Casino Payout Rates Overview

Craig Cummings

January 3rd, 2019

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Calculating the likelihood of winning in an online casino can be a tricky business, which is why most casinos are committed to transparency and provide a range of statistics to help potential players learn how much a casino pays out relative to the amount that a player spends. This is the payout rate or percentage and we’ll explore it in-depth in this guide.

What are Payout Rates?

The payout percentage, represent the amount of money a casino pays out relative to the amount that a player spends. It is an average figure, so it is best to treat the number as a guide, rather than a defined amount. Payout rates can apply to both casinos and individual games.

Payout rates are designed to give players an idea of how likely they are to win at a game as well as how much they can expect to win or lose when playing. For example, if a casino has a payout percentage of 95% and you bet £10, then you will receive £9.50 back on average if you win.

Payout rates are not to be confused with ‘cashing out’ which is when you wish to leave a game and begin the process of withdrawing your winnings.

Payout Percentages

Naturally, casinos expect to make money-and when a sum of money is gambled, they expect to return a percentage to the player if he wins while also keeping a portion for themselves as profit. This is how they run casinos as a business and all casinos will operate in this way. The percentage of total money given back to the player who wins is called the payout percentage.

The best online casinos will publish their payout percentages on their websites, so you have an idea of what kind of return to expect. Be careful not to be too swayed by this figure as higher percentages do not always make the best casinos - other factors also come into play when making this judgement. But it remains a useful indicator of the kind of money you can make should you go on a winning streak.

Return to Player (RTP) Percentages

For more specific details about individual games, Return to Player (RTP) percentages are a useful indicator. Commonly found for online slots, though occasionally for other games, these operate in a similar way to monthly payout percentages, but are calculated by running simulations through games rather than monitoring actual player betting activity. Often these can be found in the catalogues of game developers thanks to most providing this info available via the companies' websites.

Players can access this information in online slot reviews and/or in the information pages for the slot at each casino. Again, the figures are just a guide and many players win above or below these amounts. RTP is usually calculated over the long term but remember, almost anything can happen in the short term!