What RTP means, worked through with a number
Take a pokie whose information panel shows a return of 96%. Stake A$1 a spin for a thousand spins and you have put $1,000 of turnover through it. The design is built to return $960 of that across an enormous number of rounds, which leaves a modelled cost of $40 for the thousand spins. That $40 is the only number in the sentence that behaves predictably, and it only behaves predictably over far more than a thousand spins.
This is why RTP is useless as a session forecast and useful as a comparison. Two games at the same stake and the same spin count carry different modelled costs, and the difference is fixed, knowable and printed on screen before you play. Everything else about the evening is variance.
| Published return | House edge | Modelled return on A$1,000 turnover | Modelled cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 98% | 2% | A$980 | A$20 |
| 97% | 3% | A$970 | A$30 |
| 96% | 4% | A$960 | A$40 |
| 95% | 5% | A$950 | A$50 |
| 94% | 6% | A$940 | A$60 |
| 92% | 8% | A$920 | A$80 |
Compare the casinos behind the lobbies
Bonus, wagering, minimum deposit and payout terms, with the full conditions under every row.
Bonus terms
Offer placeholder. Bonus amount, wagering, minimum deposit and eligibility are to be confirmed with the operator before publishing. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 125% bonus up to €1,000 + 100 free spins | 40x wagering on bonus & free-spin winnings | Bonus valid 7 days | Free spins credited over 4 days | First deposit only | T&Cs apply.
Bonus terms
18+ | New customers only | Bonus code BLISS | Min. deposit €20 | 120% bonus up to €500 + 125 free spins | 40x wagering within 14 days | T&Cs apply.
- #4
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 1st dep: 100% up to €500 + 100 FS | 2nd dep: 75% up to €2,000 + 75 FS | 3rd dep: 50% up to €2,000 + 75 FS | 4th dep: 25% up to €3,500 + 50 FS | 5th dep: 50% up to €2,000 + 100 FS | 40x-50x wagering on bonus & FS winnings | Bonus and free spins valid 3 days | Max withdrawal 5x deposit | First 5 deposits only | T&Cs apply.
- #5
Bonus terms
New customers only | Min. deposit €20 | 100% bonus on the first deposit up to €600 + 125 free spins (25 free spins daily over 5 days) | Wager the bonus within 7 days | T&Cs apply | 18+ | Gambling can be addictive.
- #6
Bonus terms
Welcome bonus 280% up to €3,200 + 800 free spins. Bonus winnings are subject to wagering and are capped at €500. The bonus expires after 5 days if the wagering is not met. One bonus per person. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
- #7
Bonus terms
New customers only | Min. deposit €250 | Deposit bonus 100% up to €5,000 + 100 free spins on Collapsed Castle (€0.20 per spin) | Free spins credited in 2 packs of 50 every 24 hours | Bonus wagering x25 (free-spin winnings x25) | Wagering to be met within 14 days | Bonus can be reactivated after 7 days | Bonus is not withdrawable until fully wagered | Bonus T&Cs apply.
- #8
Bonus terms
18+ | New users | Welcome pack across 3 deposits: 100%/80%/60% bonus, up to €2,500 in total + 300 free spins | Min. deposit €20 | 45x wagering | Max bonus bet €5 | Activate within 48 hours, valid 5 days | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #9
Bonus terms
18+ | New customers only | 100% deposit bonus up to €200 | Min. deposit €20 | 40x wagering | Max bet €5 | Bonus valid 10 days | Max withdrawal 10x the bonus amount | T&Cs apply | Gambling can be addictive.
- #10
Bonus terms
18+ | New players | Min. first deposit €20 (CAD/AUD: 15) | Bonus code FIRST | 100% bonus up to €1,000 + 100 free spins | 40x wagering on bonus & free-spin winnings | Max bonus withdrawal equals the bonus amount received | Max bet €5 while wagering | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #11
Bonus terms
Welcome bonus: 100% up to €1,250 on the first deposit (min. €20). The bonus must be wagered 30x with real money and is valid for 14 days. One redemption per player. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
- #12
Bonus terms
18+ | All deposits | Min. deposit €50 | Privilege Wheel: up to €700 bonus or 50 free spins on 3 Royal Coins / Lucky Streak 1000 | 30x wagering | Max withdrawal from free spins €300 | The prize must be activated with a min. €50 deposit | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #13
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 1st dep: 100% up to €1,000 + 200 FS | 2nd dep: 100% up to €200 + 50 FS | 35x wagering on deposit & bonus | 40x wagering on free-spin winnings | Bonus must be activated within 7 days | Wagering to be met within 10 days | Max withdrawal 6x the bonus amount | First 2 deposits only | T&Cs apply.
- #14
Bonus terms
Welcome package: 100% bonus up to €10,000 + 500 free spins, min. deposit €20. Bonus funds and deposits must be wagered 3x before a withdrawal is possible. Check whether your country is accepted before depositing. Full terms apply. 18+. Play responsibly.
- #15
Bonus terms
18+. New customers only. The casino welcome bonus of 100% up to €500 + 50 free spins applies on a successful first deposit after the bonus code is entered. Before any withdrawal a 5x wagering of the deposit is required, counting only sports bets at minimum odds 1.6 and casino bets without minimal or zero risk. Withdrawal limits and further bonus conditions apply under the general terms. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
Why the same pokie can show two different returns
Studios often build a title in several configurations and let the operator choose which one to run. The game looks identical, the symbols and the features are identical, and the number in the information panel is not. That is the whole reason this site does not publish a ranked table of game returns: a figure that is correct in one lobby can be wrong in the next, and a wrong figure here would cost you money.
So the rule is simple. Open the game in the lobby you intend to play in, find the information, rules or paytable panel, and read the figure there. If the panel names no single return, treat every number you have seen for that title as unverified, including any number on a review site. How pokies work covers what the panel is showing you and why the outcome of each round is drawn independently of the last.
What we publish and what we leave blank
Every game review on this site prints a return only when the studio's own figure can be named. Where it cannot, the review says the studio does not publish a single return for that title, or that the return varies by operator configuration. A gap is more useful than a guess.
RTP does not tell you how a session will feel: volatility does
Two pokies can share a return of 96% and behave nothing alike. One pays small amounts often and drifts your balance down slowly. The other pays almost nothing for two hundred spins and then returns a large multiple in one round. Same modelled cost over a million spins, completely different experience over an hour, and a completely different bankroll needed to reach the average.
That second figure is volatility, and most game panels rate it as low, medium or high. It decides how long your money survives at a given stake far more than the return does. Volatility explained sets out how to read the rating, and what loose really means deals with the venue word Australians use when they are actually describing low volatility.
What the return does to a bonus you have to turn over
On a normal session you choose your turnover. On a bonus you do not: the wagering requirement fixes it. A 40x requirement on a A$200 bonus means $8,000 of staking, and the modelled cost of that turnover depends entirely on the games you clear it with. At 96% it is $320. At 94% it is $480. At 92% it is $640. Nothing about the bonus changed, only the games you chose.
Two further lines in the terms matter as much as the figure. Game weighting decides which titles count towards the requirement and at what rate, and a maximum bet clause caps the stake you may use while the bonus is live. Both are set per operator and both are printed under the rows in the table. How wagering is calculated works through the variants, and the no wagering casinos page covers the offers that remove the requirement instead of discounting it.
How to find the published return, step by step
- 01
Open the game, not the review
Load the title in the lobby you will actually play in. Demo mode is enough for this: the information panel is the same in demo as in real play.
- 02
Find the information panel
It sits behind an i icon, a burger menu or a Rules link, usually in the bottom corner of the game frame. On a phone it is often one level deeper than on desktop.
- 03
Read the return and the volatility together
Note both figures and the maximum win multiplier while you are there. Those three lines tell you more about the next hour than any ranking could.
- 04
Check the same title elsewhere before you conclude anything
If you play the same game at two operators, compare the panels. A difference means the configuration differs, and the higher one is where the same turnover costs you less.
Read the terms, then pick a lobby
The conditions under every row of the table are the operator's own wording, including the wagering line and any maximum bet while a bonus is live.
Compare all 15So which pokies have the highest RTP?
The honest answer is that the highest return available to you is a property of your lobby, not of a list. Classic video pokies with simple paytables have historically been built at tighter edges than feature-heavy releases with bought bonus rounds, but that is a tendency, not a figure, and we will not attach a percentage to it without a studio source.
What you can do is read the panel on the titles you already play. The pokies section reviews the games Australians search for most, and each review prints the studio's figure where one exists. Megaways pokies is a useful place to start, because the mechanic changes the number of ways to win on every spin, which makes the published return easier to misread than on a fixed payline game. If the site-wide version of this question is what brought you here, the highest payout percentage page explains why that figure needs an audit report behind it.
