Best Online Slots with the Highest RTP
By John Isaac,Editor at online-gambling.com
John Isaac
Editor at online-gambling.com
What Is Slots RTP?
If you’re looking for the online slots with the best payouts, you’ve come to the right place. On this page, you’ll find everything you need to know about the best RTP slots and where to play them. We’ll run through how to find a high-paying slot and list the online slots that have the highest RTPs. Stick with the slots on our list and you could win more of your money back when you play. Keep on reading to find out what RTP is and how it works, then look over our list and you’re sure to find some slots that you’ll want to play.
First of all, we’ll go over what slots RTP is. This is an important term that can help you differentiate between a slot with quite high payouts and a slot that doesn’t pay out as much. RTP stands for ‘return to player’ and is represented as a percentage. It’s a figure that shows how much of your money over long-term play you can expect a slot to pay you back.
There are two types of RTP: theoretical and actual. The actual theoretical RTP is the one you’ll see displayed in slot pay tables and at slot review sites. This refers to the slot’s expected payout rate over long-term play, i.e. over millions of spins of the reels. For most online slots, the theoretical RTP is somewhere in the 90s. For the best RTP slots, it’s in the high 90s – around 96-7%, for example. If you’re serious about trying to make money from online slots, you should stick with high RTP slots. It’s worth pointing out that the theoretical return to player percentage is an average. Let’s say you’re playing a slot with an RTP of 96%. You won’t receive 96% of your money back every single time you play. A lot of the time, you’ll be paid much less and occasionally you’ll be paid more.
So what about the actual RTP? This refers to the payout rate for a single spin or a group of spins. It’s based on your own actual payout rates and may well be completely different from the theoretical return to player percentage. It can also vary quite greatly as you play. You may win a large amount of money – for that particular spin, the actual return to player percentage will be very high. But then, you may have some spins with very small payouts – each of these will have quite a low RTP. The more you play, the more your actual RTPs will average out and the closer this average will get to the slot’s theoretical RTP.
House edge is a term you may well come across. This is the exact opposite of the return to player percentage. For example, if a slot has an RTP of 96%, its house edge is 4%. When looking for the best paying slots, you want one with an RTP as high as possible or a house edge as low as possible.
Finding a Slot’s RTP
So how do you find out what a slot’s RTP is? Some providers list the return to player percentage of their slots in each slot’s paytable alongside information about the paylines, symbols and bonus features. However, a number of providers don’t actually publish the RTPs of their slots. If you come across an online slot but can’t find its return to player percentage in the paytable, you should do a quick online search and a third-party site should be able to tell you what it is.
Some online casinos have a page that lists the RTP of each and every game the casino offers. This is a handy resource to use as you can quickly find out the return to player percentage for many different slots without having to load them and check the paytable.
What About Variance?
When looking for high RTP slots, you may also want to take variance into consideration. Variance, also known as volatility, refers to how often a slot pays out and how big the payouts tend to be. There are three types:
- Low. Slots with a low variance pay out smaller sums of money fairly often.
- High. For slots with a high variance, the payouts are quite large, but you don’t win that often.
- Medium (or Standard). Slots that have a medium variance offer regular low- and middle-size payouts, along with the occasional larger payout.
Low variance slots are recommended for beginners who are new to online slots. They’re ideal for those who enjoy regular payouts, even if the payouts are on the smaller side. They’re also good for casual play that’s not necessarily about winning, since there’s little risk involved when playing. Many people who gamble for fun and aren’t necessarily bothered about big wins choose low variance slots. Another important point about these slots is that you can play for a long period of time since there’s little risk and you’re not likely to blow through your budget.
High variance slots, on the other hand, are suggested for those who enjoy riskier, more thrilling play. They’re ideal for anyone who wants to go after the big payouts and jackpot prizes. However, there’s a lot of risk involved and there’s every chance you’ll end up spending a lot of money on these slots without seeing any returns. If you’re going to play these slots, you should have a large budget to spend. It’s important that, no matter how long you go without winning, you don’t chase your losses. Once your budget’s gone, end your gambling session even if you haven’t won anything.
As for medium variance slots, they’re great for those who started with low variance slots and want a bit more risk. They still offer fairly regular payouts, so they’re quite safe to play, though they do give out bigger wins every so often. There is some risk, but not as much as with high variance slots. You should have a decent-sized budget to spend on these slots. Since these slots aren’t as risky as high variance ones, you shouldn’t need a huge amount of money to spend.
If you’re not sure which variance suits you, it’s best to start off with low variance slots as these have the least amount of risk. Once you’re confident with these, move up to medium variance slots then try high variance slots if you’re ready.
Does RTP Matter?
If you want to make money from playing online slots, your best bet is to stick with the highest RTP slots. It’s worth pointing out that you’re never guaranteed to win and even if you play the best RTP slots, the odds are still against you. In other words, you’re more likely to lose. Don’t let that put you off though. You can still win and make a profit, though you do have to have some luck on your side.
RTP can make a difference over long-term play. If, for example, you have £1,000 to spend, it’s better to spend it on a slot with a return to player percentage of 96% than a slot whose RTP is something like 94%, for example. Do this and you’re more likely, in theory, to be paid more money from the slot. Having said that, it’s perfectly possible to play slots with a lower RTP and still receive large payouts. In the short-term, the return to player percentage doesn’t really matter too much. It’s only over long-term play as your wins and losses average out that it really starts to matter.
List of the Best RTP Slots
We’ve put together a list of some of the very best high RTP online slots you’ll find at online casinos today. These slots are widely available and are playable at many of the top casinos – you shouldn’t have to look too far at all to find them. All of the slots that have made it onto our list are well designed, highly themed and packed with all sorts of special features. Play any of them and you’re sure to have a brilliant time. Remember, there’s no guarantee you’ll win a load of money, but with these high RTP slots, you may well receive more of your money back over the long run.
The slots that have made it onto our list all have a return to player percentage of 97% or higher. Bear in mind that for some, the high RTP only applies in certain circumstances – if you’re betting the maximum amount per spin, for example. For most online slots, the return to player percentage is anything from 95% to 96.99%. If it’s any lower than this, it’s considered to be low. Many progressive jackpots have a low RTP to make up for the fact that the jackpot prizes can be very large indeed. For example, the return to player percentage of Microgaming’s Mega Moolah, the world’s highest-paying progressive jackpot, is only 88.12%.
Have a look through our list and no doubt you’ll be tempted to play some of the slots on it. They have many different features, such as progressive jackpots, free spins, bonus rounds and pick-me games. Plus, they come in all sorts of different themes, from bloodthirsty vampires and sprightly leprechauns, to dense jungles and thrilling funfairs. Each one offers something different, so they’re all worth trying out!
Kings of Chicago – 97.80%
Themed after gangsters of Chicago during the Prohibition era, Kings of Chicago is a unique entry on this list. Why? Because while it works just like an online slot, it borrows gameplay elements from video poker. When you load the slot, you’ll see that instead of reels with symbols on them, you’re looking at a gaming table with 15 playing cards arranged in a 3×5 grid. There are five paylines in total and you win by landing poker hands on a pay line. Most of these hands include five cards in total. However some, such as the three of a kind and the straight, only need three or even just two qualifying cards respectively.
There’s a joker that acts as a wild and can fill in for any card to help you win. Should you win with a joker, your winnings will be doubled. Every time new cards are dealt, scatter labels can randomly appear over any number of cards. If three, four or five of these labels appear in one deal, you’ll receive 10, 15 or 30 free deals (the same as free spins) respectively. While using free deals, all winnings are doubled. If you win with a wild, your winnings will be quadrupled. Kings of Chicago has a very impressive RTP of 97.80%, though its variance is high so you may have to play for a while before seeing some returns come in.
Starmania – 97.87%
This online slot from NextGen Gaming has an outer space setting and is full of bright, dazzling stars. It’s reminiscent of 80s-style arcade games and is a real feast for the eyes. As for the gameplay, it’s certainly compelling. The slot’s played on a gaming grid with three rows, five reels and 10 paylines. Most of the time, paylines run from left to right only. However, Starmania’s paylines run in both directions, giving you more chances of landing a win. If you land three or more identical symbols on a payline, you’ll be paid so long as the symbols are on consecutive reels starting on the far left or far right reel.
The slot’s symbols are an assortment of patterned and bejewelled stars. There’s a scatter that pays out no matter where it lands and a wild that substitutes for all star symbols to help you form winning combinations. If you happen to land three or more scatters, as well as being paid you’ll receive 10 free spins. While the free spins round is in play, extra wilds are added to the reels and can appear stacked several positions high. The slot also has a gamble feature: guess the colour of the next card to be drawn and your winnings will be doubled; guess the suit and they’ll be quadrupled. You can gamble your winnings a maximum of five times, though be aware that if you make an incorrect guess, you’ll lose all your winnings.
Jokerizer – 98%
Take a fun-filled trip to the funfair with the lively Jokerizer slot from Yggdrasil. Soak up the carnival atmosphere and spin the reels of this highly volatile slot, which can have an RTP as high as 98%. The slot’s played on a grid with three rows and five reels, with a total of five paylines in effect. Unlike lots of other slots, the paylines run in both directions, which gives you more chances of winning. Landing on the transparent reels are an assortment of classic fruit machine symbols – a trio of cherries, a lemon, a bunch of grapes, a golden bell, an orange number 7 and a purple star. There’s also a joker, which is the most important symbol.
The joker appears on reels 2, 3 and 4 only. If three of them appear on the same spin, you’ll be awarded a Mystery Win of 1,000 to 6,000 coins. Should three of them appear in a horizontal or diagonal row, you’ll be awarded the top prize of 6,000 coins. Whenever you win with one of the slot’s standard symbols, you’ll have a choice: you can collect your winnings and return to the base game, or play the Jokerizer mode, which costs 20 coins per spin. While the Jokerizer mode is active, you only need two joker symbols to land for you to receive a Mystery Win of 20 to 6,000 coins. The Jokerizer mode automatically comes to an end once you’ve landed a Mystery Win of 1,000 coins or more.
Bloodsuckers – 98%
Screen Shot 2020-03-11 at 12.27.10.pngDeveloped by NetEnt, Blood Suckers is a vampire-themed slot with a very impressive RTP of 98%. This makes it one of the highest RTP slots around today. It was released back in 2013 and has proven so popular that it’s even had a sequel, Blood Suckers II, made. It uses a grid with three rows and five reels and has 25 paylines altogether. The slot’s paylines are fixed, so whenever you place a bet, your bet covers each and every payline. As for the symbols, they include a number of horrifying-looking vampires, along with garlic, a Holy Bible, a vial of potion and a coffin with some bloody weapons. Look out for the vampire attacking his victim – this is both the wild and the slot’s most valuable symbol, giving you a top payout of 7,500x your coin value for landing five on a payline.
There are two bonus features to look out for: the pick-me game and the free spins round. Land three or more coffin symbols and you’ll get to play the pick-me game, where you select coffins to reveal cash prizes. If a coffin doesn’t reveal anything, the feature comes to an end and you’re taken back to the slot’s base game. Should three or more vampire bride scatters appear, you’ll get 10 free spins. There are two great things about the slot’s free spins round: the first is that it can be retriggered and the second is that all of your winnings are trebled!
Rainbow Riches Pick ’n’ Mix – 98%
Another high RTP slot you can play online is Rainbow Riches Pick ’n’ Mix by Barcrest. Released in 2016, it’s the sequel to the hugely popular Rainbow Riches slot and has a luck of the Irish theme. It comes with many extra additions and has no fewer than five bonus features altogether. These include the Pots of Gold pick-me game, the Free Spins Bonus, the Road to Riches mini-game, the Cash Crop Bonus with multipliers to collect and the Magic Toadstool Bonus pick-me game. The RTP of 98% is only in effect whenever you play the Big Bet game.
Before you start playing, you’re presented with five bonus features and you can choose up to three. While playing the slot, any features that you’ve chosen can trigger. You can go back and re-select the features at any time. If you decide to play the Big Bet game, you’ll be taken to a separate screen where there’s a wheel for every bonus feature you’ve chosen. Each wheel has two segments: a rainbow-coloured one and a plain green one. Before playing, adjust your stake. There are four options available and the higher the stake, the bigger the rainbow segment gets and the smaller the green segment gets. An arrow is then spun on each wheel and if it lands in the rainbow segment, you get to play the corresponding bonus feature. If it lands in the green segment, you get five Mega Spins, which are free spins played at 3x your current stake. All bonuses won through the Big Bet game are played with much higher values to give you the chance to land some very big wins.
1429 Uncharted Seas – 98.50%
One of the best RTP slots players can try out is Thunderkick’s 1429 Uncharted Seas. The slot’s RTP of 98.50% is very high indeed, so if you decide to play this slot for real money, you should receive the vast majority of it back over long-term play. What makes the slot even more appealing is its theme. Inspired by historical sea travels, the slot’s designed to resemble a classic hand-drawn seafarer’s map. The visuals are immersive and of a very high quality – in fact, it doesn’t really look like a typical online slot at all.
While the slot looks great, it’s also lots of fun to play thanks to its special features. First of all, there’s the wild, which is represented as a ship sailing the seas and substitutes for all standard symbols. If the wild helps you win, it expands to fill the entire reel it’s on – a large, horrifying sea monster lifts the ship out of the sea! The expanded wild can help you form even more winning combinations if you’re lucky enough. There’s also the slot’s free spins round. For landing three, four or five compass symbols, you’ll be rewarded with 10, 20 or a huge 50 free spins respectively. While you’re using these free spins, you’ll earn even more for every additional compass symbol that lands. 1429 Uncharted Seas has a low variance so you should receive regular payouts on the smaller side. The slot’s symbols include representations of the sun, moon and stars, along with various monstrous sea creatures and a mermaid. There are 25 paylines in total that you can win on.
Jackpot 6000 – 98.90%
Another NetEnt creation that’s among the highest RTP slots is Jackpot 6000. It’s designed to look just like a traditional slot machine found in a land-based casino and has an old school feel to it. If you prefer basic slots with a touch of nostalgia, this slot may well be the one for you. Played on a 3×3 grid, on every spin you’re able to bet on one to five paylines. There are six symbols that you can win with, including cherries, lemons, grapes, bells, golden stars and jesters. The one to look out for is the joker: if you bet with 10 coins (the highest amount possible), landing three jesters on a payline will award you the slot’s jackpot of 6,000 coins! The slot usually has an RTP of around 95%, but when betting with 10 coins this increases to a huge 98.90%. Its variance is high, so don’t expect to win often – you’ll only win every now and then but when you do, the payout should be substantial.
Just like the classic slot machines it’s inspired by, Jackpot 6000 doesn’t really have any bonus rounds. Instead, the focus is on spinning the reels and hoping to land a good winning combination. The slot does, however, have a gamble feature that becomes playable whenever you win. Guess the outcome of a coin flip by choosing heads or tails. If you guess correctly, your winnings will be doubled. However, if you guess incorrectly you’ll lose all your winnings. Will you take the risk to potentially walk away with more money, or will you play it safe?
Ooh Aah Dracula – 99%
This vampire-themed online slot from Barcrest has wacky, cartoon-like graphics and is set outside an old stone castle in the dead of night. It’s played on a typical slot grid with three rows and five reels. During normal gameplay, the return to player percentage is 96%, which is about average compared with most other slots. However, there’s a special Hi Roller mode that increases this to a staggering 99%. You can purchase this mode for a cost of 20x or 30x your current stake. Whichever price you pay, you get five spins with the RTP of 99% in effect. If you happen to trigger the free spins round, you’ll then get to play the Graveyard Bonus if you paid 20x your stake, or the Super Graveyard Bonus if you paid 30x your stake. The Graveyard Bonus features are pick-me games where you select a tombstone to reveal a cash prize. If you pay 20x your stake, there are five tombstones to choose from; if you pay 30x your stake, there are six tombstones with higher-value prizes up for grabs.
The slot’s free spins round is unique. Land three scatters (represented as a stake piercing a heart) and you’ll be rewarded with 15 free spins with one random symbol acting as a wild. If you land four scatters, you’ll get the same reward. However, once it’s over you’ll get to collect your winnings or reject your winnings and play 10 free spins with two random symbols acting as wilds. If five scatters appear on the reels, the same happens again. First you play with 15 free spins and one wild. If you reject your winnings, you can then play with 10 free spins and two wilds. If you decide to reject these winnings, you play a third and final round with five free spins and three random symbols chosen to be wilds.
Mega Joker – 99%
NetEnt certainly does like its high RTP slots! Mega Joker is yet another NetEnt slot with an exceptionally high RTP. It’s very similar to Jackpot 6000 in that it’s inspired by classic slot machines and has a retro sort of vibe to it. What distinguishes this slot from most others is the fact that it’s played with two separate 3×3 reel sets. Each one of them has five paylines. However, the paylines aren’t fixed so it’s up to you how many of them your bets cover. The bottom reel set is used for the base game, while the top one is reserved for the Supermeter mode. This becomes active whenever you win with a bet with 10 coins per spin (the highest number of coins you can bet with). It has four bet levels and if you choose the highest one, you’ll stand a chance of winning the slot’s jackpot prize. Land a single joker symbol when betting the highest amount for a prize of between 100 and 2,000 coins.
Mega Joker has a progressive jackpot that can be won on any random spin. The bigger your bet is, the more likely you are to receive the jackpot. It’s won roughly once a week and its average payout is around £30,000. This isn’t the biggest average win for a progressive jackpot, but if you’re lucky enough to win it, you’re hardly going to complain! The slot also has a gamble feature that gives you the chance to increase the value of your winnings (but not winnings from the progressive jackpot). However, there’s a risk as whenever you gamble you stand to lose all the money you’ve won.
Ugga Bugga – 99.07%
Released way back in 2006, Ugga Bugga is a jungle-themed slot from Playtech with a seriously impressive return to player percentage of 99.07%. It works a bit differently from most other online slots. When you start playing, you’ll see it’s played on an extra large grid that’s split into two columns, each of which has five rows with three positions. When you play, three symbols appear on the bottom row of the left-hand column. You can then choose to hold one, two or three of these symbols – or, you can choose not to hold any at all.
Once you’ve made your decision, you spin again. Any held symbols are then cloned and appear in all other rows in the same position. For every symbol that isn’t held, a new one appears in its place. New symbols then appear in all other rows in the same position. Ugga Bugga offers some strategic play: if one of the first three symbols to appear is a high-paying one, you should hold it so it then appears on all other rows, boosting your chances of landing a large win. All of the slot’s symbols stick to the jungle theme and include things such as wooden huts, tribal masks, drums and warriors. The most valuable one is the wild. If you land three of these in the same row and you’re betting the highest amount possible, you’ll be rewarded with a payout worth 1,000x your line bet.
Where to Find the Best RTP Slots
All of the high RTP online slots featured on our list are from some of the biggest and most influential casino game providers around. Many online casinos offer games from the likes of NetEnt, Thunderkick, NextGen Gaming, Yggdrasil, Barcrest, Playtech and Microgaming. While finding casinos with these providers’ games is easy enough, finding the high RTP slots on our list isn’t as easy. This is because these particular slots aren’t as widely available as other slots by these providers.
Many casinos choose not to have the highest RTP slots because they don’t bring in as much money over the long run as other slots. The operators worry that if they offer these slots, players will stick with these all the time and stop playing slots that have lower return to player percentages. If people mostly play the high RTP slots, casinos will gradually bring in less revenue, which is not what the operators want at all. The slots on our list can still be found at a number of online casinos. However, they’re nowhere near as common as slots with return to player percentages that are around 96% or lower.
When looking for somewhere to play high RTP slots, your choice of online casinos may be more limited. However, you should still find there are plenty of reputable casinos where you can play these slots. Before signing up to a casino, you should compare it with others and choose the one that suits you best. When making your decision, take into account things such as the games collection, providers, customer support, payment methods, withdrawal times, mobile compatibility, bonuses, reputation and safety. See which casino appeals to you the most and play there for your ideal online gambling experience.
Playing Responsibly
The 10 slots we’ve included in our list are all well worth playing. Some of them, such as Rainbow Riches Pick ’n’ Mix have all sorts of exciting bonus features, while others offer more straightforward, less complicated gameplay – Mega Joker is a good example. If you decide to play any of these slots, don’t just go ahead and sink a ton of money into them thinking you’ll get most of it back. While these slots should in theory pay you back a large percentage of your money over the long-run, there’s always a chance you’ll lose. Slots and other casino games are designed to take money from you. No matter how high a game’s RTP is, the odds are always against you.
By all means, play these high RTP slots but be prepared for a loss. You’re never guaranteed to win, no matter how much money you spend. Before playing any kind of casino game, it’s a good idea to come up with a budget that you can afford to lose. Let’s say you set aside £100. You then spend this money on some of the top RTP slots. By the time you’ve spent £100 in bets, you should stop playing and do something else. You may well be left with nothing, or if you’ve been lucky, you might have some money left over. If this is the case, it’s best to collect this money and not gamble with it. If you gamble with it, you’re likely to end up losing it. Always be sensible when gambling with real money and remember that you can still lose even when playing the best RTP slots.
Summary
You should now have a pretty good idea of how slots RTP works. To recap, it’s a measure of how much of your money you can expect a slot to pay you over long-term play – i.e. thousands, if not millions, of spins. The slots on our list have the highest RTPs you’ll find. Bear in mind that if you play these slots, you’re still more likely to lose than win. However, if you’ve got some luck on your side you could be in for some rewarding wins. These slots with high return to player percentages aren’t exactly common, but there are still some worthwhile online casinos where you can play them.
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John Isaac is one of the editors at online-gambling.com. He is an expert at card games, such as blackjack and poker. In addition, he writes about the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets.