What Is the Difference between Return to Player and Payback Percentage?

There is confusion over the meaning of casino-related terms “return to player” and “payback percentages” regarding slots, video poker, and video keno. Can you provide clarity and significance to these terms?

[Editor's Note: Michael Shackleford, widely known as the "Wizard of Odds," answers this.]

Here, we're referring strictly to slots, since the terminology for table games is a little different.

There's no difference between return to player (RTP) and payback percentage. They're synonyms that mean the same thing. The industry tends to prefer RTP, while players payback percentage. But both are simply what the player can expect to get back from a bet.

For example, in 9/6 Jacks or Better, it's 99.54% (assuming optimal strategy). This means that for every $100 you play through the machine, your mathematical expectation is $99.54. It doesn't matter if you call it return to player or payback percentage. Your expectation, mathematically speaking, is to lose 46 cents per $100.

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Srgntpep Jan-31-2023

Ah I see

I was confused until I got to "assuming optimal strategy"--I think I see where my mistakes are being made.

Dave_Miller_DJTB Jan-31-2023

Edge / Hold / Handle / Win

Unless I’m completely mistaken…

RTP and payback are also referred to as the edge. And it too assumes optimal strategy. 

Hold, on the other hand, is the difference between the cash in and cash out and can fluctuate the same as variance. 

Handle is the total amount bet. 

Win is the amount the casino has won from the players. (Yeah, I find that somewhat insulting, but it’s an industry term.) It is not the same as the hold.

Question of the Day - 31 January 2023

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