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Here at Players Best we hardly sleep, as we’re so busy putting together information for all our gambling fans across the US. And that means answering all your slot-related questions, including explaining what RTP is and how it works.
When you first start out with playing online slots games, you’ll probably be focusing on spinning up cash prizes and figuring out how the game mechanics play out over time. And with hundreds of available games covering every theme you could possibly imagine, that gives you quite a bit to think about!
But although the RTP of an online game might not be your first consideration, we reckon it really ought to be. That’s because a slot or table game RTP has a direct effect on the amount of cash you could potentially win or lose, and that’s something you definitely need to know before you start spinning those reels.
RTP stands for Return To Player, so it indicates the amount of your stake that might be returned to you during the course of your gaming session. It’s always expressed as a percentage, and we only recommend playing online slot games with an RTP of 95% or more, for reasons which we’ll explain later on.
For now, what you need to know is that the higher the RTP percentage, the better your chances of landing a cash payout. But you can also discover what the house edge is too, simply by subtracting the RTP from 100. So a slot game with an RTP of 96% would return a house edge of 4%. Personally speaking, we here at Players Best wouldn’t ever want to wager real cash on any slot that offered a house edge of 5% or more, hence our preferred 95% RTP cut-off point.
When you’re itching to get started with some reel-spinning action, the subject of RTP probably isn’t at the forefront of your mind. But it really should be, as along with a game’s volatility rating this is one of the most significant pieces of information you’ll have about your chosen slot.
What RTP can’t tell you is exactly how much you’ll win. In fact, it won’t even give you a rough estimate, as every reputable online slot is governed by random number mechanics and algorithms, to ensure that every spin is random and fair. But the games can be programmed to pay out a particular percentage of all the money spent on them across their entire lifetime.
In theory, a slot with an RTP of 96% should pay back $96 for every $100 you wager on it, but statistics simply don’t work that way – at least, not in slots games, which usually have thousands upon thousands of possible outcomes from every spin. So although you might win back 96% of your expenditure on the slot, the greater likelihood is that you’ll either land a few wins, or lose your stake. After all, if you knew from the outset that you’d end up with an overall loss, there’d be very little incentive to keep playing!
The random nature of winning big on slots is what keeps us coming back for more. Some players will experience those huge, life-changing payouts, whilst others won’t win back any of their stake. But a game’s RTP will still show you whether or not there are big wins available.
Here at Players Best we’re committed to bringing you all the latest information about the very – best US gambling sites, so you can rest assured that all of the operators we recommend have passed our stringent safety checks. But checking out the RTP of the games you intend to play can help to protect your bankroll, as you can use your knowledge and understanding of RTP to influence the games you choose to play.
Choose a game with a very low RTP and you’re highly unlikely to see any significant returns from your wagering session. The only one to benefit will be the casino operator, and where’s the fun in that? So be sure to follow our advice and only play games with an RTP higher than 95%. The industry average is around 96% for online slots, but you’ll occasionally come across games with much higher rates – and there could be some big cash prizes up for grabs!
Not all software developers and online casinos publish their games’ RTP information, but it’s something we strongly recommend you check. It’s easy to do – just input the game’s name into your preferred search engine, followed by the letters ‘RTP’. The search will quickly reveal the return to player rate, enabling you to make up your own mind about whether to risk real cash on your spinning session.
Browse through the operator reviews and comparisons on our site to discover the best US casino sites offering real-money slots games. We’ve got a ton of information about all the current casino bonuses too, so you could even start spinning up cash prizes without having to dip into your own funds. Free spins and deposit match bonuses both help your bankroll go that bit further, so you can take your pick of the highest RTP slots without it even costing you so much as a single cent!
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