How is RTP Calculated?

If you are an online fruit machine enthusiast like me and have played countless titles over the past few years or a newcomer who has been thinking about trying them on a legally permitted site, you may have wondered if these games are fair.

Each time you click or tap the spin button in any computer-generated online fruit machine, the result/outcome for each spin is, in fact, pre-determined. In other words, the animated sequences of the reels spinning randomly to determine if we have won or not that we are presented with is a cleverly crafted illusion. However, there is nothing sinister about this.

Today’s most popular online fruit machines from market-leading providers, which are commonly found on hundreds of fully licensed and regulated websites, are frequently tested by internationally accredited third-party testing agencies, and their data always shows that they produce fair and realistic results with high or above-average return to player (RTP%) payout rates.

On this page, I will be revealing how the RTP payout rate is calculated in online fruit machines before revealing the names of a handful of non-profit organizations that test fruitys to ensure people like me are getting a fair service when we play them, which helps to foster a sense of trust in the online fruitys we play and enhances the reputation and profile of the industry as a whole.

What is RTP, and why is it important for people who join sites to play online fruit machines?

The RTP% payout rate is designed to tell us roughly how much an online fruit machine will pay back in winnings after a certain amount of money has been wagered on it.

Most online fruit machines today have an average RTP% payout rate of around 93.00% to 98.00%, sometimes lower (usually no lower than 92.00%) and sometimes higher (it’s not uncommon for the RTP% payout rate to climb above 100.00%), especially ones found on top-rated websites like those currently featured in the top 10 on the JohnSlots UK (www.johnslots.com/en/) review site.

Online fruitys with a high or above average RTP% payout rate, so around 96.00% or higher, should, theoretically speaking, pay out more than an online fruity with anything lower than a 96.00% payout rate. However, it doesn’t always work like this.

For example, you must consider that at any given moment, there might be hundreds of thousands or even millions of people playing that same online fruit machine at the same time as you.

You might only wager $/€/£20 on, say, the Diamond Mine Megaways online fruit machine from Blueprint and win $/€/£100 or more, but someone else who played that same fruity for as long as you may have wagered $/€/£100 but only pocketed $/€/£20 by the end of their session.

If that same Megaways fruity has a 96.00% RTP payout rate, and 10,000 people all spent, on average, around $/€/£10 each on that specific title over a 24-hour period, it means that combined, they spent $/€/£100,000 ($/€/£10 x 10,000), and during that period, the total winnings they will have should have received back is $/€/£960,000.

Winning and losing still boils down to luck, meaning sometimes you will win, and sometimes you will lose. Just because you spend $/€/£100 on that fruity doesn’t mean that you will win back a guaranteed minimum of $/€/£96.00 just because it has a 96.00% RTP payout rate.

Which companies test online fruit machines for fairness?

The industry is safeguarded by numerous independent testing agencies that use their highly sophisticated software and systems to ensure the fruit machines consistently produce fair results. Their computer programs may play billions of spins to determine even more accurate results.

Some of the most notable organizations that test online fruitys to see how fair the payout rates are include the following:

eCOGRA (eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance)
Global Lab Limited
iTech Global Pty Limited
Quinel Ltd
BMM Testlabs
Gaming Laboratory International
Technical Systems Testing

These companies often test the results in hundreds of online fruitys from multiple mid to top-tier software providers and then publish their findings on their websites so that everyone, including people like me who spend money on these games, can view the results to see how fair they really are.

Final thoughts

When I first learned about online fruit machine return to player payout rates, I must admit I would avoid playing ones with a lower-than-95.00% RTP payout rate and would always search for ones with a 96.00% or higher payout rate.

Today, I’m not as fussy because I’ve found that I win and lose in equal measure, no matter how high or low the RTP payout rate is. The only thing I really care about is that the fruitys are made by licensed and regulated software providers.

The ones I play must have engaging themes, immersive bonus rounds and features, big jackpots, good graphics, animations, and sounds, and a wide betting range, and they must work well in my favourite web browser when using my preferred desktop computer or smartphone.