From time to time, an online casino player should have asked themselves the following: Which casino game actually gives you the best chance of winning? This is sadly not always obvious when you browse the games. The payout information is generally well hidden in the help menus and never touted in big banners.
No surprise there—since all casino games share one thing in common: the house always has a long-term edge. There's no getting around this fact, unless you only play games like poker where you're playing against other individuals instead of the casino. Those types of games aren't always available on every site, however, especially ones that aren't among the best online gambling sites, so this may not be a viable choice.
Most gamblers know they'll lose money over time, but it's no wonder that casinos don't promote that. So players are left to discover which games return the most—and which games are best left alone.
That's where we come in. We've compiled a list of the games with the best payout rates at online casinos below. This should allow you to figure out the most profitable games in a snap and potentially save you hundreds of dollars.
How Do They Calculate a Casino Game's Payout Rate?
Let's take a quick look at how the payout percentage of casino games is established. It is generally based on a figure called RTP—Return to Player. RTP is expressed as a percentage and explains how much money a player can receive on average for every euro or dollar they wager.
For example, an RTP of 97% means that for every unit bet, a player will get 97 cents on average. The remaining 3 cents is the average cost of playing that game—a kind of fee for a shot at a big win.
Of course, RTP numbers are theoretical and assume long-term play. The player can still win a series of nights in a row—or lose faster—due to short-term variance.
What Games Have the Best Payout Percentages?
Now let's look at the casino games that are famous for their particularly high payout percentages. Some of these games require a bit of skill, while others offer excellent returns even to absolute beginners.
1. Blackjack (>99%)
The most profitable game in any casino is the old favorite: Blackjack. The classic card game not only offers entertainment—it also offers the highest odds. Certain types of blackjack offer RTPs above 99%, which is the highest return rate you can get from a casino game.
But there's a catch: you can only achieve this RTP if you play with near-perfect strategy. This strategy takes time and study to learn because blackjack is such a complex game based on mathematical decisions. Entire books are composed on the topic of optimal play.
To gain high returns in blackjack, players need to:
- take time to learn the rules,
- study basic strategy,
- and make the right betting decisions for each round.
That said, you don't need to be a blackjack expert in order to enjoy good profits. With basic knowledge and some basic strategies, players can expect an RTP of over 97%.
2. Roulette (97.30%)
Roulette is another casino classic loved by millions of people around the world. Unlike blackjack, however, roulette does not allow you to affect the outcome based on skill or strategy. While there are many betting systems, none of them affect where the ball is going to land.
This makes roulette so appealing to new players. It is also one of the most profitable games in online casinos, with a guaranteed 97.30% RTP for European or French variants. That is a decent return for a game of pure chance.
But be forewarned: this RTP is applied to European and French Roulette only, which both feature 37 pockets (numbers 1–36 and one zero). American Roulette, on the other hand, features a double zero (00), and this drops the RTP significantly to 94.70%. That small difference gives the house a much bigger edge.
3. Slot Machines (95% – 99%)
Then there are slots, which come in all shapes and themes. Unlike blackjack and roulette, each slot has its own RTP, so some are much more lucrative than others. When choosing a slot, one should consider the RTP figures.
The majority of online slots have RTPs higher than 95%, and several top games are clustered around 97%, which is already good. A few even exceed 98%, placing them among the highest-paying games in the whole casino. Best of all? You don't require any particular knowledge or strategy to play them.
Final Thoughts
Most online casino players understand that the house has the edge in the long run. However, they're typically happy to pay this "entertainment fee" to receive entertainment and perhaps hit a big win.
There are ways to maximize your odds, however—and the easiest is to choose the right game. Hopefully, the list above gives you some notion of which games are worth playing and spending money on. The smarter your choices, the better your odds of walking out of the casino in the black.