RTP is the abbreviation for “Return to Player” and indicates the average percentage that is returned to the player. 99% would mean that you can expect to win $99 if you bet $100. It is logical that the RTP must be less than 100%, otherwise the casino would give away money. And no, even if some casinos claim to do so, this is not the case.
It’s essential to online casino gaming that one puts his money only there where one has a fair chance of winning. This is not the case with various games. But the bottom line is that there is no better payout than in serious online casinos, because the cost per player is marginal for an online casino. Unlike an offline casino, for example. There it is not rare that the RTP for slot machines is not higher than 60% while it’s 95% for the same online slot machine.
You have to look at it this way: every time you bet one euro on a game with bad RTP, it’s like losing money. Quite simple. Of course, not much happens with losing a fraction of one euro, but once you wager thousands of euros in a casino each month, you will notice if you “miss out on RTP”. So if you play with an RTP of only 90% vs. an RTP of 97%. 7% difference at 10.000 Euro is 700 Euro.
Avoiding bad RTPs – The Basic Rules
There are several basic rules you should follow. If you follow these, you will have already done your homework and will be able to avoid the biggest traps that some casinos set for you:
1. Hands off from American Roulette
American Roulette is played with a double zero, which significantly worsens your RTP. Many people are not aware of this, but this is the only way to explain why some people still play at these tables. It is also somehow cheek that casinos still offer this variant at all. It’s like you can buy two identical products in one store, only one costs twice as much as the other. The shop owner just hopes that you’re stupid enough not to discover the cheaper product…
2. When you Play Blackjack, learn the optimal Strategy
In Blackjack it is possible to play close to 100% RTP – provided you follow the optimal and mathematically correct strategy. This way you can reduce the house advantage of the casino to an absolute minimum. However, if you play with a suboptimal strategy, blackjack can be a game with very bad RTP. Imagine hitting another card at 20 each time – of course you’ll almost always lose every single hand.
3. Inform yourself about Slot machines
If you like to play slots you can either get very good RTPs or very bad ones. From 90 to 99% there is practically everything and a lot depends on the providers. So it’s not the casino itself, it’s the people who develop the slots. Here Netent proves to be especially player friendly. Here there are basically no slot machines with bad RTP.
However, you won’t always want to play only at Netent. And that’s why you should choose slots with good RTP. This is best done with a filter like on Professorslot. Because there you can choose according to different criteria and then only find the slots that fit your criteria and the corresponding casinos.
4. Use a Bonus on Slots
If you play almost exclusively on slots you are always better off if you have a bonus. You can unlock 100% of this bonus there and if you know that you don’t have to pay out during this time and your bankroll is big enough to meet the wagering requirements, there’s nothing wrong with a bonus. I would even say you have to use a bonus to get close to 100% RTP with slot machines. Because that’s about what you can achieve with Blackjack. But of course, slot machines offer much higher chances for big wins like jackpots and theoretically you can win millions. But beware: often you can’t unlock a bonus on progressive jackpot slots.