Why Should You Care About RTP When You’re Playing Slots?

Slots are fun. The themes are immersive, the sound effects can be hilarious and they’re just a thrill to play. But let’s get serious for a second. Do you really understand the way they pay out? Can you make a plan around how much they do dish out? And do you have any idea how slots RTP works? If the answer to any of those questions is no, then stick with us. We’ve got a lot to tell you.

What does slots RTP stand for?

Whenever you see slots RTP, it always means the “return to player“. It’s the percentage of cash the slot pays out over time. So if you’re playing a slot with 93% and you bet £1, it’s not taken as red that you’ll lose exactly £0.07 and win back exactly £0.93. It’s an average taken across thousands, even millions of spins, and across a long period of time.

How much do online slots pay out?

Now, as you might’ve guessed by now, the slots RTP changes quite a bit depending on what title you’re playing. But when you’re playing online, the minimum slots RTP you’ll usually come across is about 91% and the maximum you’ll typically find is 97%.

Is RTP better online than in land-based slots?

The short answer is yes. When you’re playing online, as we said before you’re usually looking at over 90% slots RTP. However, if you go to a bricks and mortar casino, those slots usually start at 70% RTP and peak at about 90% RTP.

That’s not to say if you love playing at land-based casinos, you should stop. You’ve got to keep in mind you’re paying in part for the experience of being there and there are lots of costs that land-based casinos have that online casinos don’t. So there’s a time and place for both types of play. But having said that, if you play a lot of slots, just keep in mind that on average you’ll probably be more profitable if you stick online.

How is variance related to RTP?

When you’re talking slots, variance is all about how often a slot pays out and how much those payouts are. Generally speaking, a low variance slot usually pays small amounts frequently. Whereas a high variance slot pays out infrequently but they tend to be bigger wins. Now this is a rule of thumb, of course either type of payout can come from either slot. But we’re talking averages here.

Meanwhile, RTP is all about the amounts over time. It doesn’t take into account how the payouts are dished out. So it’s possible to play a high RTP slot and not get a decent payout for a long session if it’s also a high variance slot.

A good example of this is a progressive jackpot slot. These slots often have high RTP, which in part reflect the big progressive jackpot payout. But they’re also high variance because that progressive jackpot doesn’t pay out very often. Get it?

What site has good slots RTP?

It’s not secret that online casinos tend to focus a lot of their efforts in providing a great range of slots. You can often find well north of 100 titles, depending on where you go. They cater to whatever mood you’re in, whatever immersive world you want to check out and whether you fancy a classic or a new-fangled playing style. But as we’ve just pointed out, it’s important to check out that slots RTP too on whatever you’re playing.

One site that we are confident you’ll find both a game you want to play and decent slots RTP is bet365. Plus, if you’re new to the site, you can also take advantage of this fantastic bet365 bonus code.