“High volatility” means you can win a lot or lose a lot over a short period of time, while RTP is an estimate of overall hit frequency for any specific slot or casino game. Online casinos are not charities, so no one expects them to consistently pay out more than people put in. The RTP is what players get from all the money wagered on a game. House edge refers to the percentage of the wagered money that the house keeps. For example, if the RTP of a casino game is 95%, it means that the house edge is 5%. RTPs in Land Based Casinos.
Return to player (RTP) is one of the most discussed issues among online casino players. The importance of RTP is in its potential return based on millions of spins on slots, millions of hands-on baccarat, poker, blackjack, or millions of spins on a roulette wheel. In this article, we will tell you all you need to know about RTP and why they are better at Canadian online casinos.
If you have spent more than 2 hours at an online casino, then you know the Canadian online gaming industry has seen a lot of success. These sites offer top-tier gaming options. Follow the link to see a ranking of the best Canadian online casinos. Here you’ll find that almost every slot machine offers high RTPs of about 97% – 99%. These high RTP games are all provided by reputable software providers, leaders in the gaming industry such as NetEnt, Playtech, Thunderkick, Dragonfish, etc. Here are some examples of slot games that pay back the highest percentage.
Mega Joker slot by NetEnt – 99% RTP
Kings of Chicago slot by NetEnt – 99% RTP
Monopoly Big Event slot by Barcrest – 99% RTP
1429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick– 98.6% RTP
Bloodsuckers slot by NetEnt – 98% RTP
Though it’s illegal to operate online casinos within the country, players can gamble at sites located offshore. The only requirement is that they be legally registered to operate.
Canadian players of legal age can access online casino games with high payback percentages. The cost of running an online casino is lower than that of a land-based casino. That is why it isn’t a problem for them to include games with high RTP. The brick-and-mortar venues have a higher house edge because they have to pay for machinery, rentals, equipment, employees, etc.
The smaller the fixed and variable operation costs, the higher the games’ RTPs, and vice versa. There is no doubt that the live casino experience is entertaining. You can play games, and at the same time enjoy fine dining, shows, and even stay at a hotel.
However, this is applicable only if you want to socialize with people. But if you are in casinos to make money, land-based locations are not what you need. There’s a great chance you’d lose more than you’d win. That is why the majority of Canadian players choose to gamble online and have a better chance of winning.
Canadian casinos offer a variety of slot games with a Progressive Jackpot feature. There are two major types of progressive jackpots: wide-era, and network-style. We will discuss them both in detail below.
This type of progressive jackpot games can be found at various casino sites. These games are owned by software providers who offer them to casino operators which host the casino games on their sites. It’s the provider who pays the jackpot, not the casino. A small percentage of every player’s bet adds to the progressive jackpot pool.
These are found at the land-based casinos across Canada which contribute small percentages of each game’s bet towards the jackpot prize pool. In other words, when a player places a bet, the game’s jackpot grows.
The biggest wide-era progressive jackpot game is powered by IGT (International Game Technology). This slot game is called Wheel of Fortune. If you are a frequent visitor of online casinos, you might have seen the game, and know that it has multiple jackpot winners.
RTPs are not hard to find. Most sites feel obligated to give you this information. If an online casino does not post a game’s RTP information, here are two tips to help you find it.
It’s not out of the ordinary to see games that are not certified by eCOGRA or TST. However, this doesn’t mean they are rigged. You can easily find the RTP of these games in the casino’s list of individual games’ RTP listed on their website.
If you are interested in winning, and not just playing without a strategy, then you need to understand the concept of RTP and what games have the highest RTP. You will have to search for the best casino game scrupulously. However, all the games are more or less similar when it comes to RTP.
Typically, the games with the highest RTPs are table games. They require some skills. So, if you want to play winning games, then you should choose video poker, blackjack, or baccarat.
The lowest paying games are most slots, progressive jackpot slots, keno variants, and some instant games. They usually require little to no strategy at all. You just have to spin or pick numbers. Games like these can still be very profitable in the long run. You have to research them.
The main reason why you should choose an online casino over a land-based one is payback percentages. The RTPs are higher at online casinos as their annual expenses are much less than those of brick-and-mortar casinos in Canada. You can visit your local casino now and then, but real winning takes place online.
Once you register to join a licensed and accredited online casino, you can be sure of its transparency, fairness, and credibly high payback percentages. Canadian players should stick to reliable operators that focus on players’ experience.
While many casino games are largely dictated by chance, there is one stat that can be utilised to inform how much money you are expected to win on any given game. Every casino game, including all those on Pinnacle Casino, has a set Return to Player value (RTP) which dictates the percentage of money you are expected to win from the amount you bet.
RTP is calculated using a simple formula as follows:
(Total money returned to players) / (Total money bet by players) = RTP%
The two factors involved in this formula are fairly straightforward. The total amount of money bet by players is the sum of each initial bet placed on the game during the period over which the RTP audit takes place, usually one calendar month. The total amount of money returned to players is the net amount of all player wins on the game during the same period.
While RTP values are most commonly associated with slot games, this formula can be in fact be applied to calculate the RTP value of any casino game, including table games, Live Casino and virtual sports.
From the player’s perspective, a simple way to refer to RTP values is to treat the percentage as how much money you would win from €100 worth of bets on the game. In this sense it is the opposite to the house edge, which quantifies the margin of profit the house is expected to make on any given game.
For instance, if during an RTP audit players placed a total of €150,000 worth of bets on a game that won a total of €144,000, the RTP value would be 96%:
This means that for every €100 you bet on the game, you would be expected to win €96 in return.
You can also work out your own RTP rate for any given session on a casino game. If you bet €200 on a casino game and won back €168, the RTP rate for that session would be 84%:
168 / 200 = 0.84 = RTP rate of 84%
RTP values can vary massively between different casinos and games. As a rule of thumb, they are generally lower at physical casinos, where RTP values of 80-90% are commonplace, than online ones, which often feature RTP values of between 90% and 97%.
Determining if a game has a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ RTP value is thus largely down to your own judgement, and whether you think the RTP value in question justifies placing bets on the game.
With this in mind, you should ensure you know the RTP value of any casino game you play. At Pinnacle Casino, our RTP values are independently certified by eCOGRA. For quick reference, the RTP values of our casino games are as follows:
Pinnacle Casino games RTP values
Game | RTP value | Estimated return from €100 of bets |
All games | 97.77% | €97.77 |
Slot games | 96.23% | €96.23 |
Table games | 97.70% | €97.70 |
Video poker games | 93.12% | €93.12 |
Live Casino | 98.27% | €98.27 |
Virtual games | 87.38% | €87.38 |
Perhaps unsurprisingly, games with an RTP value of 100% or above (whereby players are expected to break even or make a profit on their bets) are extremely rare. The most common games with a RTP value of over 100% are certain variants of Video poker.
While RTP values are useful and can inform you of how much money you are expected to win on a certain game, it is important to remember that they should be considered an approximate guide.
Higher RTP values do not neccessarily mean that you are more likely to win.
Indeed, if a game has a RTP value of 90%, this does not mean it is certain that will you win around €90 from €100 worth of bets on it. It is plausible that you could win €50 or €500 from the same amount.
Equally, you are by no means assured to win more money on a game with an RTP value of 95% than one with a RTP value of 90%, you are simply more likely to over a long period of time. More broadly, any RTP value, no matter how high, never means you are guaranteed to enjoy wins on a game.
On slot games, two components that should be considered alongside its RTP value are its hit frequency and volatility.
Hit frequency is a percentage that denotes how often any given spin will result in a win. This is calculated as an average across a very high number of spins. Volatility (also referred to as variance) details both how frequent wins are and the amount they pay out. This may be expressed on a scale from one to ten, or simply as ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’.
Slots with a low volatility are expected to produce regular but small wins, whereas those with a high volatility will feature sporadic yet large wins. This means that a slot game’s volatility may offer insight into how much risk is required to potentially reap its rewards.
Therefore, even if a slot game has a particularly high RTP value, its hit frequency and volatility can primarily dictate your chances of winning and potential returns on a spin. This explains why slot games with medium volatility often prove popular, as they generate a balance between win frequency and win amounts.
You can enjoy Pinnacle Casino’s high RTP values on all of our games, including slots, table games, Live Casino, Virtual sports and more!