How to win on the pokies every time — answered without the sales pitch

What a return-to-player figure actually measures

Return to player is the share of all money wagered on a pokie that is paid back to players over the long run. It is an average across millions of spins, not a promise for your session. A pokie with a return of 96.51 per cent can still take every cent of a hundred-dollar balance in ten minutes, because the average needs an enormous number of spins to show itself.

The figure also assumes you keep spinning. If you stop, your personal result is whatever you walked away with, which has nothing to do with the long-run average. Treat the number as a way to compare machines, not as a forecast of your night.

In plain terms:Random number generator

A random number generator is the software inside a pokie that decides the result of every spin independently of the ones before it. Because each spin is separate, no pattern in past results can tell you what comes next.

Volatility and what it does to your balance

Volatility describes how a pokie distributes its wins. High volatility means long dry spells interrupted by larger, rarer payouts. Medium-high sits a step down from that, with more frequent but generally smaller hits. Neither setting is better for your wallet; they simply shape the ride.

A high-volatility game can drain a modest balance before a feature lands, so the size of your balance matters as much as the game you choose. If you want more frequent feedback, a lower-volatility pokie stretches the same money over more spins. If you want the chance at a large multiplier, you accept that most sessions will not deliver one.

How features change the maths, not the odds

Free spins, expanding symbols, tumbling reels and multiplier orbs are the mechanics that make a pokie interesting. They do not change the house edge, which is already built into the return figure. What they change is the shape of the payout distribution: a feature might pay nothing, or it might pay a large multiple of your bet.

Bonus buy options let you pay a set price to trigger a feature immediately, but that price is set so the house still has an edge. The feature is not a shortcut to profit. It is the same game with the waiting removed, sold at a price that reflects the average outcome.

What the published numbers put in front

The shortlist below compares five pokies on return, volatility and maximum win, with no claim that any of them is due to pay.

What else people ask