RTP Rates Compared: Reading a Build Like a Rate Card

Return to player works best when you read it the way you would read any rate: as the price of something. A 96% build charges you an expected four cents on the dollar, and a 92% build charges eight. Five short sections follow, each comparing builds from a different side, and all of them stay with one idea: the rate is a price per dollar wagered, and prices are easiest to understand when they are put side by side.

A price per dollar

Take any RTP and subtract it from 100. What is left is the expected cost of each dollar you wager. At 96% it is four cents, and at 94% it is six. Quoting the cost and not the return makes comparisons obvious, because a gap of two points becomes a gap of two cents.

The same trick works on the slot you already play. Look up its figure, subtract it from 100, and multiply by what you wager in a typical month. The result is your expected monthly cost for that one game, and it is a far more useful number than the percentage on its own.

The same game, three prices

A studio can release one slot in several versions, and Pragmatic Play and Games Global (formerly Microgaming) both do so for some titles. The art and features are shared, and the price differs. Suppose a title is available at 96%, 94% and 92%; wagering $500 on each costs an expected $20, $30 and $40.

Slots and video poker, priced separately

Slots built to the highest standard on this site run at 96%+, and video poker can reach up to 99.9% where the full-pay schedule is live, a price of a tenth of a cent on the dollar. The two should never be averaged together, since nobody plays both at once. Blackjack has no build to compare, only a rule, and the rule to look for is 3:2, not 6:5.

A price is not a result

Paying four cents on the dollar on average does not mean losing four cents on every dollar. Results scatter widely around the price, sometimes for hours at a stretch, and you can finish a session well ahead even on a poorer build. The price matters because it applies to everything you play for as long as you play.

Treat it as a way of choosing between otherwise equal options, never as a prediction.

One more point for anyone who plays a lot: because the price applies to every dollar wagered and not to every dollar you deposit, a bankroll that is recycled through many spins pays the price many times. That is why two players with the same deposit can have very different expected costs, and why the rate matters most to the person who spins the most.

Shopping the rate

Read the figure on each game before you play, compare the same title in another lobby, and prefer the lower price. Keep a short list of the slots you play and the figure shown for each, so that any change stands out the next time you open them. The guarantee page shows what the brands here commit to, the loyalty page explains what accrues beside it, and the ranked list is where to compare the seven brands.