Founded in 2003, Certified Fair Gambling is the industry leader in auditing game fairness for Internet casinos. Through comprehensive and ongoing monthly auditing and certification procedures, Certified Fair Gambling meets the assurance needs of players, Internet casinos, and Internet casino software developers.  The Certified Fair Gambling seal demonstrates an uncompromising commitment to casino game fairness.

What is "return to player" and why is it important?

Return to Player (RTP) for a casino game is given by the formula:

RTP = (Total Amount Returned to Players) / (Total Amount Wagered by Players)

Amount Wagered by Player – This is the amount of the initial wager by the player. Many games allow or require additional wagers to be placed after the initial wager. For example, Three Card Poker requires a “Play” wager for the hand to compete. Blackjack allows additional wagers for doubling or splitting. For purposes of computing the RTP, these additional wagers are not considered.

Total Amount Wagered by Players – For the period over which the audit takes place for a specific game, each initial wager for each round by each player is tallied to give the total amount wagered by all players.

Amount Returned to Player – Conceptually, this is the net amount the player wins (positive number) or loses (negative number)  in a round.

For most table games, if the player wins the round then his original wager is returned.  The amount wagered is not counted in the return, just the net amount won.  If the player loses, then the amount returned is a negative number -- he loses the total amount wagered for the round, again this is the player's net result for the round.  One way of thinking about the return for table games is that it equals (total amount returned) - (total amount wagered). 

For slot machines and video poker return is simpler to define.  The original wager is forfeited once it is placed.  The amount returned to the player is the amount won based purely on the pay table for the game and the result of the round. 

Total Amount Returned to Players – For the period over which the audit takes place for a specific game, the amount returned for each round by each player is tallied to give the total amount returned to the players.

For the purpose of auditing, each game has a theoretical RTP that is known in advance. As with all gambling, there will be runs of good and bad fortune by the players. The auditor computes the RTP using actual game play data given in the log files and compares that to the theoretical RTP for that game. The more rounds that are played, the more the auditor expects these two numbers to closely match up. The auditor knows the reasonable range of values for the RTP computed from the log file data given the number of rounds played and the theoretical RTP.

The RTP is a helpful baseline statistic to verify that a game is operating properly.