RTP vs house edge

RTP vs house edge: the one-line difference

Return to player, or RTP, describes what goes back to players: a 96% RTP means £96 returned for every £100 staked across an enormous number of plays. The house edge describes what stays with the operator: in that same game, £4 of every £100. One is the glass half full, the other the glass half empty.

Hannum and Cabot's Casino Math textbook (opens in a new tab) defines the house advantage as the negative of the player's expectation, expressed as a percentage of the wager. That is the formal way of saying the same thing. If the average result for the player is a loss of 4p per £1, the house edge is 4% and the RTP is 96%.

Wizard of Odds makes the pairing explicit for NetEnt's Dead or Alive: a 96.82% RTP equals a house edge of 100% − 96.82% = 3.18%. Any game that publishes one figure has effectively published the other.

How to convert RTP to house edge (and back)

1. Write the RTP as a percentage, for example 96.21%.
2. Take it away from 100%. The answer, 3.79%, is the house edge.
3. To go the other way, take the house edge away from 100%: a 1.06% edge gives a 98.94% RTP.
4. To get pounds, multiply the house edge by the total you expect to stake, not by your deposit.

Slot RTPs above are the developers' published figures; a casino may run a lower setting, so check the game's help screen where you play.

Why slots quote RTP and table games quote house edge

The split is mostly habit. Slot makers set a payback percentage when they design the maths of a game, so RTP is the natural way to describe it, and it sounds friendlier on a help screen. Table games grew up with fixed payouts on fixed probabilities, and analysts measured how far each payout fell short of fair odds, which is the house edge.

Casino Math gives a neat formula for table bets: when a bet pays x to 1 and the true odds against it are y to 1, the house advantage is (y − x) / (y + 1). For a single-zero straight-up bet, y is 36 and x is 35, so the edge is 1/37, or 2.70%. On a double-zero wheel y becomes 37, giving 2/38, or 5.26%. You can apply the same formula to any fixed-odds bet whose probability you can count, and then flip it into an RTP if you prefer.

The Gambling Commission doesn't force one style. Under its RTS 3 requirement 3C (opens in a new tab), operators must give information about your chances that can include the house edge or margin, the RTP percentage, or the probability of winning events. That is why a UK slot help screen shows RTP, while a roulette help file may list payouts and a house edge instead. Our page on UK RTP display rules explains what must be shown.

When RTP and house edge stop mirroring each other

The 100% rule holds whenever the bet you place is the whole bet. It gets slippery in games where you add money partway through a hand. Casino poker is the main example. The house edge is measured against the opening Ante, but you often add a raise later, so the money you risk is bigger than the Ante.

The Wizard of Odds house edge guide (opens in a new tab) handles this with a second measure, the element of risk: average loss divided by total money bet. For Caribbean Stud the house edge is 5.22% of the Ante but only 2.56% of all money wagered. For Ultimate Texas Hold'em it is 2.185% of the Ante against about 0.526% of everything bet, because the average hand puts 4.15 times the Ante into play.

So when a casino poker game advertises an RTP, ask which base it uses. An RTP worked out on total money bet will look higher than one worked out on the Ante, even though your cost per hand is the same. For cost per hand, the per-Ante house edge is the more useful figure.

A third term, hold, is different again. Wizard of Odds describes hold as the share of chips sold that a casino keeps over a period such as a shift. It depends on how people actually play, how often they re-bet winnings and how long they stay, so it can be far higher than the house edge. It is an accounting figure, not a property of the game.

Skill games: the RTP assumes you play perfectly

For games with decisions, the published RTP or house edge assumes a specific strategy. Gambling Commission guidance lets operators base the RTP of a skill game on its auto-play logic or on a recognised published strategy, which in practice means near-perfect play.

Three Card Poker shows how far your own play moves the figure. Following the optimal Queen-6-4 rule gives a 3.37% edge (96.63% RTP on the Ante). Copying the dealer's queen-high rule gives 3.45%. Playing every hand blindly gives 7.65%, an RTP of just 92.35%. Same game, same paytable, very different price.

Video poker and blackjack work the same way. The 99.54% quoted for 9/6 Jacks or Better assumes every hold decision is right and maximum coins are bet. In blackjack, the low edges quoted assume basic strategy; ignoring it hands back some of that advantage. For skill games, read the published RTP as the best you can do, not the figure you'll get by default.

RTP ranges, versions and jackpot slots

Three situations make a single RTP misleading.

• Per-bet ranges. Live game shows give each bet spot its own return. Evolution lists Crazy Time at 94.41% to 96.08% depending on the bet, so the house edge runs from 3.92% to 5.59%. Lightning Roulette is listed on UK operator game pages at 97.10% to 97.30%.
• Several versions. Developers often supply a slot at more than one RTP setting. Our checked data lists Dead or Alive at 96.82% for its highest version, and Wizard of Odds notes that a slot's RTP can differ from one jurisdiction to the next. That is why different casinos can show different RTPs for one title.
• Jackpot contributions. Mega Moolah's 88.12% is for the base game and excludes the progressive jackpot contribution. Part of every stake builds the jackpot, so the headline RTP and the full return are not the same thing. See progressive jackpot maths.

What neither figure tells you: the size of the swings

RTP and house edge describe the average. They say nothing about how bumpy the road is. That's the job of volatility, measured by variance and standard deviation. Two games can share a 96% RTP and feel completely different: one pays small amounts often, the other pays rarely but in larger lumps.

Casino Math shows the scale of the gap with a double-zero roulette example: 1,000 bets of $5 on red give the casino an expected win of $263.16, but a standard deviation of $157.89. About two-thirds of the time the result lands between $105.26 and $421.05. The expected loss grows in line with the number of bets, while the standard deviation grows only with its square root, which is why short sessions vary so much and long runs settle near the edge.

The Wizard of Odds slots page (opens in a new tab) points out that Dead or Alive is popular for its high volatility and top prize rather than its RTP. Players often care more about the shape of the swings than the average. That's fine, as long as you know the average still applies.

RTP vs house edge in pounds: worked examples

The cleanest way to use either figure is to multiply the house edge by your expected turnover, the total amount staked including re-staked winnings. This is the core of expected value.

Notice the denominator. A £20 deposit spun through 500 times at £1 is £500 of turnover. The expected loss is 4% of £500, not 4% of £20. That's why a high RTP does not mean you keep 96% of your deposit: re-staking the same money repeatedly lets the edge work on it again and again.

RTP and house edge myths

• "96% RTP means I get £96 back from £100." Only across a huge number of spins and players. A single £100 session might end at zero or well above £100.
• "A higher RTP slot will pay out soon." RTP has no memory and no schedule. Each spin is independent; read our page on whether a higher RTP slot is better.
• "House edge only applies to table games." Every casino game has one. Slots simply publish it the other way round as RTP.
• "Casinos switch RTP up and down depending on whether I'm winning." UK rules forbid adaptive or compensated games online, and a game's rules, payouts and probabilities can't change while it is available for play.

Where to play: RTP, house edge and bonus terms

Bonuses don't change a game's RTP; the house edge keeps working on every pound you wager, bonus money included. Our partner spin offers are slot offers, and the matched bonuses come with game restrictions, with table and live games often excluded or counting for less towards wagering. 18+ and terms apply.

Casumo: a 50% bonus up to £100 for new customers who opt in and deposit at least £20, wagered 10x within 7 days, with a £5 maximum bet while the bonus is active and game, play and payment restrictions. 10bet: a 100% match up to £25 for new UK customers who pick the casino welcome bonus and deposit within 7 days, wagered 10x on slots within 3 days, with maximum bonus winnings of £1,000 and Skrill and Neteller deposits excluded. Coral: bet £10 on slots to get 100 free spins at 10p on selected games, accepted within 48 hours and valid for 7 days, with no wagering on free spin winnings; some payment methods, including PayPal, Skrill and Neteller, don't qualify.

To see how wagering interacts with RTP, read wagering requirements explained. For more on the numbers behind every game, visit the casino maths hub.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.