RTP is the share of the money staked that a machine pays back in the long run. An RTP of 96% means the house keeps 4 cents of every euro that goes through the machine, on every spin. At €1 a spin and 600 spins an hour, that is €24 an hour on average.
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What it really means
RTP stands for return to player. It is the share of everything staked on a machine that comes back as prizes, measured over millions of spins. What does not come back, the house keeps.
Online slots usually advertise an RTP of between 94% and 97%. It sounds as if almost everything comes back. But that percentage is charged on every spin, not once. And slots are played very fast.
Why “pays back 96%” does not mean what it seems
Put in €100 and play, and you win some prizes. Those prizes go back into the machine over the next spins, and each time the house takes its 4%. The money goes round and round until it runs out. That is why anyone who plays until they hit zero loses 100% of what they put in, even though the machine “pays back” 96%.
The calculator below turns it into euros per hour. Change the RTP, the bet and the pace of play.
What playing costs, by RTP
Average cost. In a given session you may win or lose much more; over many hours, the result gets close to this figure.
Goes through the machine each hour
€600
Costs you each hour, on average
−€24
Each week
−€72
In a year
−€3,744
Your first €100 keeps going round: you win, you stake the winnings again, and the machine takes its cut every time. Before it hits zero, that €100 gets staked about 25 times on average.
Expected cost = bet × spins × (1 − RTP), with 1 − RTP = 4.0%. By Wald’s identity, if you play until you are broke, E[total staked] ≈ balance / (1 − RTP). RTP is measured over millions of spins: a short session varies a lot, the average does not.
RTP is not the only thing that matters
Two machines with the same RTP can feel very different. High-volatility ones pay rarely but big, and leave peaks you remember for weeks. Low-volatility ones pay small prizes often, many of them smaller than the bet: the music plays, but you have lost money. In the simulated slot machine you can see both, along with the near-misses machines create on purpose.
That slot has an exact RTP of 96.33%, computed over every possible combination of its reels. It pays something on 35% of spins.
TechnicalRTP, edge and total staked
House edge = 1 − RTP. A session’s expected loss is the edge times the total staked, not times the starting money. If you play until broke from balance B, Wald’s identity gives E[total staked] · (1 − RTP) = E[loss] ≈ B, so E[total staked] ≈ B / (1 − RTP): at 96% RTP, 25 times the starting balance. The approximation ignores the leftover below the minimum bet.
Related questions
Is it better to play a slot with a high RTP?
You lose more slowly, but you lose. With 97% RTP the house keeps 3 cents per euro; with 94%, 6. It is like comparing two prices: one is cheaper, neither is free.
What is the difference between RTP and volatility?
RTP tells you how much the machine pays back on average. Volatility tells you how it spreads it: many small prizes or a few very large ones. Two machines with the same RTP can feel very different, but in the long run they cost the same.
If a machine has not paid out for a while, is it about to?
Not an online slot. Every spin is decided by a random number generator and does not depend on the ones before. RTP plays out over millions of spins by all players, not in your session or on your machine.
Where can I see a slot’s RTP?
For online slots it usually appears in the game’s help or information menu. Some games come in several versions with different RTPs, and the operator chooses which one to offer.
What does 96% RTP mean if I put in €100?
It does not mean you get €96 back. The 96% applies to everything you stake, including what you stake again after winning. If you play until you hit zero, that €100 gets staked about 25 times on average and the machine keeps all of it.