Guide
What is RTP in slots?
RTP, or return to player, is the percentage of all the money wagered on a slot that the game is designed to pay back to players over a very large number of spins. A slot with 96% RTP is built to return £96 for every £100 staked in the long run, with the other 4% being the house edge. It says nothing reliable about a single session.
By Johnessy · Updated · Figures live from 16,341 recorded bonus opens
Key facts
- RTP is set by the game provider and is a long-run theoretical figure, calculated over millions of spins.
- House edge = 100% minus RTP. A 96% RTP slot has a 4% house edge.
- Many slots come in several RTP versions (for example 96%, 94% and 92%) and the casino chooses which one it runs.
- Bonus buy features sometimes have their own, slightly different RTP.
- Volatility, not RTP, decides how bumpy the ride is in the short run.
What RTP means for a real session
Over a session of a few hundred spins, results swing far more widely than the RTP figure suggests. RTP only becomes a good description of results over a sample far larger than any one player will ever play. That is why two players on the same 96% slot can have completely different nights.
You can see this in recorded play. Across 16,341 bonus opens recorded in 795 live bonus hunts, individual bonuses ranged from nothing at all (0.7% of them) to well over 500× the bet (4.2%). Those swings sit on top of the game's RTP; they do not change it.
Why the same slot can have different RTPs
Providers commonly release a slot in several RTP configurations and let each casino pick one. The game looks identical, but a 94% version keeps two more pounds in every hundred over the long run than a 96% version. Check the game's information or paytable screen at the casino you play at: it states the RTP of the version running there.
Our slot pages list the RTP the provider publishes for the standard version of each game. Where a casino runs a lower version, the in-game figure is the one that applies.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a higher RTP slot more likely to win?
- Over a very long run, a higher RTP slot pays back a larger share of money staked. In any one session the result is dominated by luck and volatility, so a higher RTP does not mean you are more likely to win today.
- What is a good RTP for a slot?
- Most online slots sit between about 94% and 97%. Around 96% is common for the standard version of a modern slot; anything above 97% is high.
- Where do I find a slot's RTP?
- In the game's information or paytable screen at the casino you play at. Our slot database lists the published RTP for thousands of games.
- Does RTP change during the day?
- No. A slot's RTP is fixed by the version the casino installs; it does not rise or fall by time of day or recent results.
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Figures are recorded observations from past live play, not predictions. Gambling is 18+ and can be addictive. Read our responsible gambling guidance and editorial policy.