īuilding on the research of Dr Newall and others, we created a slot game and gave participants the option to play using money earned at the start of the study. Researchers like Dr Philip Newall have shown those who read simpler odds information have a better understanding of their chances of winning and gamble less. As a result, people choose to play casino games more where promotions are offered, regardless of how well they understand the game’s odds. They may mask the true odds of the game and can downplay the riskiness of betting. Free spins are often salient, accompanied by special effects using colours and sounds.

Promotions like free spins are a key draw for slot games. To make things more complicated, we know high odds aren’t the only incentive to place a bet. However, what a 93% RTP really means is that over the many years in a game’s lifetime, for every £1 spent on the game, about 93 pence is paid out in prizes and about 7 pence is lost. You would be forgiven for thinking the above RTP statement means you have a 93% chance of winning, or that 93 out of every 100 people win something from this game.

The problem is, less than half of people actually understand them and they can be tricky to find. Officially, these descriptions are called return-to-player (RTP) statements. You spot some information explaining the odds – “ the theoretical average return to player for this game is 93% ” – however, the jargon and percentage make it sound a little cryptic. Before putting your money down, you’d probably like to know your chances of winning. Imagine you’re deciding to place a bet at a casino.

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