100% yes - the thing is there
isn't a blanket RTP figure anymore - not only are there multiple math models, but slots have got so complicated in their behaviour in terms of stored value, unlocks and other trickery that it's an
eventual RTP also.
In the old world, 1 person playing a one billion spins was the same as one million people playing 1000 spins - the maths didn't change, the RTP didn't change, it was all nice and simple.
However, there are numerous offerings out there now where the declared RTP and realised house edge
are not expected to converge to 100% - because one is based on an ideal scenario (perfect play, infinitely many spins, no loss of stored value) and one is based on reality (poor play, people giving up mid-climb, auto-play features playing sub-optimally, redeployments wiping out stored value etc).
I don't think we've got much information in the wild about this discrepancy, but I can imagine 2-3% is plausible.
Stats I'd like to see including:
- RTP by lifetime, first 100 spins and first spin (to account for stored value trickery), which would also allow to infer bonus funds RTP (e.g. red tiger that delete any stored value after bonus spins are completed)
- frequency of headline payout (as opposed to max win - not all slots have arbitrary limits, and some will report a much more reasonable "win up to..." than their theoretical maximum)
- bonus frequency
- median payout per 100 spins - gives a much more realistic view in terms of profile, e.g. a starburst may be around the 75% mark, your latest NLC abomination might be closer to 20%
One thing I wish we had more of is publication of audited production statistics as well - microgaming used to do this, and yet it's an integrity point that seems to have mostly disappeared... perhaps because people might cotton on to many of the tricks being deployed by the underbelly of the sector.