What Percentage Do Slot Machines Pay Out

Even so, the absolute worst Deuces Wild game, like the worst Jacks or Better game, still offers a better payback percentage than most slot machine games. The 3 rd pay table on this comparison, the one with the 99.74% payback percentage, is known as “not so ugly” Deuces Wild. Dollar slots and some Deuces-Wild poker machines have the highest payback at nearly 99-percent. Of course just because a machine has a payback of 99 percent does not mean you will win back $99 for every $100 you play through the machine. That payback amount is an average. Your favorite online slot has a payout percentage of 90%. On average, the machine will return $90 in winnings to the player. It's easy to see that a higher payout percentage favors the player.

There was a time and not too long ago that if you tried to find out the long term expected payout percentages attached to the slot games of certain online and mobile casino sites you would have to spend hours hunting around for that information.

The RTP’s which stands for return to player payout percentages of many online and mobile slot games was once a closely guarded secret that many slot game designers were very hesitant in letting slot players know.

However with the advent of many different gaming jurisdictions, the Gaming Commissions and Gaming Authorities who license and regulate many online and mobile casino sites now demand any license holder to make available such information, and as such you will readily be able to find the payout percent information of any slot game you do play in either the mobile or online gaming environments.

Another thing that is demanding by the Gambling Commission and Gaming Authorities is that both the free play and real money slots available at sites they license much be the same, so as to give free play slot feels a true and very real feel for the way in which the slot games available at any casino site work, play and pay.

Below you will find out how you can work out your own single slot playing session payout percentages on any slot game you play, and we will also give you information on regards to how diverse the RTP’s on many different slot games can and will be set.

Online and Mobile Slot Game RTP’s

Whilst there can be some ever so slight differences in regards to the RTP’s attached to online and mobile slot games which are the same slots, what you will tend to find is that when a slot is being offered in both playing environments the RTP’s will be identical on both gaming platforms.

Goblins Cave

The one general rule of thumb that you should always keep in the forefront of you mind is that the higher the payout percentages on offer on any slot game you play, the more winning payouts you are going to be rewarded with when playing those higher paying slots over the long term.

Slots with high payout percentages are going to be found in many online casino sites, and as such you will always have plenty of different types of those slot games available to you. Some of the very best slots with high payout percentages you can play online are those that have been designed by Quickspin and some of our top rated featured casino sites have their range of games on offer, so have a look round and give those slot games a much play time as you can do!

When have spent quite a while taking a look at various different online slot games from lots of different categories and have found that both three reel and video slot games can offer quite a varied range of RTP’s which could be as low as 93% or even lower, whilst some slots can be set to return RTP’s as high as 99% or even higher!

However, progressive slot games do tend to offer some of the very lowest possible RTP’s and that is usually due to the fact that a small percentage of your stakes are feeding the jackpot pools, and as such you should try and avoid playing such slots unless the progressive jackpot is way higher than the amount it is usually won at.

Another category of both online, mobile and land based slot machines that you may be interested in playing are Fruit Machines, now one very bad aspect of choosing to play those type of slot machines in land based venues is that the payout percentages could be as low as 72%, and as such they offer no real value and will often very quickly swallow up your slot playing bankroll.

However, when you make the much wiser decision of playing the all action and bonus game packed online and mobile versions of Fruit Machines you will find the RTP’s those games have been designed to return to players can be ay higher than their online equivalents.

Those RTP’s can be in the mid to high nineties ranges and as such you are always going to be best advised to play Fruit Machines online or via a mobile casino site if you want more play time from your bankroll and more of your stakes returned to you as winning payouts over your long term play.

One final thing to always keep in mind however is that all online slot games are completely random, and as such your single slot playing session will return an RTP that can wildly fluctuate depending on just how lucky you have been.

So even if a slot offer a payout percentage of for example 96% you will not always have session which return such a payout percentage, they could be higher paying ones or much lower paying ones!

Learn How to Play High RTP Slot Games

Huge RTP online slot machines are going to be readily available to you at any of our approved and fully reviewed online and mobile casino sites, and for you to get the best idea of just what type of slot games to play please watch the following video to see a real slot being played which we think you are going to love playing.

NetEnt are the company who have deigned and released this slot which does come with a high payout percentage and as such you are going to find plenty of casino sites with that slot on offer and you are also going to find plenty of bonus offers available if you sign up to any casino we have listed offering that slot game, so make sure you sign up to one of them and give this slot a whirl as it is one of the best ones available!


Return to player (RTP) is very important in regard to the long-term chances of winning with slots. RTP (a.k.a. payback) refers to how much slot machines are programmed to pay out in the long run.

Higher payback means that a game gives you a stronger chance of winning. Therefore, you’ll do well to know the RTP behind any game that you play.

You’ll discover that it’s really easy to find payout percentages for online slot machine games. A simple Google search will produce the RTP for most internet games.

Unfortunately, you’ll have a much tougher time figuring out the RTP of land-based machines. In fact, this information is rarely available.

Is there still a way for you to determine payout percentages for slot machines in brick-and-mortar casinos? I’ll answer this question by covering more on the difficulties of finding RTP for land-based slots and if it’s ultimately possible.

Why Isn’t RTP Available for Land-Based Slots?

Unlike with many online slots, you can’t just find the RTP for land-based slot machines through Google. Your efforts will turn up little to no results.

The problem with slots in brick-and-mortar casinos is that they don’t have uniform payback across every casino. Instead, game developers allow casinos to select payout percentages based on a list of options.

Here’s an example on how this works:

  • WMS is offering Monopoly Party Train slot to Vegas casinos.
  • They feature the following RTP options: 92.5%, 93.5%, and 94.5%.
  • Caesars Palace orders this game at 93.5% payback.
  • The Venetian orders Monopoly Party Train at 92.5% RTP.
  • Treasure Island orders this slot at 94.5% RTP.

You can see the obvious challenge in trying to provide payback numbers for such games. A website could list Monopoly Party Train at 93.5% RTP, which is middle ground.

But this figure will only be true for the casinos that have selected this amount. Meanwhile, it’ll be false across all of the other gambling establishments that choose a different pay schedule.

Most online slot providers differ because they offer their games at a uniform RTP across every casino. For example, Rival Gaming will feature Spy Game with 95.1% payback at each online casino it serves.

Some exceptions do exist in the online gambling world. RealTime Gaming (RTG), for instance, allows its casino clients to choose 91.5%, 95%, or 97.5% RTP for a given game.

You can’t find payout percentages for RTG games either. Nevertheless, you can still learn the payback for the vast majority of internet slots.

How Can You Figure Out the RTP?


You won’t be able to find the exact payout percentages for most land-based slot machines. But you can at least get a good idea on the matter through a few different methods. Here are some ways to learn the RTP for brick-and-mortar casino slots.

Make General Guesses Based on Coin Denominations

Casinos like to reward gamblers who are willing to risk more money per bet. Therefore, they order higher RTP for games with larger coin denominations.

Here’s an example on how this works:

  • Penny slot machines = 88% to 90% RTP
  • Nickel slot machines = 91% to 94% RTP
  • Quarter slot machines = 93% to 95% RTP
  • Dollar slot machines = 94% to 96% RTP
  • $5 slot machines = 95% to 97% RTP

Penny slot machines are almost always the worst games with regard to payout percentages. Larger denominations ranging from a nickel to $5 are all closer in terms of payback.

Your theoretical losses will be higher on nickel games and up just because you’re betting more per spin. Nevertheless, you can still get more value per dollar wagered with the higher-denomination machines.

Read State Gaming Reports

Rather than making generalizations about coin sizes, you can always check out state gaming reports. These reports show the average payout percentages (or house edges) for each coin denomination within a given state’s casinos.

For example, you might look at a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) release and see that dollar slot machines are offering 94.79% RTP on average.

Interestingly enough, the NGC reports specific payout information for Megabucks. This IGT product is the most popular slot in all the popular Las Vegas casinos and warrants more detailed info.

Largely speaking, though, these reports only give general information about each coin denomination.

You won’t find the exact payout percentage for an individual game, but you’ll at least have a better guideline with these reports.

Email a Casino and Ask

One more option involves emailing a casino directly and asking them about their RTP for a specific slot machine.

The problem here is that customer service will often state that they don’t have this information available. But in certain cases, you may actually receive a real answer.

You shouldn’t count on this method majority of the time. It’s at least worth trying, though, if you’re desperate to find out the RTP for certain slots.

What to Avoid When Searching for Land-Based Slots Payback

You can see that there are a few different options for determining the payback for land-based slot machines. But there are also measures that you want to avoid on your payback-finding quest, including the following.

Relying on Signs Inside of Casinos

Many casinos hang signs above a bank of slot machines that will read something like, “Pays up to 99%.”

These signs are very effective at drawing players to slot machines. After all, who wouldn’t want to play a slot that only has a 1% house edge?

Unfortunately, these signs are also very misleading. Only one of the machines within the section has to offer 99% RTP.

The rest could pay as low as 90% RTP and still make the sign valid. Therefore, you can’t rely on much information that the casino supplies you with.

Furthermore, you have no real way of knowing which of the machines offers 99% payback. The only way to make a solid determination would be to play each game for a long time and judge their payout percentages.

Using One Good Session to Determine Quality Payback

What Percentage Do Slot Machines Pay Out

Slots are extremely volatile games that may pay a lot one session, then offer very few prizes for the next five sessions. Therefore, you can never use any single outing to judge how a game pays.

Many gamblers still make this very mistake. They’ll have one hot session with a game and believe that it offers a high payout percentage.

What Slots Pay The Most

It would be great if finding RTP for land-based slot machines was really this simple. The reality, though, is that it’s anything but.

Blindly Believing Ads for the “Loosest Slots”

I’ve seen plenty of ads for loose slot machines when driving on the interstate. These billboards suggest that a given casino features slots with high RTP or frequent payouts.

However, “loose” is a broad term that doesn’t really mean anything. State gaming laws don’t put parameters on what constitutes a loose game.

Casinos can make this claim, regardless of whether it’s true or not. That said, you should take any such advertisement with a grain of salt.

Conclusion

You may think negatively about land-based casinos upon being unable to find RTP for their slots. After all, you don’t have to spend much time at all finding payback for online slots.

However, providers are the ones who choose whether to or not to release payout percentages. They can’t accurately do this with slot machines at brick and mortar casinos, because providers feature different RTP options.

One casino may order a slot at 93% payback, while the next orders it at 95% RTP. Developers are therefore unable to offer a uniform payout percentage for each slot.

The good news, though, is that you don’t have to give up hope. Instead, you have a few options for finding general RTP figures.

The easiest method is to make generalizations based on coin denominations. Simply put, the higher coin denominations usually offer better payback.

You can also read state gaming reports. These releases show the average amount that each coin denomination pays out within a given state’s gambling venues.

Finally, you can always email a casino directly and ask about a specific game. You won’t get the desired answer most of the time, but it’s worth trying.

What Percentage Do Slot Machines Pay Out Dividends

In summary, finding the RTP for an individual land-based slot is impossible in most cases. But you’ll still have a general idea on how much these slots pay by following the previously covered tips.