does slot RTP matter?

An average punter may not have much of an idea of what slot RTP is, but anybody who's a regular player, works within the industry, or streams online slots will know that it's the total percentage returned to the player over a period of time. The big debate over RTP tends to come around the fact that it has been calculated over millions of spins, so if a player deposits £50 and puts it through any online game, does it make much difference if, for example, the RTP was set at 96% or 94%?

Here is a quick recap or a brief overview for those a little rusty or new to the term RTP. The slot Return to Player Percentage (RTP) is the percentage that a slot machine pays back to punters over a long period of playing time. The theory is the higher the RTP, the more you'll receive back. For instance, a slot with a 96.50% RTP will, on average, return £96.50 for every £100 wagered over a sustained length of time. This metric helps players understand the expected payouts from a slot game.

This is where opinions can be divided, but I'm a firm believer that even if you're only playing a small deposit or number of spins through a game, a lower RTP does make a difference. Why do I think this? Through my past experiences of working in land-based establishments managing and operating AWPs as well as being a long-time player of them, you can see the difference in how they play and certainly how much money they take if they are on a lower percentage payout. Yes, they're not an online slot, but they work on the same principle, money goes in, money comes out, and the RTP is generated over the lifetime spins and payout of that machine.

We've reviewed hundreds of demo slots and games since our site was formed, so I decided to take eight of the most well-known slots and check out each of their RTPs across five UK-facing casinos, which are MrQ, 21Casino.com, Parimatch UK, MRVEGAS, and PlayOJO. Take a look at the findings below.

As you can see from the results, there is quite a significant difference between the highest RTPs and the lowest, with the biggest gap coming on Play'n Go's Reactoonz, which is 5.02%. If you take the average RTPs from these popular slots at each casino, you get the following results.

• MrQ: 96.26%
• 21Casino.com: 95.66%
• Parimatch UK: 94.91%
• MRVEGAS: 94.25%
• PlayOJO: 92.88%

Being in the business of reviewing slots, you soon get to find out where each provider has the RTP listed for you to check, with some being a little easier to locate than others. However, a very pleasant surprise in the UK market is MrQ, which has opted to be completely transparent with its RTPs, and they are displayed on each slot as the game is loading up. As it stands, I'm not aware of any other UK operator that does this. I do believe some slots, as standard, show the RTP as the load screen is displayed, but these are few and far between.

This stood out for me as being a good thing as I know from our review site that more developers are now offering variable RTPs across their slots, so unless a player decides to try and find this information off their own back, they'd have no idea if they were playing a game such as Reactoonz that can potentially have a 5% lower RTP.

I think that in due course, all online slots will be made to display their RTP, either as MrQ has chosen to do so or positioned somewhere on the screen as you're playing the game. Land-based AWPs / B3s have long been made to display a percentage payout, whether that be a mechanical slot or one of the newer video versions, although in all my time working and dealing with compliance officers, not one of them ever checked they were in place or if indeed the displayed amount matched the percentage key in the machine.

Currently, this aspect of online slots may have been overlooked by the regulator, but like a never-ending itch that needs to be scratched by the UK authorities, I wouldn't imagine it was too long before they take a closer look at this, as after all, players should be aware of a percentage payout without having to wade through pages of instructions to find it.

Kudos to MrQ for being ahead of the curve though, and for opting to use the higher RTPs made available to them too. It does make you wonder if the regulator did enforce casinos to openly display the RTP of each game if they would then choose to increase their RTPs to match those of their competitors, as it would be far easier for a player to compare the values across brands than it is now, or in perhaps a lot of instances question what RTP is to begin with, and openly research it.

The RTP debate will no doubt continue over the months and years, but surely, it will only be a matter of time in the UK before this information pops up somewhere on a player's screen when they are loading their favourite slots, informing them clearly of what the RTP is. For now, however, punters will have to locate that information themselves or possibly continue playing blissfully unaware they are spinning the reels on slots with an extra 5% or more of the RTP finding its way into the virtual cash boxes rather than back in their pockets.

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