 95%, for example, it pays players 95% of the wagers it receives. However, slots RTP applies to all games happening at any time, so one player may receive 0% of their wagers while another can win 10,000%. RTP simply represents the average.
Unfortunately, some games, such as the Timber Wolf slot machine, don’t advertise their RTP. But those games are usually retail casinos only, yet another way an online casino for real money is better than a land-based casino.
Best Online Casinos for Slots Players
If you’re looking to win cash prizes on slots with good RTP, try these top choices. While your location doesn’t have legal real-money online casinos, social and sweepstakes casinos offer slots for cash prizes and gift cards.
of Gold Coins for $10
RTP vs. Volatility
While RTP shows a game’s average payback percentage, slots volatility represents how often a game pays out. On average, a slot with low volatility pays out more often than a game with high volatility, but the payouts are lower than the payouts on a high volatility slot. Volatility does not affect RTP and vice versa.
For example, let’s say a high volatility slot and a low volatility slot both have an RTP of 96%. If a player played both at $1 per spin, they could expect the following:
- Low Volatility: About half the spins to trigger wins between $0.10 and $5
- High Volatility: Most of the spins to pay out nothing, but big wins of $25 to $50 here and there.
Like with RTP, volatility is just the general setup of the game. The random number generator (RNG) of the game ensures total randomness, meaning any slot can end up paying out big wins infrequently, low wins frequently, or any combination between.
RTP vs. House Edge: What’s The Difference?
RTP and house edge are two sides of the same coin. The house edge is the average amount that’s paid to the casino while the RTP is the average amount paid to the player. For example, if a game has a house edge of 2%, it has an RTP of 98%.
House edge is more commonly referred to for table games. This is because variations on the rules of games like online blackjack and online roulette can change the house edge from something like 0.55% to 0.455%. Those numbers are a lot easier to manage without the 99% getting in the way.
But a specific slot usually has a fixed RTP. In that case, it makes more sense to display it as a higher percentile, if for no other reason than a higher number looks better than a lower number.
Turn Bonus Money into Cash Using RTP
Most online casino bonus codes offer the best playthrough requirements for slots players. But you still have to bet the bonus amount on those slots multiple times before you can withdraw the winnings. Your best chance of doing so? Playing slots with the highest RTP. Based on the percentage, you can better rely on at least having some money remaining at the end of the playthrough requirements. It’s no guarantee, but it’s a viable strategy.
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How to Find a Game’s RTP
The easiest way to find an online casino game’s RTP is to check the game’s info. At most online casinos, the RTP is presented in the game’s info. If it’s not there, you can also Google the name of the game, which usually brings up pretty reliable results. For example, if you wanted to know the RTP of the Cleopatra slot, you could search, “Cleopatra Slot RTP,” and see that it has an RTP of around 95.2%.
But the regulations governing the licensing of online casino sites mean that most online casinos have to publish the payout percentages for all their casino games. So, one of the best US online casinos should be your first stop if you want to find out how much each casino game will return to you.
Most Online Casino Games Display the RTP
Take for example Golden Nugget Casino. When you visit the Golden Nugget Casino website, a carousel of games is displayed. To find out more information about any game, all you need to do is click the “i” for “information” on the game’s display.
Clicking on a popular game like 88 Fortunes brings up all of the game information so you can see it at first glance. Among other things, the RTP is displayed and for this game, it is 96%. This information screen also displays the number of lines and reels, the maximum payout, and the minimum bet.
If you can’t seem to find where the casino lists its RTP percentages, another option is to check the help section. For example, the help section at Caesars Casino states: “You can see the RTP of games in the information section of that game on the Caesars Sportsbook app or desktop site.”
Online Slots With the Highest RTP
The best online casinos feature hundreds of slots. That gives players the option to choose games with great RTP or go for the big jackpots on games with lower RTP.
But here are some slots available at most legal US online casinos with high RTP rates:
- Mega Joker by NetEnt: RTP 99%
- Jackpot 6000 by NetEnt: RTP 98.9%
- The Catfather by Pragmatic Play: RTP 98.1%
- Rainbow Riches by Barcrest: RTP 98%
- White Rabbit Megaways by Big Time Gaming: RTP 97.72%
- Ugga Bugga by Playtech: RTP 99.07%
- Starmania by NextGen: RTP 97.87%
If you’re finding it hard to find the particular game you’re looking for, just choose an online casino with a high RTP average. These include online casinos like Golden Nugget, BetRivers, Caesars, and BetMGM.
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