Explanation of Payout rates

The payout rate is usually given as a percentage and indicates the percentage payout of a particular game over a particular time period. The payout rate is one difference between land and online slots.

Slots at Online Casinos typically have payout rates ranging from 89% up to 99.5% whilst Land Based Casinos typically have pay out rates ranging from 65% to 85%.

This difference might not seem like much but it can make a massive difference to you as a player.

Online Casino - 95% slots payout example

For this first example an online slot game with a 95% payout rate is being used, this is a typical figure for online casinos (and many offer higher payout rates such as Intercasino with 97.5% and SLOTLAND with 98%).

If a slot is paying out at 95% and you were paying $10 per spin you could expect to win back $95 for every 10 spins. This would mean the casino had made $5 (or a 5%) profit.

Land Based Casino - 75% payout example

If you were playing a similar game at a Land Based Casino again at $10 per spin but this time with a 75% payout rate you would expect to win back $75 for every 10 spins. This would mean the casino would have made a $25 (or 25%) profit.

The Reality of payouts

In reality 10 spins would not be a long enough time period to find out that the slots game in question was paying out at the advertised rate. You could lose every spin for the first 10 spins, then lose half during the next 10 spins and then win back 400% on the next 10 spins.

The truth is there will be times when a game is operating at a much lower pay out rate than its norm and other times when it operates at a higher rate you its at those higher payout rate times that you want to be playing.

You are also well advised to play online instead of at a land based casino, because the higher payout rates dramatically increase your chances of winning and decrease the speed of your losses.

You might also find these pages helpful FAQs and Jargon Buster.