Return to Player - Critiques Requested.

[binary128]

Hello. My name is Chris Colby, and I am the President of Galewind Software Corp. Some of you may remember me.

First of all - if this post is not allowed by Forum rules, please delete it (or advise a moderator that it should be deleted). If any of the content of this post is not allowed by forum rules, please edit it.

For reasons, several people here at Galewind have been working on and off for awhile now on a file that will (definitively?) address the subject of Return to Player (RTP) Percentage.

Historically we have always displayed our Slot RTPs in our Help system, and have left it to the Player to use available online resources (Video Poker paytables, Keno calculators, software reviews, etc.) to see, or calculate, the RTPs for our other games.

What we decided to do was to create a single page that will list the RTPs for all of our games together.

When we decided to do this, we waded into a bit of a quagmire populated by a host of potentially confusing and at times misunderstood statistical terms such as House Edge, House Hold, Variance, Element of Risk, Standard Deviation, et al. Even the definition of "Return to Player Percentage" did not appear to be universally accepted.

We found that comparing the RTP for a Slot game to the RTP for a Video Poker game, or to the RTP for a Table Poker game, was not as easy as we would all like. In understanding this, we then felt it necessary to explain why this was so.

That's one of the reasons why we have been working for so long on creating this page. We wanted to use as few words as possible so that it was not intimidating, but to use as many words as necessary so that it was a more friendly read and, most importantly, both technically accurate and easy to understand.

We decided to focus on what we felt were the most important questions for the Player:

1. Reported RTP.

How much money has gone into, or come out of, my pocket?

2. Theoretical RTP.

How much money can I expect to go into, or come out of, my pocket?

Usually, when we create any sort of content for display somewhere within our product's Help system, the page goes live and we never hear anything from anyone about it.

I didn't want that to happen here. So, I decided to brave the potential shredding from the members of the Casinomeister Forum (just kidding), and post that page (or rather a link to that page) here for feedback.

I suspect that some of the Players here who are more knowledgeable and experienced than others might say "Chris, lose all of the words and just give me the data". Players with less experience, still struggling with their own understanding of all of this, might leave our page with no greater understanding than when they entered.

Still, here it is, in all its glory:

http://practice.galewindsoftware.ca/.../games_rtp.htm

Thanks in advance for taking the time. Be gentle.

Regards,

Chris Colby
President
Galewind Software Corp.

[threescatters]

Great post and good company ethos, thanks Galewind. Sadly I dont think ive ever played any of your games? I will make a note to try a good casino with them soon.

[Simmo!]

First of all - if this post is not allowed by Forum rules, please delete it (or advise a moderator that it should be deleted). If any of the content of this post is not allowed by forum rules, please edit it.

All OK IMO

Should make for an interesting discussion.

[binary128]

threescatters - you can play for fun on the Products page of our corporate web site.

Simmo - good deal then. Thanks.

Chris

[Nifty29]

A very good read Chris. Thank you.

Hopefully it will help to educate those who do not understand the inner workings of casino games, and why a house edge of 0.8 can still bleed you dry.

[takethemoney]

Good stuff! Thanks for posting it!

Does this come from a casino or group that allows players from the USA?

[jetset]

For those not familiar with Galewind and Chris, he's one of the good guys.

In an issue reported and debated extensively here (I think it was Heroes Casino) Galewind settled a player being screwed by a casino using its software.

Not often you see that sort of integrity imo - I have never forgotten the case.

Details here - it's a long read but an interesting one: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...-slow-pay.html

[KasinoKing]

Thanks in advance for taking the time. Be gentle.

That page looks all OK to me - good stuff!

KK

[Rick Deckard]

For those not familiar with Galewind and Chris, he's one of the good guys.

In an issue reported and debated extensively here (I think it was Heroes Casino) Galewind settled a player being screwed by a casino using its software.

Not often you see that sort of integrity imo - I have never forgotten the case.

Details here - it's a long read but an interesting one: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...-slow-pay.html

That link doesn't go anywhere Jet? Got this summary from http://wizardofodds.com/galewind

"Galewind Software. The company seems to have a good reputation among players. When one of their licensees, Heroes Casino, tried to stiff a winner out of $39,900, Galewind Software gave them the choice to honor their debt or have their casino shut down. Heroes still refused to pay, so Galewind Software honorably did shut them down, and paid the player out of their own pockets. If any other software company has gone so far in the interests of fair and honest gambling, I'm not aware of it."

[jod5413]

Well done. Thanks!