RTP Explained
RTP, or return to player, is the share of all stakes a game pays back as wins over millions of rounds. At 96% it keeps about €4 of every €100 wagered - on average, never per session.
- Winnings untaxed
- Stakes in €
- MGA licensed
- Info panel RTP
The short answer
RTP is the long-run percentage of stakes a game returns as wins. Book of Dead is published at 96.21%, so over a huge sample it keeps about €3.79 of every €100 wagered. Your own session can land far above or below that, because volatility decides how bumpy the ride is.
RTP explained in one line: it is the game's long-run payback rate, measured across every spin that every player makes. It is not a promise about your next spin, your evening or your week. Think of it as the price tag of the entertainment, written as a percentage.
RTP (return to player) - the percentage of all money wagered on a game that its maths model returns as wins over a very large number of rounds. The rest is the house edge, so RTP plus house edge always equals 100%.
A slot published at 96.21%, like Book of Dead from Play'n GO, pays back €96.21 per €100 staked across millions of spins. The studio calculates the figure and independent test labs check it before the game goes live.
RTP says nothing about how often you win. That part is volatility: how the returned money is spread between frequent small wins and rare big ones.
Every licensed game carries its RTP in the paytable, usually behind an "i" or a menu icon. SpinAway is operated by Jungle Media Ltd under a Malta Gaming Authority licence (MGA/B2C/822/2020), and the games in its lobby come from approved suppliers such as Play'n GO, Pragmatic Play, Evolution and Push Gaming, each of which publishes these numbers.
TipLook for the word "theoretical" next to the figure in the info panel. It is a reminder that RTP is a statistical average, not a guaranteed refund.
Why return to player matters to you
A few percentage points look tiny on a game tile. Over a whole session they decide how long your € budget lasts.
Here are the published figures for the five games on our most popular list. They come from the studios and are the headline versions of each game.
Stake €500 in total on Razor Shark and the expected cost is €16.50. Put the same €500 through Mega Moolah and the expected cost is €59.40. That gap is not a flaw: a slice of every Mega Moolah stake builds the progressive jackpot, so you are paying for a shot at a life-changing prize rather than steady play.
For Irish players there is one more reason to care about the maths rather than about tax. Winnings from games with prizes are not chargeable gains under section 613(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, so the only "cut" taken from your play is the house edge built into the game itself.
One game, several RTP versionsStudios such as Play'n GO ship many of their slots in more than one RTP setting, and each casino chooses which build to run. Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead and Reactoonz all work this way, so the paytable inside the game is the figure to trust, not a number you read elsewhere.
See the figures for yourself
Open a game in the lobby and tap the info icon before your first spin.
How RTP works: an example with real numbers
Take Book of Dead at its published 96.21% and a €1 stake. We will follow the maths step by step, then compare it with a single bet on the roulette wheel.
- 1
Add up what goes in
1,000 spins at €1 means €1,000 staked in total. Wins you re-stake count again, which is why total wagered is usually much bigger than your deposit.
- 2
Apply the RTP
€1,000 x 96.21% = €962.10. That is the expected return: what the game pays back on average for that volume of play.
- 3
Read the house edge as a cost
€1,000 - €962.10 = €37.90. That is the expected cost of 1,000 spins, or about 3.8 cent per spin. Framed like this, you can judge a game the way you would judge the price of a cinema ticket.
- 4
Add volatility to the picture
Book of Dead is a high-volatility slot, so a real 1,000-spin session rarely ends near €962. Most finish lower, a few finish far higher after a strong free-spins round, and the average of all of them lands close to the published figure.
The same logic on a roulette table
European roulette has 37 pockets: 18 red, 18 black and one green zero. A €10 bet on red wins €20 back 18 times in 37, so the expected return is 18/37 x €20 = €9.73. That is 97.30% RTP and a 2.70% house edge, the same figure Evolution publishes for outside bets on Lightning Roulette.
TipOn Lightning Roulette the straight-up numbers pay 29 to 1 plus random multipliers, and Evolution lists 97.10% for those bets. The outside bets keep the classic 97.30%.
Try it: the RTP cost calculator
Move the sliders to see what a session costs on average at the RTP, stake and pace you choose.
RTP example with sliders
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Averages only. Any single session can end well above or well below these figures, and higher-volatility games swing more.
Try dropping the RTP slider from 96.21% to 88.12% while leaving the rest alone: at €1 a spin and a steady pace, the cost per hour rises from about €19 to about €59. Then raise the stake instead and watch how much faster the cost climbs than it does when you change the RTP.
RTP myths we hear all the time
Most bad decisions at the reels start with one of these six ideas.
A 96% RTP means I get €96 back from my €100.
The figure is an average over millions of rounds and all players. Your €100 can turn into €300 or into nothing - the average only shows up over huge volumes.
A slot that has not paid for a while is due a win.
Every spin is decided by a random number generator and has no memory. A long dry run does not raise the chance of the next spin paying.
Casinos tighten the RTP at night or after a big win.
The percentage is fixed in the certified game build. It does not move spin by spin; the info panel shows which version you are playing.
Higher RTP means I will win more often.
Hit frequency comes from volatility. A high-RTP, high-volatility slot can go dozens of spins without a meaningful win.
A jackpot slot with a lower RTP is a rip-off.
Part of each stake feeds the progressive pool, which is why Mega Moolah shows 88.12%. You trade steady returns for a shot at the jackpot.
Live roulette has worse odds than the digital table.
Single-zero roulette carries a 2.70% edge whether a dealer spins the wheel or software does. Only the bet types and side features change the figure.
Checklist before you start a session
Tick each point as you go. It takes a minute and turns RTP from a number on a page into a plan for your evening.
0 of 6 done
If you ever feel the budget part of this list getting harder to keep, free and confidential help is available in Ireland from Gambling Care and Problem Gambling Ireland. Play is for adults aged 18 and over.
Same volume of play, five different games. This is how the expected result of €1,000 in total stakes changes with the payback rate.
| Game | RTP | Back | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| European roulette | 97.30% | €973.00 | €27.00 |
| Razor Shark | 96.70% | €967.00 | €33.00 |
| Legacy of Dead | 96.58% | €965.80 | €34.20 |
| Book of Dead | 96.21% | €962.10 | €37.90 |
| Mega Moolah | 88.12% | €881.20 | €118.80 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
"Back" is the expected return and "Cost" is the house edge in euro. The top four rows sit within €11 of each other, so among the regular games your choice can come down to theme and volatility. The jackpot row is a different kind of product altogether.
Picking a slot by its artwork alone
Picking by artwork, RTP and volatility
The theme still matters - you should enjoy what you play - but a quick look at the paytable tells you what the fun costs.
Chasing a loss with bigger stakes
Keeping the stake that fits the budget
Doubling the stake doubles the expected cost per hour; the house edge never shrinks because you are behind.
Ready to put the numbers to work? Browse the full game selection on our homepage, check the welcome package under bonuses, or open the SpinAway lobby and compare paytables yourself.
Questions Irish players ask about RTP
Short answers to what we get asked most about return to player, house edge and volatility.
RTP stands for return to player. It is the percentage of all money wagered on a game that the maths model pays back as wins over a very long run. A slot at 96.21% returns about €96.21 for every €100 staked across millions of spins, and keeps the other €3.79 as the house edge.
Over a long session a higher RTP costs you less on average, so it is a sensible tie-breaker between two games you enjoy. It does not make wins more frequent - that is down to volatility - and it cannot promise a profit in any single session.
RTP tells you how much a game pays back overall. Volatility tells you how that money is spread: low-volatility games pay small wins often, high-volatility games such as Razor Shark pay rarely but can pay big. Two games with the same RTP can feel completely different.
The house edge is simply 100% minus the RTP. European roulette with one zero has an edge of 2.70% because one pocket in 37 belongs to the house, so its RTP is 97.30%. On a slot at 96.21% the edge is 3.79%.
On our popular games list the top figure is Lightning Roulette at 97.30% for outside bets (Evolution lists 97.10% for straight-up numbers), followed by Razor Shark at 96.70% and Legacy of Dead at 96.58%. Always confirm the figure in the game's own info panel, because some studios ship more than one version.
No. Under section 613(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, winnings from betting, lotteries and games with prizes are not chargeable gains for players. What you win at the table or on the reels is yours in full.
No. The percentage is fixed in the certified game build, not adjusted spin by spin or by time of day. What can differ is which build a casino runs, since studios such as Play'n GO offer several settings - the paytable or info panel shows the one in front of you.
Pick your next game with the numbers in view
Open any title in the SpinAway lobby, tap the info icon and you will see the RTP before your first spin. Then play the game that fits your budget and your mood.
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