How to find a slot's RTP in an app

How to find a slot's RTP in an app in five taps

Every slot in a UK app carries its own rules screen, and the return-to-player figure lives there. The casino's lobby rarely shows it, so you need to open the game first. The route below works for nearly every studio's games on both iPhone and Android.

1. Open the slot from the app's lobby. If you're not ready to stake, open it and don't spin; reading the rules costs nothing.
2. Find the menu button. It's usually three lines, a cog, an i or a ? icon, placed in a corner or beside the stake controls.
3. Tap Help, Info, Game rules or Paytable, depending on the studio's wording.
4. Scroll to the end of the rules, or look for a heading like Return to player, Theoretical RTP or Expected return.
5. Note the percentage, and any second figure for an alternative mode or jackpot.

The figure is a percentage such as 96.50%. If you see more than one, the rules will explain which applies when, for example a different figure for an optional ante-style bet or for a jackpot contribution. Our RTP glossary entry defines the term in full.

Why every UK slot has to show its RTP

The Gambling Commission's remote technical standards cover this. RTS 3 requires information about the likelihood of winning to be easily available before a customer commits to gamble, and says this can include the return-to-player percentage. The accompanying guidance refers to the average theoretical return to player and says the information should be easy to reach, for example from menus, game selection pages or within individual games.

In practice, slot studios meet that by putting the RTP in each game's help pages, which is why the in-game route is the reliable one. It also means any licensed app should let you find it. If a game's rules have no RTP or win-chance information at all, ask support, because it ought to be there. Our guide to how casino apps are tested explains how those figures are checked.

Where the info button hides on different slot screens

Studios design their own interfaces, so the same button can look very different from one game to the next.

The paytable and the rules are often the same set of pages: symbol values first, features next, legal and RTP information last. Our guide on reading a paytable on mobile walks through those pages.

Reading RTP on iPhone and Android screens

Slot rules are drawn inside the game rather than by your phone, so iOS text-size settings and Android font scaling usually don't enlarge them. If the text is small:

• Rotate to landscape. Many games reflow the rules into a wider panel that's easier to read.
• Take a screenshot and zoom into it in Photos or Google Photos.
• On an iPad or a large Android tablet, the rules often open as a larger overlay.
• On Android split screen or a foldable, open the rules on one side and keep notes on the other.

Portrait layouts tend to move the menu to the top bar, while landscape layouts put it beside the reels. Our guide to portrait vs landscape mobile slots shows how layouts change.

Why the same slot can show a different RTP in different apps

Most slots are supplied in several RTP versions. The developer publishes a default or top figure, and each casino picks which version to run. The maths is otherwise identical: same symbols, same features, slightly different paytable weighting. That's why the RTP range is a glossary term of its own, and why a figure you read on a review site can differ from the one in your app.

Treat the developer figure as the best case and your app's help screen as the truth. If you play Book of Dead or Gates of Olympus in two different apps, checking each version takes a minute and tells you which casino runs the higher setting.

What the RTP number means for a real session

RTP is the percentage of all money staked that a game is designed to pay back over a very long run of spins. The rest is the house edge. Over a few hundred spins, actual results can sit far above or below the figure.

£100 staked is 200 spins at 50p, which takes a little over eight minutes at the UK minimum of 2.5 seconds a spin. Over many such sessions, a four-point gap in RTP adds up. Within a single session, volatility has a much bigger effect: a high-volatility game can return nothing for a long stretch and then pay a large feature win.

Slots with more than one RTP figure

Some games list two or three numbers. Common reasons include an optional higher-stake mode with its own figure, and a progressive jackpot whose contribution is counted separately from the base game. In a jackpot slot, a large part of the return may come from a jackpot that very few players ever win, so the base-game figure can be the more relevant one for everyday play.

You may also see an RTP quoted for a feature buy on international versions of a game. Bonus buy isn't offered to players in Great Britain, so that line doesn't apply to UK apps.

Checking RTP before you stake: demo play and lobby info

You can read the rules in real-money mode without placing a bet. If you prefer demo mode, UK apps only allow it after age verification, so it's available once your account is set up; our page on demo mode verification explains why. Some apps also show an info tile in the lobby when you long-press or tap the i on a game thumbnail, but the in-game rules remain the definitive source.

What RTP doesn't tell you

• How often you win: that's hit frequency, sometimes listed in the rules.
• How big the swings are: volatility, often shown as a lightning or chilli meter.
• The top prize: the max win, usually given as a multiple of the stake.
• Your result today: no figure can predict a single session.

Slots are entertainment with a built-in cost. A higher RTP lowers the theoretical cost, but losses are still likely over time. Our high RTP slots apps page lists games whose published figures sit towards the top of the range.

Can't find the RTP? What to try

Licensed apps where you can check RTP in-game

The apps below are UKGC-licensed, so their games carry rules and win-chance information under the technical standards. Check the RTP of the game you want before staking. Gambling costs money and the house edge applies to every spin. 18+, terms apply.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.