RTP and House Edge: What Players Really Get Back

• What RTP means: The percentage of money slots return over time.
• House edge explained: The built-in margin that keeps casinos profitable.
• UK land-based VS online: How pub slots, B3’s and online casinos compare.

RTP & House Edge

If you’ve ever looked at the small print on a UK slot machine or an online game, you might have spotted the letters RTP. It stands for Return to Player — and it’s one of the most important numbers in gambling, even though many players don’t fully understand it, or totally ignore it.

RTP explained
RTP is the percentage of all money staked on a machine that will be returned to players over the long term. For example, a slot with an RTP of 92% will, on average, return £92 for every £100 wagered. The other £8 is what’s known as the house edge — the built-in profit margin that ensures the casino or arcade makes money.

UK slot RTPs
On land-based B3 slots (with £2 max stake and £500 jackpot), RTP usually sits between 90% and 94%. Pub fruit machines with £100 jackpots are lower, often around 78%–90%. Online slots, however, tend to be higher — usually 94%–97%, because they don’t have the same running costs as a physical arcade or pub machine. That’s one of the big reasons players often feel their money lasts longer online than in a venue.

What RTP really means for players
It’s crucial to remember that RTP is a long-term average. You could put £10 into a B3 machine and get nothing back, or you could hit the jackpot on your first spin. The percentage doesn’t guarantee what will happen in a single session — it simply reflects the way the maths is set up over thousands and thousands of plays.

House edge in practice
The house edge is the flip side of RTP. If a game has 92% RTP, the house edge is 8%. That doesn’t sound like much, but over time it adds up. It’s the reason casinos and arcades can afford to keep running, while most players eventually walk away with less than they started.

RTP comparisons

• UK Pub fruit machines (£100 jackpot): ~78–90% RTP

• UK B3 slots (£500 jackpot): ~90–94% RTP

• Online UK slots: ~94–97% RTP

• Crypto casinos: varies wildly (some fair, some unverified)

The takeaway
Understanding RTP and house edge helps strip away the myths about slots being “due” to pay out. Whether you’re playing in a UK pub, on a B3 terminal, or online, the maths is always in the house’s favour. The only real choice is whether you prefer the steadier grind of lower-RTP pub machines, the slightly fairer B3s, or the higher RTP of online games.