What a win on a pokie actually is
A pokie outcome is decided by a random number generator at the moment you press the button. Nothing you did before that spin, and nothing you do after it, changes the result. The reels do not warm up, cool down, or owe you anything, and a machine that has just paid out is no more or less likely to pay again.
That means the honest phrasing of how to win on pokies is: you cannot make it happen, you can only decide what you are willing to lose. Any site promising a method, a timing trick or a pattern is selling something. The published RTP numbers tell you the long-run average return, not the result of your session.
- In plain terms:Return to player (RTP)
- RTP is the long-run average percentage of all money wagered on a game that is paid back to players over an enormous number of spins. It is not a session result, not a promise, and not something a player can influence.
Reading the RTP figure honestly
Return to player is an average measured over an enormous number of spins, usually millions. It is not a promise that a session returns that percentage. A game listed at 96.35% can and will return nothing at all to an individual player, and another player can hit far above it in the same hour.
The figure also assumes the game is being played at its published settings. Operators can run a game at a lower configuration, and the plate on the page may not match what a particular venue has loaded. Where our shortlist gives RTP, take it as an indication of the game as specified, not a guarantee of what you will be offered.
Where venue and online returns differ
This site exists because of one gap: what a club or pub machine returns versus what an online version of a similar game returns. The two are not the same product, even when the artwork and the name look familiar. Venue machines in Australia are set to configurations the operator chooses, and the published plate on a venue machine is often the only figure you will ever see.
Online, the operator and the game supplier decide the configuration, and published RTPs like those in our shortlist are the supplier's stated figure. That is the whole argument of this page: compare the stated figure against the specific configuration you are actually offered, and treat any gap between them as the real cost of playing.
In order, with the reasons
The five games listed on this page, with their published RTP, volatility, maximum win and line count, in the order they appear in the shortlist.
| 1Floating Dragon | 96.35% | High | 5,000x | Pragmatic Play |
| 2Big Bamboo | 96.13% | High | — | Push Gaming |
| 3Starburst | 96.08% | — | 800x | NetEnt |
| 4Wolf Gold | 96.01% | Medium | 5,000x | Pragmatic Play |
| 5Queen of the Nile | 95.98% | Medium | 800x | Aristocrat |
Select a column heading to sort.
Asked and answered
how to win at pokies
You cannot control the outcome of a spin, so the only thing you can win at is deciding your limits before you start. Treat every session as money spent, not money invested, and stop when the amount you set aside is gone.
how to win on slot machines
The mechanics are the same as pokies: a random number generator decides each result independently. No strategy, bet pattern or machine choice changes the odds of any individual spin.
how to win online pokies
Online, the practical difference is the terms attached to any bonus you claim, not the spins themselves. Read the maximum bet and cashback conditions before you deposit, because those terms shape what you can actually withdraw.
does a higher RTP mean I will win more
It means the game returns more on average over a very long run, which is not the same as winning more in a session. A higher RTP reduces the long-run cost of play, but any single session can still return nothing.