Every casino game has a built-in mathematical edge. That's not a secret, it's not a conspiracy, it's just how the business works. The casino always has a long-term advantage. The question isn't whether the odds are against you. They are. The question is: by how much, and does it matter for how you play?
This guide breaks down two numbers you'll see everywhere: RTP (Return to Player) and house edge. We'll explain what they actually mean, why they matter more for some games than others, and how they directly affect your chances when you're clearing a bonus. No jargon, no formulas you need a math degree for. Just the stuff that impacts your wallet.
What This Guide Covers
What Is RTP (Return to Player)?
RTP stands for Return to Player. It's the percentage of wagers that are paid back as winnings over millions of spins. If a slot game has a 96% RTP, that means in the long run, 96% of the amount of money that has been staked on that particular slot over millions of spins, will be paid out as winnings, leaving 4% to the slot provider.
Simple enough. But here's where people get tripped up.
RTP Is a Long-Term Average
RTP does not guarantee you a 96% return on your next $100. More often than not, it is based on several millions of game rounds, sometimes tens of millions. Now, one session, one spin does not mean it will play out that way. You can win 100 dollars and go home with a win of 500 dollars. Or, lose it all in twelve minutes. And all of this on a 96% RTP slot.
A million players dropping $100 on a slot machine on average stand to lose about 96% of the $100 million that has been gambled. Each of them probably had some wins and some losses, with the winners feeling fortunate and the losers feeling their normal bitter sorrow. But when you look at the averages over all, the losers win more often and less spectacularly than the winners lose. Your individual experience will likely be very different from the average, though.
What Counts as Good RTP?
- Return to Player (RTP) generally should be 96% or above - ideally higher. Ideally, most slots will fall within this bracket
- You want to land in this area here, roughly between 97 and 98 percent. That's higher than most people realize
- Anything under 94% is considered to be low. This statistic is especially prevalent on progressive jackpot slots, as a small percentage of each wager is directed toward the jackpot fund
- Achieving payouts in the 99%+ category is uncommon in slots. This is more frequent at table games that utilize skill or strategy to play out wagers
RTP stands for Return To Player and it is exactly what it says: it shows the cost of playing a slot machine over a given amount of time. If we say that a slot has a 96% RTP it means that on average you will be paying $4 for every $100 you play. A slot with a 92% RTP will see you on average paying $8 for every $100 you play. And remember that the difference in rtp is exponential, so on a slot with a 96% rtp and one with a 92% rtp the long term difference will be enormous after a few hundreds of plays.
What Is House Edge?
The house edge is the profit margin earned by the casino on a particular game. And what happens when we flip the RTP script. So a slot with a 96% RTP has a 4% house edge. What that means is that the casino expects to make 4% on every dollar that is played.
Different games, different edges. That's the whole strategy angle here.
House Edge by Game Type
| Game | Typical House Edge | What That Means |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack (basic strategy) | 0.5% to 1% | Lose about $0.50 to $1 per $100 wagered |
| Baccarat (banker bet) | 1.06% | One of the lowest edges in any casino |
| European Roulette | 2.7% | Single zero. Much better than American |
| American Roulette | 5.26% | Double zero adds up fast. Avoid this version |
| Online Slots | 2% to 8% | Varies wildly by game. Always check |
| Video Poker (Jacks or Better) | 0.46% | With perfect play. One of the best odds in casino |
| Keno | 25% to 40% | Among the worst odds of any casino game |
Look at the volatility. With a solid basic strategy, Blackjack will take roughly 50 cents from each $100 staked. Keno on the other hand, can take upwards of $25 to $40 from $100 on occasion. Now that is some differentials. A slow simmer versus a fiery explosion.
Why it matters: House edge is the single best tool for comparing games. Ignore the flashy graphics, the bonus rounds, the jackpot tickers. The edge tells you what the game actually costs to play. Everything else is decoration.
RTP vs. House Edge: Same Coin, Two Sides
Quick math. RTP + House Edge = 100%. Always. So a slot that pays 96.5% RTP has a 3.5% house edge. And a blackjack table that offers a 0.5% house edge has a 99.5% RTP. Same figure. Just different perspective.
So Why Do People Use Both Terms?
As we mentioned earlier, it is largely a matter of tradition. slot providers state the Return to Player (RTP) as a percentage, and 96% RTP typically sounds a lot more attractive to players and slots enthusiasts. On the other hand, casino analytics people love to speak of house edge. And rightly so, since it shows the true advantage that the casino enjoys. The information provided is simply different in each case.
For your purposes as a player, it does not matter which of the two you use. You just have to know how to change from one to the other.
Quick Conversion
RTP to house edge converter: House edge = 100% - RTP So if a slot has a 95.5% RTP, the house edge will be 4.5%
House edge to RTP: 100% - house edge = RTP. So for an example, if we have a 2.7% house edge for European roulette, the RTP is 100% - 2.7% = 97.3%
Why This Matters in Practice
So when someone says that one slot has a return to player (RTP) of 96.1% while another has a house edge of 3.2% you should realise that they are expressing virtually identical things. The second one is actually 96.8% RTP, which is a very little better. Being able to convert between the two percentages will prevent you from being confused when casino sites occasionally express the same slot game in each format or when they show different percentages for what is presumably the same slot.
Slot RTP: What to Look For
Not all slots are created equal. I have seen an RTP gap of 10 points between the worst and the best slots on one single casino site. And trust me, that difference shows itself after 500 spins.
High-RTP Slots Worth Knowing
As expected, these are always featured in almost all "best RTP" rankings. Find out why!
| Slot | Provider | RTP |
|---|---|---|
| Mega Joker | NetEnt | 99.0% |
| Blood Suckers | NetEnt | 98.0% |
| Starmania | NextGen | 97.87% |
| White Rabbit Megaways | Big Time Gaming | 97.72% |
| 1429 Uncharted Seas | Thunderkick | 98.6% |
See anything? Well, Blood Suckers and 1429 Uncharted Seas are two popular games that are often featured on the casino's excluded games' list when it comes to claiming a welcome or match bonus. Casinocoincidence has taken a closer look at the slots excluded for deposit bonus plays and concluded that all of them have a much lower RTP than Blood Suckers, except one.
The Catch with Progressive Jackpot Slots
Mega Moolah-style games have RTPs of 88% to 92%. Compared to a 97% slot it doesn't look too far off, but the catch is that every so often some of the money lost is paid out as a progressive jackpot. When the $5 million prize is won it sends the pay out to the lucky winner and sends the true payout percentage soaring. Most of the time in most circumstances, the progressive slot will play out significantly worse than a base game slot, but the attraction is obviously the opportunity to win a massive jackpot prize.
Watch Out for Variable RTP
This one trips up quite a few people. Sometimes the same slot game has a different RTP version. The game can be released with an RTP of for example 96.5%, but the casino can choose to run it with an RTP of 94.5% instead. It is of course legal, but rather than telling the players, the casino and the casino software vendor will keep it to themselves. The players will notice nothing different. The same game, the same sounds and the same winning and losing streaks. No differences at all, other than that the casino gets to keep more of the players' bets. However, the players can look up the RTP in the information screen in the slot, or by asking the software vendor.
You are in luck because the majority of slots are packed with an info or help button that can be pressed while playing in the game. Head over to the rules section of the slot. Within here you should be able to find the RTP detailed within the section. If you are unable to locate it here, be sure to reach out to customer support for clarification before you begin spinning the reels!
Table Game Odds: Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat
Table games is where the mathematics start to become entertaining. In comparison to slots, where the RTP is hard-coded and there's little to no way of affecting it, in table games you'll have to make some choices. Choices which directly influence the Edge from the House.
Blackjack
Best odds in the house if you play right. Using the basic strategy — a little chart that shows whether you should hit or stand, double down or split — reduces the casino's advantage to about a half percent. But play by instinct and the edge can be as high as two percent or more, just playing the same odds at the same table.
Key variables that change blackjack edge:
- Fewer decks help the player. Single deck is best, 8-deck is worst
- In Casino Poker Tournaments dealers ask for the dealer's policy on soft 17: whether they hit or stand. Dealer standing on soft 17 is preferred by casino players
- Keep an eye on the blackjack payout. 3:2 is normal. A 6:5 table is a bad idea. The house edge will be up by about 1.4% with that single change
- You're on about the smaller stuff, like the surrender rules, the way the house doubles its money when the player splits, and whether or not the player can re-split aces. All of these slightly edge the casino
Roulette
The Two Edges of Roulette There are two versions of Roulette and they have two very different edges. In the European version there is only one zero and a 2.7% edge to the casino. The American version adds a second zero and the edge increases to 5.26% or nearly twice the edge in the European version. If you are only given a choice between the two versions then stick with the European wheel. No knowledge of strategy is needed to choose between the two.
Baccarat
What appears to be a mundane and boring game offers some of the lowest house edges in town. The Banker bet has a 1.06% house edge, the Player bet has a 1.24% house edge. But stay the heck away from the tie bet, which offers a 14.4% house edge. Strategy is relatively straightforward – you want to bet the Banker most of the time and the rare occasion you deviate from it, avoid the tie. Period.
What $1,000 in Wagers Costs You (On Average)
Blackjack (basic strategy) costs you about $5.
At the baccarat table betting banker? $10.60 gone.
European roulette jumps to $27 while American roulette is a whoppng $52.60.
An average online slot at 96% RTP eats $40 of that thousand.
Same bankroll. Same action. Very different results. Position makes a bigger difference than most players realize.
Volatility: The Number RTP Doesn't Tell You
Two slots can both say "96% RTP" and feel completely different to play. One pays out small wins constantly. The other goes 50 spins without anything, then drops a 500x hit. Same long-term return percentage, completely different experience. That difference is volatility.
Low, Medium, and High Volatility
| Volatility | What to Expect | Good For |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Frequent small wins, steady balance | Longer play sessions, bonus clearing |
| Medium | Mix of small and medium payouts | Balanced experience, most players |
| High | Long dry spells, occasional big hits | Chasing large payouts, bigger bankrolls |
Why This Matters for Your Bankroll
Play a high-volatility slot with a small bankroll and you'll probably bust before anything good happens. The math might be identical to a low-volatility game over a million spins, but your personal session doesn't last a million spins. It lasts a few hundred at most. Volatility determines whether your bankroll survives long enough for the RTP to mean anything at all.
Here's the practical version. You have $200 to play with tonight. A low-vol slot at 96% RTP gives you a decent chance of playing for an hour or two, winning some, losing some, and walking away somewhere near where you started. A high-vol slot at the same 96% RTP either vaporizes that $200 in fifteen minutes or turns it into $2,000. Most of the time, it's the first one.
The combo that works best for casual players: High RTP + low to medium volatility. You'll last longer, lose less on average, and still get some wins along the way. Save the high-vol stuff for when you've got budget to burn and you're OK with losing everything for a shot at something big.
How RTP Affects Bonus Clearing
This is where things get very real. The RTP of the slots you play will greatly influence whether you walk away with profits or are left with only your initial deposit. When playing through a bonus wagering requirement, the RTP of your chosen slots will dictate how much of your bankroll is left when you are done.
Let's Run the Numbers
Example: A $100 Bonus with 35x wagering You would need to wager $3,500 before you could cash out.
Expected Balance After Clearing $3,500 in Wagering
With a 96% RTP, that means on any given spin you are expected to lose 4% of your bet. So in this case we would be losing $140 from the $3,500 that was bet. If we were to start from $100 on this 96% RTP slot, we can expect to be down $40. A very tough situation.
Bump that to 97% RTP and the loss drops to $105.
Give a 98% RTP slot a go, where only 2% is lost, and $70 is the result. You'd be left with about $30 from the bonus.
This particular RTP meant that for each percentage point, shifting the prize from being certain to lose to being certain to win (or at least break even) means you'd win or break even on a $100 prize with an increase of $35 for each one percent change.
That's why casinos block high-RTP games during the bonus round. A gambler betting heavily on Blood Suckers (98% RTP) will end up with far more of his bankroll than one who is playing a 94% RTP progressive slot. The casino's bonus structure is designed to work when the gambler loses enough in the required playthrough.
As I've mentioned before, all bonuses with 35x+ wagering conditions are built in a way that average player will always lose the value of the bonus before they manage to clear it. However, this 'one number' that is your game's RTP can make a huge difference. The more the better, as it means you'll keep more of your bankroll for longer.
For the full clearing strategy, game weighting, max bet rules and terms to be aware of, refer to our Wagering Requirements guide and Bonus Terms guide.
Where to Find RTP Numbers
Knowing RTP matters. But only if you can actually find it. Casinos don't always make this easy.
Inside the Game Itself
Best source. Most slots from major casinos will have a info, help, or "i" button somewhere in the game. Clicking into the rules of the slot, on almost every occasion, will show the Return to Player (RTP) listed within. Casino giants, like NetEnt and Pragmatic Play, will often display it on the loading screen, however its normally tucked away 3 clicks deep within the settings. Its there, it just takes a few seconds to find.
On the Casino's Website
You know how we always say the RTP is important to know? Well, in Ontario, our local casinos have to report it. It's either displayed in a separate section, or included on individual game pages. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a gamble (pun intended) when it comes to international sites. Some do report it, while others make you look for it in every nook and cranny.
From the Provider Directly
Can't find it at the casino? Check the source. As a rule of thumb, the casino should never be able to hide the source of the data for games they offer, and in the industry, everyone has access to the same data. So why not get it from the source? As you'd probably guess, NetEnt, Microgaming, Play'n GO, and other major casinos publishers publish their games' RTP in a spreadsheet that can easily be accessed. Try just searching for the name of the slot you are looking for along with "RTP", and you will probably find the results you are looking for within the first 2-3 pages of the search engine.
Third-Party Databases
RTP at Online Casinos The average RTP for online slots is around 96%, however this can vary significantly from as low as 82% up to 98% and more. Thankfully, sites such as Slot Catalog, slot review databases and other websites have compiled lists of verified RTPs for thousands of different slot games, that we can use as a cross reference in case we suspect an online casino is providing a low payout game as an alternative to the normal one.
One more thing to look for: If the casino makes you really look hard to find the RTP then there's your answer. A transparent casino is more than likely going to have the RTP easily available to the player and that's a good sign of the type of company you're dealing with. A bad sign is that they'd rather you didn't look.
The Bottom Line on RTP and House Edge
RTP and house edge are the two numbers that let you know the cost of playing a particular game. Theme, bonus features and casino marketing materials do not. Unfortunately the math is here to stay, but at least you can try to play games where the lessening effect of the house edge is as small as possible.
Stick to high RTP slots when you can and if they've got a European roulette wheel, keep your hands off the American wheel. Blackjack basic strategy is another little time investment (about 20 minutes) but it's worth it. And then there's keno – yeah, just avoid keno. All of these choices seem so trivial when you're playing at the tables but they can have an enormous cumulative effect when it comes to the long-term health of your bankroll.
Smartest move ever? Just RTP check a game before playing it. Spends all of 30 seconds in the real world vs potentially minutes at the machine trying to win the minimum for that bonus round, or being totally unaware a better slot with a 97% RTP is right next door on the casino site.
Want to See RTP in Action?
Our casino reviews include RTP information for the most popular games at each site. See which casinos offer the best odds.
Browse CasinosFrequently Asked Questions
Can casinos change the RTP on a slot?
Some can. There are casino sites that can offer more than one RTP version for the same slot. The casino can select which version to use. In a regulated market like Ontario, the casino must declare the chosen RTP for each slot and this must remain constant. At a lot of unregulated online casinos the player may never be certain which version is being used. This makes it important to always look for the actual RTP given in the in-game info screen.
Does a higher RTP mean I'll win more often?
No, RTP has nothing to do with how often you win. High volatility slots with a 97% RTP can give you very rare but enormous wins, while low volatility slots with a 95% RTP can give you very frequent but very small wins. Volatility and RTP are two completely different things and in different ways tell you about the cost of playing a slot machine.
Is there any way to beat the house edge?
No. The house edge is a mathematical given after enough wagers are made. However, the variability in outcome means that anything is possible in any short period of time, so you could very easily leave the table a winner. After a while, though, your results will converge with the expected value of the edge, and you'll be in a worse position. The smart play is to try and find games with the lowest edge and manage your bankroll wisely.
Why do progressive jackpot slots have lower RTPs?
A small portion of every wager placed on a progressive slot machine game goes towards feeding the growing jackpot. This portion comes out of the RTP. So what started out as an 88% base RTP can increase to a 94% or greater true RTP when you take into consideration the slot machine games' progressive jackpot contributions. The sad truth is that this benefit is solely to one player that actually gets lucky enough to strike the progressive jackpot. In 99.9% of all slot game plays it is still the original stated RTP for the base slot game.
Should I always pick the highest RTP game available?
Yes, if all you care about is minimizing losses. But few players of casino games play that way. Casino games are supposed to be enjoyable, and if you're playing a game you don't enjoy, then it isn't a good one for you, whether or not it has a high Return To Player (RTP) figure. I would suggest that we would be wiser to discard of those with an RTP below 94% - though that's purely a matter of personal opinion. Thereafter we're left with a variety of options. We can then choose to play the game that, after our risk-reduction filter, we like the most. Even a 99% RTP game, for example, won't come in play of our choice if we think that it is otherwise particularly drear.
What's the best game for clearing bonus wagering?
We recommend the slots with the highest RTP possible and low to medium volatility. This is going to give you the most potential return of the funds from your bankroll, during the wagering requirements. Please make sure to read the terms and conditions as some casinos prohibit games with high RTP or all table games during the bonus play. In that case the highest RTP game available would be the best choice. We go into more details regarding the wagering requirements in our dedicated Wagering Requirements page.
Does RTP apply to live dealer games?
Yes. Live dealer blackjack, roulette, and baccarat follow the same mathematical rules as their digital versions. European roulette carries the same 2.7% edge whether it's software or a real wheel. Blackjack with basic strategy? Roughly 0.5% either way. The only difference is you're watching a human deal the cards instead of software.
Play Smart, Play Within Your Means
Understanding RTP helps you make better game choices, but it doesn't change the fact that the house always has an edge. Never chase losses, never gamble with money you can't afford to lose, and step away the moment it stops being fun.
Need support? Visit Responsible Gambling Council or call 1-866-531-2600.