Understanding RTP, Variance & Volatility

It can be challenging keeping up with slots lingo, but with just a bit of insight and the correct information, it should at all be daunting business understanding what the terminologies mean. Three prominent turns of phrases often encountered are volatility, variance and RTP. These are basically the difference between winning hundreds of dollars in a session on a particular day, and absolutely nothing playing the very same game only a day on. These are what keeps it all so interesting.

To understand why this is so and exactly how it all fits into a unified picture, one needs to first understand the meaning of each of the three terms within the context of the functionality of online slots.

Herewith then, RTP, volatility and variance explained in a way that it’s easy for everyone to understand. Because everyone deserves a bit of good old online slots fun every once in a while.

Return To Player – RTP

The RTP ratio is always expressed by way of a certain percentage. And so, the Return to Player ratio determines, percentagewise, the payout percentage connected to each individual slot game. This basically means that the higher the Return to Player – or RTP – percentage, the bigger the player’s change of winning in the long run, and by the same token, the less money you’re likely to lose over the same period of time.

All reputable online slots developers ensure that RTP percentages are clearly indicated in the published statistics of their online slot games. The RTP can often be found either in the information section of the online slot, or somewhere on the paytable.

What’s The Deal With Variance?

Variance isn’t nearly as complicated as the term tends to sound. By way of the simplest explanation possible, variance refers to the measure of distribution of wins spanned over the course of long-term results. Or in even simpler terminology, variance measures exactly how far results can veer away from the statistical average of the online slot in question.

It often helps to explain a concept with the help of a worded sentence instead of a mathematical statistic. An example, in words, of variance would be, ‘the weather is more likely to suddenly change course in the deep south than it is likely to chance in Arizona’. What this means in terms of variance is that the deep South’s weather is of a higher variance.

Volatility Explained

Volatility isn’t all that different to variance, but with the main difference being that volatility, unlike variance, is connected to a specified amount of time gone by. If one were to measure the number of weekly ice creams sold by a specific ice cream vendor over the course of a month, then the result would be that of volatility. Volatility requires time-limited performance whereas variance does not.

High variance in terms of slots lingo would therefore refer to higher inconsistency than most other casino games. Volatility in terms of slots lingo, on the other hand, refers to the player never knowing exactly how a single gaming session will go or pay.