What is the House Edge and RTP?
If you’re looking for casino games that give you the highest possible likelihood of walking away with a win, you need to understand house edge and RTP. Here we go:
THE HOUSE EDGE IN CASINO GAMES
House edge is a term used to describe the percentage of casino profit from a player’s original bet. House edge in short means the amount the casino can expect to gain from the game, based on players’ bets. For example, a house edge of 3% means the casino is likely to keep 3% of all bets placed as their profit – meaning this is what a player is theoretically likely to lose.
It is helpful to know what the house edge is on each type of casino game because it can help indicate which games offer the highest profit for players.
The house edge or casino advantage, as it is sometimes called, is something that exists in every casino and every game. The house edge changes based on the rules in play.
French roulette, blackjack and video poker and craps have some of the best odds of all the casino games. That said, the house edge will increase dramatically if you don’t play with good strategy.
RETURN TO PLAYER PERCENTAGE
Typically, house edge is a term used for table games. On the other hand, online pokies use the term Return to Player. This is basically the same thing, except that it’s reversed. Instead of indicating what the casino’s advantage is, the Return to Player (RTP) percentage indicates the portion of the bets a player is likely to win back.
For example, the online pokie Starburst by NetEnt has an RTP of 96.06%. This means that if you bet $100, you’ll theoretically win $96.06. Just keep in mind that this RTP percentage is calculated based on millions of spins, and is not applicable to one game session. If this number were given as the house edge, we would say the house edge is 3.94%.
What’s important to note is that the Return to Player percentage is not necessarily fixed for a game. Often, game providers make several versions of one game, all offering different RTP percentages. That way, casinos can choose which RTP to offer. In other words, the casino can choose how large a percentage they want the game to pay out as winnings to players.