A few years ago there were "good" companies that had some 97-98% slots, but most were in the 95-96% range, "average" companies with a range peaking at about 96% but with a lot of lower slots also, and "bad" companies where all slots were 94% or less with a lot of 88-92%s available.
Now it seems all slots are going straight in at 94%, with a 96% model advertised that doesn't really exist in the real world. Is taking the value of 1 full spin every 25 spins not good enough? Why the greed?
Good to know most of the time it is not the studio but the provider/casino's which are demanding a lower RTP. I think @VismundCygnus once explained how this works in a post at a NLC game. Maybe he can explain it again :).
To be clear, the "companies" I'm referring to are the front end casinos. I realise the game providers are work for hire and will produce whatever the casinos ask for and don't blame them at all.
I don't know the full details of how operator/provider relationships work. What I do know is that even if RTP drops below 70 in a few years, people will continue to gamble. It is unclear how much true, but the statistics on gambling addiction shows a worse scenario. Casinos can do whatever they want now because they know there are always gamblers willing to pay them
when i first got into online slots, it was a bit surprising for me to see that different casinos have different RTP’s for the same slots. So as others have said, I do believe it’s the casinos who sets their slots RTP’s based on the initial model.,
and i think they might even be different from one another based on certain things - such as wagers (for example; Betty.ca has lower RTP’s than Zodiac. And since Betty.ca doesn’t have wagers, whereas Zodiac has a 30x wager on their bonus promotions, then Betty.ca could *possibly* have a lower RTP due to the financial impact of not offering wagers? just a thought!
Im still pretty new to the casino scene but this is just something i noticed that might have an affect on the RTP of different casinos
@thatlittlefox Casinos don't have the right to change RTP; they can't even if they wanted to, because everything happens on the provider's servers. The casino acts merely as an intermediary. The casino chooses whichever slot variant has the best RTP for their purpose or business.
I hate bonuses with 30x, 40x or 80x wagering requirements. Assuming you receive a 200% bonus on a $100 deposit, you'll need to wager 300x40=$12,000. This amount of wagering is practically near to impossible. If you complete the wagering requirements, some casinos have rules that allowing you to cashout 5x or 10x of your deposit.
The simplified version of the story:
Its not greed in most cases, its necessity. If a slot has a 94% average return to player (!) that means for every million dollars wagerd on a casino €940.000 goes back to the players playing the slots. Some lose, some win. Some win alot etc. RTP is also not a ''set'' number. It fluctuates over the smaller periods of time. One month a slot might average 93% or 95% while its set RTP is 94% for example. Knowing this, a casino has to use that small percentage they do get to pay all their costs. Of that +- 6%, everyone wants a cut. The slot providers, the payment providers (You dont pay a fee when doing a withdrawl, but the casino does. Every single time for everyone.), all the people that work there, all marketing, promotions etc etc. The lists of costs is endless. And unfortunately companies face increased costs everywhere too. Couple this with the fact you cant run a business on making your money back every year and you have your answer as to why 94% is the new standard. Slot providers dont really have a choice in this, as im sure most operators/casinos would definately put pressure on them to make lower RTP versions. Maybe threathening them a little into not having their games at all if they dont.
Today's slots can't be compared to slots from years past.
Now there are too many RTP slots, but they're just a scam. I don't believe it at all. Even though I've tried 100% RTP, I only hit a few in 1-25 spins. Companies are greedy because of the surge in slot players.
@iopy12 such a good explanation. So many people do not understand what RTP is and how it works. But at the end of the day - it's all random and in most cases (unless there is a crazy man who makes many millions of spins) noone should notice the difference between 96% and even 88% RTP
Meanwhile, on the other side, crypto casinos, the competition is getting more and more fierce.
Until one point, it happened. 0% HE house games, halved HE on other games. I thought it's too good to be true until I tested it out.
It's real, and it's called Duel casino. Feel free to try it out. However it's recommended to DYOR first.
House games:
Most of the casino do 96.0%-99.0% RTP, plus some rakeback or so, the effective RTP is up to 99.60% I guess.
Duel is 99.90% base RTP, and rakeback is 0.1% of your wagering, and effective RTP is 100.00% (however the limit is up to $1k per single bet, and $50k wagering per day)
Slots:
Stake:
Comparing to Stake -- They will instead give you these 'bonuses' through their levelup system, which we are not a big fan of. These bonuses are designed as clever retention mechanisms which utilize psychological phenomenon like the sunk cost fallacy, and they are designed to give you extra dopamine hits and they make you come back to the site over and over again to claim your daily, weekly and monthly rewards, and the list goes on. And in the end, even if you claim all the rewards, it's not going to be nearly as much as the 50% that we give you INSTANTLY with no strings attached.
Duel: Instant rakeback 50% of House Edge.
Yeah I wagered $250K+ and reached platinum on Stake at the beginning of 2025, and I don't think the rewards add up to 50% house edge.
It's real, and it's called Duel casino.
Meanwhile the owner of duel is playing poker heads-up for millions and generally losing(he was down 35m at one point) while duel makes nowhere near that on its margins..
I felt this on the slots for the last two months I’ve won nothing literally nothing no give or take just take take take
I felt this on the slots for the last two months I’ve won nothing literally nothing no give or take just take take take
Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. It feels like payout rates have quietly dropped across the board, and the few “high RTP” games left are either region-restricted or just theoretical numbers you’ll never really see. What used to feel like a fair balance between risk and entertainment now just drains your balance way faster. It’s not just bad luck — it’s design. The greed’s pretty obvious when every “new” slot launches with flashy graphics but worse returns 😶