House Edge vs RTP: 5 Key Differences That Matter

House Edge and RTP Are Two Sides of the Same Number

Here's the simple version. A slot with 96% RTP has a 4% house edge. A slot with 94% RTP has a 6% house edge. They always add up to 100%. Always. One describes what comes back to players - the other describes what the casino keeps.

That said, which term gets used depends on context. Slot providers and casinos quote RTP - it sounds better. A 96% return sounds generous. The equivalent "4% house edge" sounds like a cost. Same number. Casinos know which framing works in their favour.

Table game makers tend to quote house edge instead - "European roulette has a 2.7% house edge." That's the tradition. But the maths is identical. House edge plus RTP equals 100%. No exceptions.

House Edge

What the casino keeps

RTP

96%

What comes back to players

Worth noting: The word "return" in RTP stands for the long-run average across millions of spins - not your personal session. In any single session, RTP tells you very little about what you'll actually receive back. Over time, across all players, it's exact.

The Formula - Converting Between the Two

Converting is trivial. You just subtract from 100. But it's worth doing explicitly - because seeing the house edge figure on a slot that advertises its RTP often changes how it feels.

House Edge = 100% - RTP

RTP = 100% - House Edge

Example: 96.5% RTP = 3.5% house edge | 94% RTP = 6% house edge

Use the converter below. Type any RTP to get the house edge, or any house edge to get the RTP.

RTP / House Edge Converter

Enter RTP (%)

⇄

House Edge (%)

3.50%

Enter House Edge (%)

⇄

RTP (%)

96.50%

Both fields update independently. Enter any value to convert.

House Edge Across Casino Games - Slots Are Not the Worst

Look, slots get a lot of criticism for high house edges. Fairly - the typical range is 3-6%, and some offshore casino slots run at 7-8%. But they're not always the worst value in the casino. That depends heavily on the game and how you play it.

Here's how the major casino games compare. The slot range uses the tested RTP figures from our database - not published maximums.

Game	RTP	House Edge	Condition
Blackjack	99.5%	0.5%	Basic strategy, single deck
Baccarat (Banker)	98.94%	1.06%	Banker bet, standard rules
European Roulette	97.3%	2.7%	Single zero wheel
Video Poker (9/6 JoB)	99.54%	0.46%	Optimal strategy, full pay table
Slots (high RTP variant)	96-97%	3-4%	Casino running max RTP variant
American Roulette	94.74%	5.26%	Double zero wheel
Slots (low RTP variant)	92-94%	6-8%	Casino running low RTP variant
Keno	75-80%	20-25%	Typical online keno

From what we tested: At Pistolo, the Hacksaw Gaming slots ran at 92-93% RTP - meaning a 7-8% house edge. That puts them in roughly the same bracket as American roulette. Not the worst in the casino - but far from competitive. Wild Tokyo's max-variant slots at 96-97% are a much better deal.

5 Real Differences Between How House Edge and RTP Are Used

Right - they're the same maths. But in practice they get used differently, quoted differently, and communicate different things. Here's where the distinction actually matters.

Difference	House Edge	RTP
Who uses it	Table game makers, regulators, gambling researchers	Slot providers, casinos, review sites
What it emphasises	The casino's advantage - what they keep	The player's return - what comes back
How it feels	"5% house edge" sounds like a cost. It is.	"95% RTP" sounds like a generous return. It's the same number.
Skill factor	Blackjack house edge assumes optimal strategy - varies significantly with play quality	Slot RTP is fixed by configuration - doesn't change with strategy
Session relevance	More commonly quoted as a per-bet cost in table games	Quoted as a long-run percentage across millions of spins

The framing difference is the one worth remembering. A casino marketing a slot with "96% RTP!" is technically accurate. But if they phrased it as "we keep 4% of every spin" - same number - it would feel very different. That's not accidental.

The framing trap: Bonus terms often show wagering requirements in a way that makes them look manageable. "30x wagering on your bonus" hides the fact that you'll spin through roughly 30 times the bonus amount before withdrawing. At a 6% house edge slot, that means an expected loss of 180% of the bonus value before you can cash out. House edge makes that maths visible.

What House Edge Actually Costs You Per Session

Honestly, house edge only starts to feel real when you put actual numbers on it. The bars below show the expected cost of a 500-spin session at $1 per spin - across different house edge levels. All based on long-run averages.

0.5% edge
(Blackjack, optimal)

500 spins

$2.50

2.7% edge
(European roulette)

500 spins

$13.50

3.5% edge
(96.5% RTP slot)

500 spins

$17.50

5.26% edge
(American roulette)

500 spins

$26.30

6% edge
(94% RTP slot)

500 spins

$30.00

7.63% edge
(92.37% RTP - Le Zeus at Pistolo)

500 spins

$38.15

The Le Zeus row is a real reading from our Pistolo test - not a hypothetical. At 92.37% RTP, that slot has a 7.63% house edge. Playing it at $1/spin for 500 spins costs you $38 on average - compared to $17.50 on a max-variant 96.5% slot.

Same 500 spins. Same $1 stake. More than double the expected cost. That's the house edge gap in real terms.

Bottom line: Check the in-game RTP before you spin. Convert it to a house edge figure in your head - just subtract from 100. If it's above 4%, you're paying more than you need to. At 6%+, you're in American roulette territory. Our RTP database lists what each casino is actually running - not the published max.

Marcus Reid

iGaming Data Analyst

Marcus uses house edge calculations - not RTP percentages - when comparing casino games internally. The framing matters. The Le Zeus reading in the cost chart above is a real number from our Pistolo test, recorded from the in-game paytable. When house edge is expressed in dollars per session, the configuration gap becomes hard to ignore.