RTP and house edge explained

What RTP and house edge mean

RTP, or return to player, is the percentage of all money wagered on a game that it is expected to pay back over the long run. Michigan’s online gaming rules define it as “the expected percentage of bets or wagers that a specific game will return to the player in the long run.”

The house edge is the other side of the same number: the casino’s average profit as a share of each bet. The Wizard of Odds, a gambling-math reference site, defines it as “the ratio of the average loss to the initial bet.” So:

RTP = 100% − house edge

A slot with a 96% RTP has a 4% house edge. Both are long-run averages, and any single session can end far from them. The casinos in our ranking of the best US online casinos are all state-licensed, and several states set minimum RTPs for online games (see below), but the math in this guide applies to any casino game.

How to turn the house edge into dollars

Your expected loss is the total amount you wager multiplied by the house edge:

Expected loss = total wagered × house edge

The key word is total. If you deposit $100 and make 1,000 spins at $1, re-betting your winnings along the way, you’ve wagered $1,000, not $100. Here’s what $1,000 of total wagers costs on average:

The same $1,000 of play costs almost nine times as much on a 96% slot as on 9/6 Jacks or Better. And the pay table matters: 8/5 Jacks or Better looks almost identical to 9/6, but paying 8 instead of 9 for a full house and 5 instead of 6 for a flush makes it cost nearly six times as much.

Speed matters too, because more bets mean more wagered: 400 spins at $2 is $800 of wagers, or about $32 of expected loss on a 96% slot. Our expected value calculator runs the same math for any bet.

House edge by game

The house edge ranges from under 0.5% on well-played blackjack and video poker to more than 14% on some baccarat and craps bets. These figures come from the Wizard of Odds (accessed September 30, 2026) and assume optimal strategy where skill matters.

Baccarat figures are for an eight-deck game, and the craps figures come from the Wizard of Odds’ craps house edge tables. The craps “odds” bet has a 0% house edge, but you can only make it on top of a bet that has one, such as pass or don’t pass.

Rules change the edge. In blackjack, a table that pays 6 to 5 on a blackjack instead of 3 to 2 cuts your return by 1.39 percentage points, and a dealer who hits soft 17 costs another 0.22 points, according to the Wizard of Odds. By our calculation, adding the 6:5 penalty to a game with a 0.3%–0.6% edge gives a house edge of roughly 1.7%–2.0%.

Why roulette’s edge is what it is. An American wheel has 38 pockets (1–36, 0 and 00), but a single-number bet pays 35 to 1, as if there were 36. Over 38 spins you’d expect to win 35 units once and lose 1 unit 37 times, a net loss of 2 units, or 5.26%. A European wheel has one zero, so the loss is 1 unit in 37, or 2.70%. The five-number 0-00-1-2-3 bet works out to 7.89%, the worst bet on the American wheel.

What slots pay back

Slots usually carry a higher house edge than table games. The Wizard of Odds puts it at 2%–15% (an RTP of roughly 85%–98%), based on returns from a major manufacturer.

State revenue data shows what players actually got back on average. By our calculation from Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board figures, online slot players were paid $52.02 billion on $54.82 billion wagered in 2025, a 94.90% payout. That means they lost about $2.8 billion before promotional credits. Pennsylvania’s online table games, by contrast, kept only about 1.77% of wagers.

These are averages across every game and every player. Individual slots vary, and your own results in any session will vary much more.

Volatility: why results swing

Volatility, also called variance, describes how much a game’s results swing around its average. It doesn’t change the house edge; it changes the ride.

Two slots can both return 96% in the long run and still feel completely different. A low-volatility slot pays small wins often, so your balance drifts down slowly. A high-volatility slot pays rarely but can pay big, so long losing runs are broken by occasional large wins. Over a short session, volatility shapes your result far more than RTP does; over a very large number of spins, the house edge takes over.

This matters for your budget, because on a high-volatility game you’re more likely to run out of money before the average shows up. It also matters for bonuses, where you have to finish a wagering requirement; see casino bonuses explained.

Minimum RTP rules in US states

Several states set a floor on how little a licensed online game can be designed to pay back. These are minimums, not typical values: Pennsylvania’s online slots averaged 94.90% in 2025, well above its 85% floor.

Michigan’s figure comes from the board’s 2020 rule text, and we couldn’t confirm whether amendments in April 2025 changed it. All of these minimums apply to theoretical RTP over a game’s lifetime, not to any single session.

How to find a game’s RTP

For slots, open the game’s help, info or paytable screen; many game makers list the theoretical RTP there. If you can’t find it, ask the casino’s support team. A posted RTP is only as trustworthy as the casino, which is one more reason to play at a licensed online casino.

For table games and video poker, the RTP depends on rules you can check yourself:

• Blackjack: look for tables that pay 3 to 2 on a blackjack (not 6 to 5) and where the dealer stands on soft 17.
• Roulette: choose a single-zero wheel (2.70%) over a double-zero wheel (5.26%) when both are offered.
• Video poker: read the pay table. In Jacks or Better, 9/6 returns 99.54% with optimal play, 8/5 returns 97.30% and 6/5 only 95.00%.
• Baccarat and craps: the banker, player, pass and don’t pass bets have low edges; the 8-to-1 tie bet and one-roll bets such as any seven have high ones.

Why past results don’t change the odds

Each spin, hand or roll is independent: a slot isn’t “due” after a cold streak, and a roulette wheel has no memory. After ten reds in a row on a European wheel, the chance of red on the next spin is still 18 in 37, or 48.6%. Believing otherwise is called the gambler’s fallacy.

Online slots and digital table games use random number generators, and state rules set standards for them; Pennsylvania’s online rules, for example, require random number generators to “adhere to standards in § 461a.7.” No betting system changes the house edge, either. Raising your bets after losses only increases how much you wager, and your expected loss is still the total wagered times the edge.

Chasing losses is also one of the warning signs of problem gambling listed by the National Council on Problem Gambling. If you notice it, our responsible gambling guide explains the limits and help available.

The bottom line

The house edge is the price of playing, and you pay it on every dollar you wager, not just on your deposit. Choose games and rules with a low edge, avoid 6:5 blackjack and double-zero roulette when better versions are available, and set your budget in advance. For state-licensed casinos where payout rules are enforced, see our list of the best online casinos in the US, and use our casino bonus guide to apply the same math to welcome offers.