Does an Online Casino’s Overall RTP Matter?

Return to player (RTP) is an important concept in online gaming. This figure determines how much money you can expect to make from casino games on average.

As a result, you’ll benefit from knowing the RTP for a given game. This information allows you to choose the highest-paying games and, thus, make the most money.

In some cases, you might even find the overall RTP for a casino’s entire game selection. But is this info as valuable as simply knowing the payback for the game you’re playing?

The following guide answers this question by covering more on online casinos’ overall payback along with why it is and isn’t helpful.

What Is a Casino’s Overall RTP?

Most game developers list payout percentages for their games. They’ll put the RTP figure in the info/pay table section. Developers can quickly figure out the RTP for their own games when considering that they designed them.

A casino’s overall payout percentage is a tricky situation. After all, the overall RTP encompasses every, or nearly every, game available at a mobile casino.

This figure takes each slot, table game, video poker variation, and specialty game into account. It then bundles all of these payout percentages into a single number.

Some games may be missing from these figures. After all, certain developers like Real Time Gaming (RTG) don’t offer public payout percentages. The overall RTP number, however, should consider all games at a casino that do have available payback figures.

How Is This Information Helpful?

You may want to know an online casino’s composite RTP for multiple reasons. Here are some ways in which you can benefit from knowing this information.

Nice Composite View of Payback

Checking the payout percentage of every single game that you play can be tiresome. This point is especially true when you like jumping around from game to game.

Sometimes, you might just want a nice composite RTP number. An overall payout percentage becomes especially helpful in this regard.

You can be assured that an online casino generally features high-paying games if their overall RTP is high. You’ll also have access to more games with better payback at such casinos.

Quickly Find High Paying Casinos

Continuing off the point above, you can use high-paying casinos as a good reference point for finding games with favorable RTP. This cuts down on the work of having to spend lots of time searching for individual high-paying games.

Of course, you may wonder how to locate the best-paying online casinos in the first place. Some affiliates list overall RTP in their casino rankings.

If you see that one gaming site offers 98.3% RTP versus 97.5% for another, then you know that the first site features better overall payback.

Locate Gaming Sites that Don’t Choose Lower RTP Options

Some developers offer different payout percentages for a single game. Casino operators, meanwhile, can select from the available options.

For example, a casino might be able to choose the following RTP for an online site:

• 96.5%
• 96.0%
• 95.5%
• 95.0%
• 94.0%

You certainly want to play at mobile casinos that consistently choose the higher-paying options. Overall RTP can be an indicator of gaming sites that like selecting better payback.

What Are the Downsides to Overall RTP Figures?

You can see why a mobile casino’s overall payout percentage can be beneficial. However, you may want to avoid putting too much stock into such figures for the following reasons.

No Information on Individual Games

Just because you’re playing at a mobile casino with high overall payback doesn’t mean that you can win with any random game. After all, even the best-paying casinos have some duds.

Unfortunately, the overall payout percentage doesn’t offer any indication of low-paying games. Instead, it’s just a handy stat that alludes to a fair casino.

If you truly want to know your chances of winning, then you’ll still need to research individual games. A high-paying casino simply provides access to more games with solid RTP.

No Info on How the Overall RTP Is Compiled

As explained before, overall payback is supposed to be the average of a casino’s entire game selection. It measures payout percentages behind everything from blackjack to video poker.

However, the payback figure you see may not be entirely representative of all games. Instead, it might simply be a sampling of the composite RTP.

For example, an affiliate may just search through the payout percentages for 10 slots, 5 table games, and 5 video poker variations. They’ll then add up these 20 figures, divide them by 20, and claim that this is the overall payback.

The reality is that you don’t truly know how affiliates or the casinos themselves come up with composite payout percentages. You’re simply relying on their word.

The RTP Figure Could Be Outdated

Mobile casinos are constantly adding new games. They especially add new slots on a consistent basis.

Therefore, any overall payout percentage that you see is likely to be updated.

It’s difficult for affiliates or even the casinos to keep up with composite RTP when new games constantly arrive.

Of course, a composite payback figure that takes most games into account is still valid. But some of these payout percentages may be seriously outdated.

Should You Still Rely on the Overall RTP?

Despite the downsides covered above, overall payback stats do still have some value. They should be considered loose guides, though, rather than absolute truths.

Again, these figures are unlikely to include every available payout percentage at a casino. After all, the gaming world moves quickly with regard to new releases.

Furthermore, affiliates likely don’t have time to comb through every single game at each online casino they review. Instead, they may simply be sampling a certain number of games to come up with overall payout percentages.

I’m certainly not saying that these figures are based on complete lies. Casino affiliates likely put work into determining overall RTP stats.

It’s best, though, to avoid placing too much emphasis on these figures. They should serve as a preview of what kind of payout percentages casinos offer.

Finding Payout Percentages for Specific Games

Again, the only way to truly know payback is by researching whatever game you’re playing in the moment. You may find this process to be tedious, but it can pay off in the long run. Here are the two main ways to find RTP for specific games.

Look at the Pay Table

Assuming you’re already playing a game, then the pay table/info section provides the quickest route to the RTP. Sometimes listed as “i” on the game screen, the info section displays a variety of stats. The payout percentage is typically among these figures.

Unfortunately, not every developer lists payback for their games. In these cases, you’ll simply be guessing on the RTP.

Luckily, though, most developers do provide payout percentages. You can look up the payback within seconds once you have a game open.

Research Individual Games

Search engines are also helpful when looking for payout percentages. They typically lead you to more resources that offer RTP figures.

If you’re playing Betsoft’s Alkemor’s Tower slot, for example, then you can search for “Alkemor’s Tower RTP.” This search will reveal that Alkemor’s Tower offers 94.96% payback.

You might also try looking for the best-paying slots throughout the entire gaming world. If you want to find slots with 99% RTP, then you can perform a relevant search.

Conclusion

A mobile casino’s total RTP is useful information to some degree. It offers a quick reference on how well a gaming site pays on average.

If you find an affiliate or another resource with this info, then you should take advantage of it. However, you don’t want to base everything on these composite payout percentages.

Instead, you should also consider how much individual games pay too. Most developers offer RTP figures on their games, which makes the research easier. Of course, you can also visit a game’s pay table to see what RTP it offers.

In summary, overall payback numbers are great for locating casinos with an abundance of high-paying games. Once at the casino, though, you’ll want to look into specific information for whatever game you’re playing too.