RTP, short for return to player, is the percentage of all money staked on a slot that the game is designed to pay back over a very large number of spins. A slot with a 96% RTP returns, in theory, £96 for every £100 staked in the long run, which means a house edge of 4%.
The words “in theory” and “in the long run” are doing a lot of work there. This guide explains what RTP measures, what it cannot tell you, and how to find it for any game you play.
What RTP actually measures
Every slot has a fixed set of possible outcomes, each with a known probability and a known payout. Multiply each payout by its probability, add them all up, and you get the average amount the game returns per unit staked. Express that as a percentage and you have the RTP.
So RTP is a property of the game’s maths, worked out before anyone plays it. It is not a record of what happened yesterday and it is not a target the game is steering towards.
The house edge is simply the other side of the same number:
House edge = 100% − RTP
| RTP | House edge | Theoretical return per £100 staked | Expected loss per £100 staked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97% | 3% | £97 | £3 |
| 96% | 4% | £96 | £4 |
| 94% | 6% | £94 | £6 |
| 90% | 10% | £90 | £10 |
The figures in this table are illustrative round numbers, not the RTPs of particular games. Each game page on this site shows its own published figure.
Theoretical RTP versus what actually happens
The RTP is a theoretical figure. What you actually get back in a session is the actual return, and the two can be miles apart.
The reason is volatility. Much of a slot’s return is concentrated in rare, large wins and in features that trigger only occasionally. Over a few hundred spins you may never see those, so your actual return falls well below the RTP. Or you might hit one early, and finish well above it.
Only as the number of spins becomes very large, far more than any one person plays, does the actual return across all players settle close to the theoretical figure. That is why RTP describes the game, not your evening.
A worked example
Take an illustrative slot with a 96% RTP and play £1 a spin.
- 1,000 spins means £1,000 staked. The theoretical return is £960, an expected loss of £40.
- In reality, your result after 1,000 spins could be a loss of several hundred pounds, or a profit, depending on whether the big outcomes arrived. The £40 is an average across all the ways those 1,000 spins could have gone, not a forecast.
- Across a casino’s whole player base, millions of spins on the same game, the total returned will sit very close to 96% of the total staked.
Notice also that RTP applies to money staked, not money deposited. If you deposit £50 and keep re-staking your winnings, you can easily stake £1,000 in a session. The house edge applies to every pound that goes through the game, including the pounds you won a few minutes earlier. The house edge maths guide shows how quickly that adds up per hour, and you can run your own numbers in the RTP calculator.
Why one session can be so far from the RTP
Three things pull a short session away from the theoretical figure.
- Rare top prizes. A meaningful part of the RTP can sit in outcomes you might see once in tens or hundreds of thousands of spins.
- Features. In many games, a large share of the return comes from free spins or other bonus rounds. Until one triggers, the base game returns less than the headline RTP.
- Jackpots. On progressive jackpot games, part of every stake goes into a prize that almost nobody wins, so the everyday return is lower still. See slot jackpots explained.
None of this means the RTP is wrong. It means RTP is the wrong tool for predicting a session. For that, volatility is more useful, and our volatility guide explains why.
One game, several RTPs
Many slots are released in more than one version, each with a different RTP. The game looks and plays identically. The difference is in the maths: usually the reel strips or feature frequencies are adjusted so that the long-run return is a little lower or higher.
The supplier has each version tested and certified, and the operator chooses which one to offer. That means the same title can carry a different RTP at two different sites.
| Version A | Version B | |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics, features, max stake | Same | Same |
| RTP (illustrative) | 96% | 94% |
| Expected loss on £1,000 staked | £40 | £60 |
You cannot tell the versions apart by playing. The only way to know which one you have is to check the game’s information screen at the site where you are playing.
How to find a slot’s RTP
In Great Britain, a game should tell you its return to player. Here is where to look.
- Open the game. Load it in the browser or app as you would to play.
- Find the info or help button. It is often an “i”, a question mark or a menu icon, sometimes labelled “Paytable” or “Game rules”.
- Scroll to the rules section. The RTP is usually stated in a line such as “The theoretical return to player for this game is…”, often near the end.
- Check for more than one figure. Some games state a separate RTP for a feature or say the figure includes a jackpot contribution. Read the wording.
- Look at the site, not a review. Because of multiple versions, a figure quoted elsewhere may not match the one at your site.
Our guide on how to read a paytable walks through the rest of that screen.
What RTP is good for, and what it is not
RTP is genuinely useful for comparing the cost of play between games. A lower house edge means you lose less, on average, per pound staked. If you are going to play anyway, choosing a higher-RTP version of a game you enjoy is a sensible thing to do.
What RTP cannot do is make slots profitable. Every RTP on a licensed slot is below 100%, so the expected result of any amount of play is a loss. It cannot tell you when a game will pay, and it does not change because a game has been quiet. For the full list of things people wrongly read into RTP, see slot myths.
The short version
- RTP is the share of all stakes a slot is designed to return over a very large number of spins.
- House edge is 100% minus RTP: a 96% RTP game keeps 4% of stakes on average.
- Expected loss = total staked × (1 − RTP), and total staked includes re-staked winnings.
- One session can land far above or below the RTP; volatility explains why.
- The same game can be offered at different RTPs, so check the info screen where you play.
- No RTP on a licensed slot reaches 100%.
Questions people ask
Does a 96% RTP mean I get £96 back if I bet £100?
No. It means that across a vast number of spins the game is designed to return £96 for every £100 staked. In a single session of £100 you could end with almost nothing or with much more than you started with.
Is a higher RTP always better?
A higher RTP means a lower house edge, so your expected loss per pound staked is smaller. It does not make any single session more likely to end in profit, and volatility affects how a game feels far more than a percentage point or two of RTP.
Can a casino change a slot's RTP while I am playing?
No. A game's RTP comes from its certified maths. An operator may choose which approved version of a game to offer, but it cannot alter the version you are playing mid-session, and the game information should show the figure that applies.
Where do I find the RTP of a slot?
Open the game's information, help or paytable screen. In Great Britain the game should disclose its return to player there, usually in the rules section near the bottom.
Next guide: Slot Volatility Explained: High vs Low Variance Slots