Slot Payout Rates: What Are They and Why Are They Important?
Payout rates, or payout percentages, are estimates of how much a casino game will return to the player on average of all the money wagered into a game over a certain period of time, be it online or in a land-based casino. For example, online slot games have a payout rate of 96% on average. The rest 4% are called “house edge” and the casino keeps that as a profit. This means that for every $100 wagered, $4 are held by the casino. It may not seem much, but it’s enough for the casino to maintain its operation profitable.
Payout Rates in Land-Based Casinos
In many countries, such as the United States, the payout rates of land-based casino games are regulated by law, which means that they cannot be lower than the percentage proposed by the state. This percentage is usually as low as 70% for slots. It is a way in which land-based casino players are guaranteed that they will receive a fair deal. So, why are the payout rates worse in land-based casinos as opposed to online casinos? Here is why.
The land-based casino gaming industry has been an excellent source of revenue for the governments around the world. Land-based casinos have to employ large numbers of casino workers, such as dealers, pit bosses, waiters, barmen, cashiers, security etc., so they have to fill out lots of different job positions, depending on how big the casino establishment tends to be. This means lots of taxed revenues and lower profits. All of the costs that are generated from the business need to be covered by the payout rates. A fun fact: the comps in land-based casinos are not virtual points as in online casinos, but free meals, free drinks, free shows and different other things that actually come at some price.
Online casinos, on the other hand, have the advantage of running on lower costs. They can operate with fewer employees, usually only in the IT, managerial or customer support sectors. They don’t have maintenance costs for their facilities because everything is virtual and online, which enables them to offer higher payout rates. For example, the payout rates across all games in an average good online casino can be up to 98%. The average Atlantic City or Las Vegas land-based casino can offer up to 93% at best.
Payout Rates in Online Casinos
First of all, payout rates in online casinos, as opposed to land-based casinos, are not regulated by law. That doesn’t mean that there is no way of monitoring and auditing them. Anyway, the benefit of playing online casino games, video slots, for example, compared to land-based slots is that the payout rates of the former are much higher than the rates of the latter. This is the same with other land-based games that have payout rates, such as video poker machines, specialty games and others that are computer-based.
- #1 Bloodsuckers – 98.00%
- #2 Kings of Chicago – 97.80%
- #3 Devil’s Delight – 97.60%
- #4 Retro Reels: Extreme Heat – 97.50%
- #5 Lucky Lady’s Charm deluxe – 97.10%
- #6 A Night Out – 97.06%
- #7 Breakaway – 97.00%
- #8 Double Bubble- 96.02%
- #9 Cleopatra II- 95.13%
- >
| # | Payout rate: | Name: | Developer: | Reels: | Paylines: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 98.00% | Bloodsuckers | Net Entertainment | 5 | 25 |
| 2 | 97.80% | Kings of Chicago | Net Entertainment | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | 97.60% | Devil’s Delight | Net Entertainment | 5 | 20 |
| 4 | 97.50% | Retro Reels: Extreme Heat | MicroGaming | 5 | 30 |
| 5 | 97.10% | Lucky Lady’s Charm deluxe | Novoline | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 97.06% | A Night Out | PlayTech | 5 | 20 |
| 7 | 97.00% | Breakaway | MicroGaming | 5 | 243 |
| 8 | 96.02% | Double Bubble | GameSys | 5 | 20 |
| 9 | 95.13% | Cleopatra II | IGT | 5 | 20 |
There Are No Statutory Payout Rates
Payout rates are set by the casinos themselves. All they do is estimate the hold percentage with which they can operate comfortably without going bankrupt, but they take into consideration how much the customers will be satisfied with the planned payout rates, so that everyone can be happy at the same time. Usually every casino sticks to the industry-standard rates and sees that their rates don’t vary too much.
A casino’s payout rates can vary on a monthly basis. It doesn’t mean that this month’s payout rates of some casino cannot be identical with the ones from the month before and the ones from the month after. They usually deviate within decimals, but a big jackpot can make a significant difference. Just as a big payout can throw the numbers up, so does a lack of big payout can throw them down. These numbers will be the closest to what you will get when playing all the different games at the casino. A casino will maintain that the numbers are what they are, but it is up to you to crunch the actual numbers and see for yourself if they are true, at least the ones for your favorite games.
Rates Vary on the Different Games
Payout rates of online slot games vary between 94% and 98% in the best case. Usually they are around 95%-96% range. Payout rates of slot machines change all the time. As the economy of a casino changes, so do the slots payout rates change, because these games form most of a casino’s revenue. They also vary in cases where big slot payouts were made. Your job is to check if there have been changes in the month’s rates. They are not drastic, but any kind of change will affect your return. Slots are supposed to be fun, so don’t let these numbers ruin your playing time, just have fun and relax, but see that you find the best paying slots anyway.
Ladbrokes – A Leader in Terms of Payout Rates Transparency
Some of the online casinos go the extra mile and display their payout rates, which makes it convenient because that way you can compare those numbers with your calculations of your total wagering action. For example, one such casino is Ladbrokes. It employs a third-party auditing agency that performs the audit of the payout rates in order for the casino to be able to prove that their rates are true and real. Other casinos do the same thing, but some, unfortunately, do not. For more information about the casino, read our Ladbrokes review here.
Can I Check the Payout Rates Myself?
Don’t despair even if you cannot see the payout rates of a specific casino. If that casino has been certified by an independent inspection company such as TST (Gaming Laboratories International), then you can trust it. If a certain online casino is certified by TST, this will be displayed at the website, usually in the footer, and there you can see the logo of the testing and certification company, in this case the TST logo. When you click on the logo, you will be redirected to a webpage where the official document issued by TST is displayed, and it contains information about the certified payout rates.
TST & Gaming Laboratories International
TST is an internationally recognized facility that offers testing of all kinds of casino games and it is one of the leading auditing firms in the industry. The company was established in 1993, and it became part of Gaming Laboratories International in 2010 and now it has an undisputed authority as a testing agency. The TST team includes specialists in information systems, software engineers, computer experts, statisticians, mathematicians, legal professionals and auditors.
| Important Details about GLI | |
|---|---|
| Enterprise: | Gaming Laboratories International |
| Founding year: | 1989 |
| Founders: | James Maida, Paul Magno |
| Vice President: | Kevin M. |
| Address: | 600 Airport Road Lakewood, NJ 08701 United States |
| Licence: | New Jersey Casino Control Commission |
| Countries: | UK, Austria, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Australia, Macao, South Africa, Canada, Argentina |
| Awards: | “Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards”, Casino Journal Magazine |
| Tests applied: | Chi-square test, Even distribution test, Roll-over test, Ovelapping samples t-test, Coupon Collector`s test, Permutations test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Statistic relations test, Correlations test, Subsequences test. |
| Testing of interactive (iGaming) gaming systems: | Software- and System certification, Testing of software identity, Systems for player/user accounts, Document verification, Data transmission, Integrity testing, Evaluation of information systems security test for randomness, probability and fairness, Analyses of Random Number Generators, Technical evaluation, Report generation |
Monthly Statistics of Online Casinos
So, the bottom line is that even if the payout rates have not been displayed by the casino, you can request such information by sending an email, and the monthly statistics will be sent to you. As mentioned before this can be very useful if you want to use those numbers to gain insight as to where is best to wager your money.