One Slot, Several RTP Builds: How to Read the Paytable Before You Spin
Two sites can list the same slot with different return-to-player figures and both be telling the truth. Studios licence a title in more than one configuration, the operator chooses which one it runs, and the only figure that governs the game in front of you is the one inside that game on that site.
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The rule that puts the figure in the game
RTS 3 of the remote gambling and software technical standards covers rules, game descriptions and the likelihood of winning. Its aim is to enable customers to make informed decisions about whether to gamble based on their chances of winning, the way the game works, and the prizes on offer.
Three requirements in it decide where the authoritative figure lives.
RTS 3A — an explanation of the applicable rules must be easily available to the customer before they commit to gamble. The guidance contemplates help pages, game menus and supporting materials, with prominent links from home pages and game selection areas.
RTS 3C — before gambling, the customer must have information that may reasonably be expected to enable them to make an informed decision about their chances of winning. The Commission's list of what that includes names the house edge or margin, the return to player percentage, and the probability of winning. The guidance specifies the average theoretical return to player percentage, and where an event involves an element of skill, the percentage is to be calculated using either the auto-play strategy or a standard or published strategy.
RTS 3D — content describing the potential prizes and payouts, or the means by which they are calculated, must be easily available before the customer commits to gamble.
The Commission also ties the designed figure to the published one: the designed return to player percentage of a game is also the advertised RTP of the game as displayed in the player-facing rules, under RTS 3C. That sentence is the reason the game's own information screen is the authority rather than a lobby tile or a third-party database — the figure displayed in the rules is required to be the figure the build was designed to.
Why one title has several figures
Studios build a game once and licence it in more than one configuration. The reels, symbols and features stay the same; the paytable is tuned so that the same game returns a different theoretical percentage, and the operator selects which configuration it deploys. The practice is documented by the studios themselves in their game specification material, which is where a configurable range is set out.
Nothing about that is hidden, and nothing about it is unlawful. A build at a lower percentage is not a rigged build: it is a different configuration of the same title, and the requirement is that the player can find out which one they are playing before they commit. Where that falls down is not in the existence of several builds but in a site that does not make the figure available where RTS 3 requires it to be.
The consequence for anyone comparing games is blunt. A single RTP number attached to a title in a game list, a review or a database is a number for a build of that title, not for the one on the site being played. The figure cannot be verified anywhere except in the game, on the site, at the time.
Where to look, in order
1. The game's information or rules screen, usually reached from a menu inside the game itself. This is the screen RTS 3A and 3C are written about.
2. The paytable, for the prize structure RTS 3D covers.
3. For a progressive game, the jackpot rules, which carry their own return-to-player disclosure — the jackpot system's percentage must be shown either as one combined figure or broken down into base game and jackpot components.
What the figure is and is not
A theoretical percentage is an average over a very large number of game cycles, calculated from the game's design. It is not a prediction about a session, and it is not affected by how long the game has gone without paying. Volatility — how the same average is distributed between frequent small returns and rare large ones — is a separate property of the build and is not expressed by the percentage at all. Two builds at the same percentage can behave very differently, and the information screen is also where the game's own description of that behaviour sits.
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Counted across the 17 licensed sites in our own pool.
Frequently asked questions
Which RTP applies if a game shows a different figure on another site?
The one displayed in the game's own player-facing rules on the site being played. The Commission's position under RTS 3C is that the designed return to player percentage of the game is also the advertised figure shown in those rules, so the game's information screen is the authoritative place and a figure published elsewhere may describe a different build.
Where in the game is the RTP supposed to be shown?
RTS 3A requires the applicable rules to be easily available before the customer commits to gamble, with the guidance pointing to help pages, game menus and supporting materials, and prominent links from home pages and game selection areas. RTS 3C requires the information about chances of winning, including the return to player percentage, to be available on the same basis.
Is a lower RTP build a sign of an untrustworthy operator?
Not by itself. Configurable builds are a normal part of how titles are licensed, and the selection is a commercial decision by the operator. What the standards require is that the figure for the build actually in use is available to the player before they commit, so the question to ask of a site is whether the figure is there to be found, not whether it is the highest one the title exists in.