Last Updated: Sunday, 21 January 2024 08:39

How RTP (return to player percentage) works?

Slot machine RTP
It is time to see how the online casinos’ economy works. It would be quite a weird sh*t for a newcomer. What am I talking about? Even I hardly understood it. How does the RTP (return to player percentage) of online slot work? Yeah, all of you have probably heard of it and even had seen it as proof on different screenshots.

Honestly, those RTP numbers are there to f*ck you up. Where it comes from, and who promoted it? Each slot has its technical specifications, and RTP (return-to-player percentage) is one of them. It is the return of the bets that were made. If the RTP is 96.4%, at a long distance, you are going to lose 3.6 cents from each dollar spent – $3.6 every $100 spent. It is bullsh*t. What 96% means? Exactly, nothing at all. Suppose that you buy a car, and you are told that its acceleration is up to 200km/h. Well, what about the time needed to get that result? It could be 10 or 20 seconds — feel the difference? Just 10 seconds and yet so big difference. On the one hand, it could be a sports car and on another - an old Chevy. The same applies to 10 litres of gas when you do not know the distance. 100 and 10 miles? Feel the catch?

The player has no good from that RTP (return to player percentage) number, and I guess it is just for the casino. However, you would rarely hear anything about some of the most important specifications — volatility, over-greediness or balance holding. RTP at Netent slots may be considered right after 9 billion spins, at Amatic — 3 billion. It is an estimated number, that’s what I keep hearing around. Well, how would a player get that RTP of 96% after 200-300 spins? No way. Never. Therefore, there is a pool of winning that needs to have money (lost by all players) in the prize pool to give a big winning — that feeling when slots seem alive when a significant number of players are wasting their money-spinning over and over again. The more the players gambling in the online casino, the slower the RTP will be fulfiled. You will get at least a bonus every 1000 spins.

Online casino's economy

Suppose that an online casino is a state. The software provider (service supplier) is the bank. Players pay for products or services (of the casino), and the state (casino) gets the money. A part of that money goes to the software provider and payment systems. Well, the Bank (Netent or Microgaming) gets its slice, 20% of the income (disposable income), 1% per each spin. For example, you made a bet of 100$ and lost it instantly, despite that RTP was stated as 95%. 5$ goes to casino income, 5$ - to payment systems. 1 out of casino $5 goes to the software provider. Note that 90 (roughly speaking) out of those $100 should go back to the prize pool of winning. All players can win that amount. The one who wins – gets it. No communism, no fair distribution. $100 deposits wasted — bad luck. The online casino is the mediator, the affiliate. It rents a bike from the owner and gives you the opportunity to ride it for money.

That’s how the economy and marketing work. You spend an amount, and someone gets it. The same applies to an online casino: there is RTP, I’d rather say cycles or periods of it. RTP is the soap bubble, and it will keep giving away money like the bank which issue credits to anyone, anytime and anywhere, until it reaches that number of billions of spins. At the time the debt is balanced with the credit, and the 96% should be applied, the RTP will work against the player. The declines are frequent, and the soft will try to balance the RTP. The players should hunker down and live with it until the credit is returned and the soap bubble bursts (until the players return 95% to a specific slot or software). It is a crucially important mechanism to the casino, that’s how the casino still exists out there. The real danger is when no players use casino services.

5 people would pay for winning of 1, 100 people - for the winning of the millionaire, and the one who lost a million would fund the winnings of 100 people. At this marketing, the casinos and software provider get their pennies. To all happy, marketing or production should be promoted. Turnover is required. New players should enter while the old ones should stay. All of them should spend their money and play. You would think that a casino is robing and cheating — it is not as it seems. There is a fine line. If everyone would always lose, — people would abandon such a state (casino); as a result, revolution and decline of production to come (no more money). In turn, if giving away bucks, the state (casino) and the bank that issues credits would collapse. For that reason, there is a balanced RTP at a distance. Of course, the provider has an impact on the economy via its software; that’s why oversight bodies are out there. Although I think that everything is sold. In any case, to get a constant income from that business, you better keep those RTP meters low.

We suggest you know more about prize pool and cyclicity of winning in online slots, by clicking on the following links:

RTP (return to player percentage) types

  • I would rather use an economic concept — ROI (return on investment).
  • ROI= (income — cost)/investment amount*100% — not a casino formula, but I may create one later.
  • Of course, a gain or loss is visible at a distance. Each slot has its cycle for that: 3 or 9 billion spins. Once the investments are lost, we are crying it loud on forums that there is no right RTP of 96%, but do we have a little patience to notice the return of investments? And it is all about 100 000 out of 3 billion spins required. I still think that RTP is applied to a pool rather than a player. The lucky one will get the price; the rest should keep doing it over and over again. You should make the right investment.
  • Space Wars, Jack and DOA — bad choice. Such games require significant investments to get anything in return (a minimum of 1000 spins), every 100 spins ($1 each) we would get $30 in return. Casanova and Doa both have 96% — similar, yet different. Different over greediness, different soft, different amount of spins required for a return. By playing at Doa at a $10 rate with a budget of $200 is quite risky.
  • By playing at Cloud Quest or Dracula — every 100 spins, $1 each, we will get a return of 60$. Speaking of, we reduce the risks and investments twice, while saving money for the next investments (deposits).
  • One player made investments in Novomatic online slots for 2 years. I have no significant experience in games of that manufacturer, played at them here and there, but I suspect that its soft is developed the same way Netent and Microgaming are — with greedy, average and generous slots. If the player managed to get 25 000 back of the 50 000 lost at Novomatic for 2 years, then by his regular play at Space Wars, the withdrawn amount would be about 10 000$, at Dracula — 35 000$. And we talk about bad luck. Under good circumstances, it could be a profit. Online casino is such a type of business where just the return of money deposited in a year is considered a good result. Anyone is going to lose there, that is the nature of that beast. However, you should note that some players will lose more, and others less. What you should get is that little gambling feeling, rather than the dividends which stimulate the adrenaline and so on. Some pay more, and others try to control themselves. Therefore, all we have to do is to play at the slots with a high ROI at a short distance.
  • One more thing, you should know how the market (casino) works. You should know the stop-loss, stick to bankroll, avoid force majeure: being drunk, dope, greedy and so on.

The online casino will never promise anything to anyone. Forget about RTP (return to player percentage). You cannot control it. There are no guarantees. Yep, that RTP of 96% is just a promise, it is not real. Keep in mind that the casino is random, but it works there, where marketing still exists. By playing at the casino, you invest in a dead market, pay for a soap bubble, why is it still there? Don’t blame for addiction.

Where to play?

  • Fastpay casino has a rich choice of games, over 5000 games in their portfolio, the top gambling place on our site. Moreover, they will send the money super-fast (1-5 minutes).

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Written by Vladislav Dibrov
Comments (1)
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Very good explanation how online slots ROI is working. Very unusuall point of view. Thank you for the information about the operational side of online casino software.
2020-06-22 10:02
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