The emergence and subsequent establishment of online casinos as an entertainment avenue in the past few years has ramped up the hype and conversation around the activity. The classic casino games found in land-based casinos in Las Vegas, Macau, Monaco, and London such as blackjack, baccarat, poker, slots, and roulette have found a new home in the online realm.
The speed of the emergence has also taken those in the entertainment and casino industries by surprise, with millions of players, old and new, from all corners of the world creating accounts to play on licensed and secure online casino platforms to take advantage of the more convenient way to play casino games.
The online version of casino games introduces an innovative approach that contrasts but also compliments the physical offerings well. However, in recent years, that gap has been bridged by the inception of live casino games, which offer online players the chance to connect with real-life dealers. With more realism brought to the world of online casino, which live casino game offers the best returns to the player?
What is Return to Player?
Return to Player, or RTP, as online casino players might come across, is a statistic attributed to gambling and online games that gives an indication of the returns a player can make depending on the amount invested.
Example:
If a blackjack game has a RTP of 90%, a player would be set to receive $90 for every $100 wagered.
Which live casino game has the best RTP?
When it comes to ranking the live casino games in terms of their RTP, there are many factors to be considered before arriving at an average RTP percentage value. The live casino offerings mainly consist of blackjack, baccarat, roulette, and poker. Some online casinos might offer craps, pachinko and other individual games based on familiar titles such as Monopoly.
One aspect that attracts players to online casinos is the uniqueness of each individual game. With different formats, rules, and ways of winning, the RTP value is difficult to compare across games. However, despite the diversity in games, the concept of funding and investing in online casino play is common to all players and the notion of profit, albeit never guaranteed, is the ultimate goal. Herein lies the value of RTP figures.
Blackjack leading the way
When it comes to average RTP values, blackjack is the clear leader with a whopping 99% RTP percentage. The concept of the game is straightforward. Simply avoid going over 21 with the card values accumulated and beat the dealer’s hand. Should the two come off, you win. There are various strategies affiliated with blackjack, namely using rapid mathematics to work out outcome percentages. Or for the more involved player, card counting is another strategy deployed to forecast which cards could come up next.
There are various versions of blackjack that exist in the online casino industry, with a rare form of the game using 16 as the magic number. With variants, the RTP can slightly fluctuate. The same applies to other live casino games, but when the standard versions of games are considered, baccarat emerges as the game with the next highest RTP value. Different live casino baccarat games made by a range of reputable game developers such as Evolution, Playtech, and OnAir Entertainment all command a RTP value pushing 99% for betting with the banker.
In baccarat, going with the bank is the safest option (since the house always wins) and has an individual win percentage per hand of 45.8%. This dips to 44.6% when siding with the player, and plummets to 9.6% when going with a tie, which is a strategy that is not recommended at any baccarat games for those that play live casino games at Dolfwin.
To round off the most popular live casino games, roulette comes in as the live casino game with the lowest RTP rating. However, with RTP values varying between 97.30% for European Roulette and 98.65% for French Roulette, the RTP percentages are not exactly low, but due to the greater number of outcomes in a game of roulette and no discernible strategy, it only makes sense that the chances of winning are slightly lower.
RTP values only a guide
Although the percentages for the live casino games mentioned in this piece are extremely high, RTP values in general should only be used as a guide. Casino games involve a heavy element of risk and reward and as with spending money on anything, caution should be heeded when investing in game play.
The use of random number generators (RNG) plays a significant role in determining the outcome of live casino games and is also an indication of the amount of luck involved in casino play. However, with a clever and consistent strategy, RTP values could potentially be more than just a guide.
