Understanding the Importance of the RTP Rate

Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, July 1, 2022

If you were going to compile a ‘gambling glossary’, this would most likely include a litany of game-specific terms that can help with your understanding of gameplay. However, there are also a number of universal gambling terms that can aid your gameplay, with the ‘return-to-player’ (RTP) rate offering a relevant case in point.

In simple terms, the RTP rate describes the percentage of your bankroll you can expect to recoup for every £1 wagered, while it varies from one game to another. Operators are now required to publish each game’s RTP rate too, so you can wager with greater transparency and understanding.

In this post, we’ll provide a more detailed explanation of the RTP rate, while asking why it’s so important for players to get to grips with this when wagering online.

What is the RTP Rate and How Does it Work

We’ve already provided a brief explanation of the RTP rate, but how does it work in practice? Well, this figure is presented as an exact percentage, which relates to the average amount you can expect to recoup for every £1 wagered over an extended gaming session.

For example, let’s say that you play NetEnt’s iconic ‘Starburst’ slot online. This has a published RTP rate of 96.1%, which means that you can realistically expect to recoup as much as $96.10 for every $100 wagered when playing the game. This is a healthy rate of return, while the average RTP rate varies from one title and vertical to another.

If we look at the slot gaming vertical, for example, we can see that the typical RTP rate ranges between 89% and 97%. This reflects the level of variance boasted by a particular game (in addition to its rate of return), with high-variance slots typically featuring lower RTP rates and infrequent wins in favour of significantly larger payouts.

The most common iteration of high-variance slots can be found in the form of ‘progressive jackpot’ titles, which combine a network of games that combine to deliver seven and eight-figure payouts. Staggeringly, Microgaming’s progress network has paid out more than $1 billion since its inception, through iconic games like ‘Mega Moolah’.

At the other end of the spectrum are certified slots, which will have an RTP rate of 97% or higher. Typically, such games deliver more frequent base game and bonus round wins, although these are smaller in nature and enable you to accumulate wealth gradually over an extended period of gameplay.

Then there are mid-variance slots with an RTP rate of between 94% and 96%, with these games decidedly more balanced in nature and known for combining relatively frequent payouts and larger jackpots. Such slots are often among the most popular, especially for casual players with a larger-than-average bankroll.

Remember, online slots are just one vertical in the lucrative iGaming space. So, here’s a breakdown of the average RTP rate for some of the other verticals in play, including blackjack, roulette and online poker!

· Online Blackjack – The average RTP rate here is often in excess of 99%, as you can utilise strategy while targeting games with different rules and a variable number of decks. When playing the Blackjack Switch iteration, the RTP rate can be as high as 99.92%.

· Online Roulette – Once again, each iteration of online roulette has its own unique rules and features that impact your average return. In general terms, however, European Roulette has an RTP rate of 97.30%, whereas this figure falls as low as 94.80% when playing the American alternative.

· Online Poker – If you play an online version of the popular Texas Hold ‘em poker format, you can access a competitive RTP rate of around 97.96%. This is much lower than blackjack, but once again, having the ability to deploy strategy and skill makes poker a consistently more rewarding vertical than online slots.

How is the RTP Rate Measured?

Now that you understand the RTP rate and how it works in practice, the next step is to comprehend precisely how this is calculated. After all, this provides further insight and knowledge, while enabling you to estimate your precise probability of winning when betting through specific verticals.

Ultimately, the RTP rate calculation takes into account several different factors, in order to provide a balanced and accurate figure. Firstly, analysts will divide the win and turnover figures of an individual casino game online, before factoring in average rewards and payouts, the scope of cash prizes and the average value of wagers.

Once this percentage has been established, you can determine your probability of winning and the precise house edge held by the casino. More specifically, you can use the RTP to quickly calculate the house edge afforded to operators by each game, simply by subtracting this from a value of 100%.

So, if we take the previous example of the Starburst slot, you simply need to subtract the game’s RTP rate of 96.10% from 100%, creating an accurate house edge of 3.90%. In the alternative case of the Blackjack Switch title, the game’s RTP rate of 99.92% and this translates into a negligible house edge of just 0.08%.

Generally speaking, if an online casino game has a published RTP rate of 94% or above, this is considered to provide players with a high probability of winning. Interestingly, this would apply to a large percentage of slot games, alongside virtually all iterations of slots, blackjack, roulette and online poker.

The Last Word

Not only does the RTP rate vary from one vertical and individual title to another, but it also offers a fascinating insight into each game’s variance, payout rate and the house edge that it affords to casino operators.

From a player’s perspective, understanding this offers a couple of key advantages. Firstly, it helps you to select games that suit your preferred risk-reward ratio, particularly if you’re a risk-averse or casual player whose main objective is to minimise loss and stretch your starting bankroll as far as possible.

Secondly, understanding the RTP rate lets you determine your chances of winning when playing a particular game or vertical, which is key when determining precisely how much you’d like to wager. You can also use this information to distinguish between games of chance and those that allow for skill to be deployed. `