Please note: This information is relevant to Australians
A personal friend and I have been debating for some years about the RTP of pokies in land based pubs and clubs.
I said to him: one day I will email Aristocrat and prove the RTP.
Hi,
I live in South Australia and I am wondering what the return is on the 'pokies' you make?
I have a friend who thinks it's 95%+ and I don't believe him.
If you do not know the answer to my question can you please direct me to someone who can?
Please Reply,
[my name removed]
I got a reply from someone called Scott who works at Aristocrat.
Hi [my name removed],
You’re in luck. I have 10 minutes between meetings so you’re going to get more of an answer than you expected.
Manufacturers provide operators with a variety of payback percentages to choose from so it’s up to the operator to decide what ultimately gets released to players. Obviously this is done under very strict government regulation so we can only provide paybacks that fall within the designated ranges specified by each state authority.
In online your friend is right. Most operators will configure games to return 92 – 95% with the tendency toward 95%.
In casinos and RSLs operators may use a wider range. There are a variety of factors an operator considers when they configure the pokies on their floor, not the least of which are denomination ($1, 10c 2c, 1c per line) and floor position. Don’t think the operator can just change the payback on a whim though. Once a machine is configured for a payback percentage that is what it’s locked at until the operator requests a designated authority to allow for a reconfigure. Governments are very sensitive about player fairness issues. Across the floor in a large RSL you would expect to find games configured as high as 96% with a selection down to 88%. Generally $1/line games are configured the highest.
Please note though that I am telling you what the boundaries of the ranges tend to be. You may find that at your local pretty much everything is configured within a narrow range like 90-93%. It really comes down to how the operator responds to the demands of players and their regional market.
The important thing to note when considering payback percentages is that these are all based off of results across millions of games. For example, if you spend $1million dollars you will get paid back very close to $960,000 on a 96% game. If you put only $50 into the same machine you may find that it takes all your money or gives you back $500. It’s exactly the same concept as flipping a coin. It’s equal chance heads or tails but you can still get 12 heads out of 13 flips. Flip it a million times though and it will be pretty much bang on 500k/500k head/tails. Because of this effect I personally think that for all intent and purpose a 90% game is the same as a 95% game. You’ll never feel the difference in a given sitting.
There’s no point trying a game you don’t like because you heard it’s configured at 94% instead of your favourite at 90%. Always go with the games you enjoy. Play the pokies for fun not for profit. J
Hope this answers your question. Sorry if it was more than what you wanted.
A personal friend and I have been debating for some years about the RTP of pokies in land based pubs and clubs.
I said to him: one day I will email Aristocrat and prove the RTP.
Hi,
I live in South Australia and I am wondering what the return is on the 'pokies' you make?
I have a friend who thinks it's 95%+ and I don't believe him.
If you do not know the answer to my question can you please direct me to someone who can?
Please Reply,
[my name removed]
I got a reply from someone called Scott who works at Aristocrat.
Hi [my name removed],
You’re in luck. I have 10 minutes between meetings so you’re going to get more of an answer than you expected.
Manufacturers provide operators with a variety of payback percentages to choose from so it’s up to the operator to decide what ultimately gets released to players. Obviously this is done under very strict government regulation so we can only provide paybacks that fall within the designated ranges specified by each state authority.
In online your friend is right. Most operators will configure games to return 92 – 95% with the tendency toward 95%.
In casinos and RSLs operators may use a wider range. There are a variety of factors an operator considers when they configure the pokies on their floor, not the least of which are denomination ($1, 10c 2c, 1c per line) and floor position. Don’t think the operator can just change the payback on a whim though. Once a machine is configured for a payback percentage that is what it’s locked at until the operator requests a designated authority to allow for a reconfigure. Governments are very sensitive about player fairness issues. Across the floor in a large RSL you would expect to find games configured as high as 96% with a selection down to 88%. Generally $1/line games are configured the highest.
Please note though that I am telling you what the boundaries of the ranges tend to be. You may find that at your local pretty much everything is configured within a narrow range like 90-93%. It really comes down to how the operator responds to the demands of players and their regional market.
The important thing to note when considering payback percentages is that these are all based off of results across millions of games. For example, if you spend $1million dollars you will get paid back very close to $960,000 on a 96% game. If you put only $50 into the same machine you may find that it takes all your money or gives you back $500. It’s exactly the same concept as flipping a coin. It’s equal chance heads or tails but you can still get 12 heads out of 13 flips. Flip it a million times though and it will be pretty much bang on 500k/500k head/tails. Because of this effect I personally think that for all intent and purpose a 90% game is the same as a 95% game. You’ll never feel the difference in a given sitting.
There’s no point trying a game you don’t like because you heard it’s configured at 94% instead of your favourite at 90%. Always go with the games you enjoy. Play the pokies for fun not for profit. J
Hope this answers your question. Sorry if it was more than what you wanted.
