Follow the Maths to Follow the Money: The best RTPs we can find

We love our readers to get informed, and that means some elementary maths, though there’s not too much technical know-how needed to work out that a 99% RTP game is better than a 94% one.

If you know what RTP is.

RTP is a theoretical return to the player. We try to list this figure in all of our reviews. IT means a theoretical return to the player. The theoretical part of this is very important. This figure is one of the few publically available metrics available for slots games, but it is not a precise measure or a prediction for individual players, it is an assessment of a game over its entire lifetime.

So, this won’t guarantee you anything. Nothing in gambling is guaranteed, but by picking the highest RTP games – which also mean those with the lowest house edge – you have a slightly better chance.

And these figures are pretty marginal. Most games in 2021 come in with an RTP of around 96%, these do a bit better on published figures.

1 – Mega Joker 99%

We’re straight win with a big number and one that immediately illustrates one of the problems with this list! Many games with very high RTP figures do not offer that RTP for all sections of the game and at all staking levels. That is true for Mega Joker, a progressive jackpot game that’s super old fashioned and very up to date. Released in 2013, it’s a mock-up of a two-screen game from the 80s, complete with whirring reels, and offers a 2,000-times stake jackpot, and different RTPs at different game stages. Read the rules before you play, because the top RTP is high, but the range starts below 90%.

2 – Jackpot 6,000 95 to 98.9%

A follow up from NetEnts to our first game comes with the same health warning, this time explained more explicitly in the rules: the skill element in the super meter part of the game accounts for the large range of RTPs here. Still, 95% is a much higher starting point, and the game offers a great experience in the same retro style.

3 – 1429 Uncharted Seas – 98.5%

If our first games were somewhat simple and perhaps even unsophisticated in their design and style the same cannot be said for this game. Thunderkick, the innovative Swedish team behind it, have a superb rep for pulling out surprises and they’ve done that here with a 98.5% RTP – in a low volatility game! Low volatility means that smaller (than average) prizes are paid out with players waiting for shorter times (on average) than usual between them. We can’t find any catches in this RTP, it is simply very high.

4 – Golden Chance – 98.11%

This is a very simple game, a super-retro 3 by 3 grid with fruits on it. But it’s got plenty of bonuses, including expanding symbols, but no free spins. You can win up to 5,000 times a betting range that goes up to 50 coins, and the RTP seems to have no catches on this rather rare game.

5 – Marching Legions – 98.12%

Roman history is given an unusual spin here by Relax Gaming in this 2020 release, which turns the legionnaires into pixelated game pieces and throws a load of complicated slots-a-Delica at the design of the gameplay. It’s a high volatility game, so the big prizes may take a while to arrive, but it’s impressive – with RTP in ranges that only reach the heights of our top figure here in some features.

6 – Elite Commandoes – 98.11%

This is a complex game that is rarely seen – it’s listed at only one site as we write – but worth seeking out. It’s very pretty and colourful, with high variance and lots of bonus features. Themed around, erm, maybe a military coup, maybe a liberation depending on which side you’re on, the game is entertaining and seems to offer a genuinely high RTP.

7 – Space Monsters HD – 98.11%

This game is a sibling to the last one and offers the same generous RTP and similar mathematics throughout. You can win up to 7,500-times stake, with betting from 1p to £20, and high volatility meaning bigger, rarer prizes. There’s a lot of emphasis on the look of this HD-branded game, which is themed on aliens this time, and which has been on the market since May 2020.