Pokie guide · Australia
Return-to-player figures are the most quoted number in pokie coverage and the least understood. This page compares the published RTP of five widely played online pokies and explains what that figure actually describes.
Five titles are ranked below by their published return-to-player percentage, from highest to lowest, with volatility and maximum win shown alongside.
Checked on 16 October 2026
Sort by whichever figure decides it for you.
| 1Big Bass Bonanza Megaways | 96.72% | High | 2,100x | Pragmatic Play |
| 2Big Bass Bonanza | 96.71% | High | 2,100x | Pragmatic Play |
| 3Madame Destiny Megaways | 96.51% | High | 5,000x | Pragmatic Play |
| 4Gates of Olympus | 96.5% | High | 5,000x | Pragmatic Play |
| 5Sweet Bonanza | 96.48% | Medium-High | 21,100x | Pragmatic Play |
Select a column heading to sort.
Big Bass Bonanza Megaways leads on published return at ninety-six point seven two per cent, with high volatility and a maximum win of two thousand one hundred times your stake.
Big Bass Bonanza sits a hair behind on return at ninety-six point seven one per cent, and its ten fixed lines make the high volatility feel sharper.
Madame Destiny Megaways returns ninety-six point five one per cent with a maximum win of five thousand times your stake, a step up in prize potential for a small drop in return.
A return-to-player percentage is a long-run average calculated across an enormous number of spins, not a promise about your session. A pokie that publishes a return of ninety-six point seven two per cent is not going to hand back that share of what you put through it on any given evening, and it will not top you up if you finish behind. The figure is a design parameter, not a forecast.
That distinction matters most when you compare pokies side by side. A gap of a fraction of a percentage point between two games is real in the maths but meaningless in a single session, because variance swamps it. What the published figure can do is tell you which games are built with a slightly smaller built-in edge over the long run — nothing more, and nothing about your chances tonight.
Every title on the shortlist carries high or medium-high volatility, and that is not a coincidence. Games with frequent large multipliers tend to be built that way, and the published maximum win figures reflect it. High volatility means longer dry spells between meaningful returns, so a bankroll suited to a medium-volatility game can vanish quickly here even when the return figure looks respectable.
The ordering below is by published return, which is a narrow measure. If you weight how often you see a return rather than how large it can be, the ranking would look different. Read the volatility and maximum win columns alongside the return figure rather than treating one number as the whole story, and remember that none of these games can be played in a way that changes the published average.
A large headline deposit bonus is the most visible number on any cashier page and the least informative on its own. The partner publishes a six hundred per cent cash bonus on a first deposit, a daily cashback of ten per cent of losses, a minimum deposit of twenty US dollars and a maximum bet on a bonus of five Australian dollars. Those are the terms as published; what they mean for you depends on how you play.
The maximum bet rule is the one that decides whether a bonus is usable on the games above. Five dollars a spin is below what many high-volatility players stake, and exceeding it while a bonus is active is the classic way to lose the bonus and anything won with it. If your normal stake sits above that limit, the bonus is not really available to you, whatever the percentage suggests.
Older pokies often publish returns in the same range as the titles above, which surprises people who assume newer means better paying. What has changed is volatility and maximum win potential, not the underlying edge. A dated three-reel game and a modern multiplier-heavy release can sit within a fraction of each other on return while feeling completely different to play.
The practical takeaway is that return figures are a poor way to choose between a classic and a modern release. If you prefer steadier, smaller returns, the older design may suit you better despite a similar published number. If you are chasing the large maximum win figures in the table, accept that the same maths that produces them also produces the long dry spells.
Stake size interacts with volatility in a way the return figure hides. A game with a published maximum win in the thousands of times your stake will not deliver that on a small stake often enough to matter, and the swings between returns are proportionally the same whatever you bet. There is no stake level that improves the published average.
A sensible approach is to decide what you are willing to lose before you open a game, then pick a stake that makes that amount last a reasonable number of spins on a high-volatility title. Treat any bonus balance as locked until you have read the maximum bet condition, and treat every return figure on this page as an average that says nothing about your next session.
It usually means the highest published return-to-player percentage, which is a long-run average across millions of spins. It does not mean the game pays out more often, or that you will finish ahead.
Among the titles listed here, Big Bass Bonanza Megaways publishes the highest return at ninety-six point seven two per cent. The gap to the next game is a fraction of a percentage point, which makes no practical difference in a session.
No. A higher published return means a slightly smaller built-in edge over a very large number of spins, not a better chance in any single session. Variance decides individual sessions.
The partner publishes a maximum bet on a bonus of five Australian dollars, and exceeding it can void the bonus and winnings from it. Check whether your normal stake sits under that limit before claiming.
It usually means the highest published return-to-player percentage, which is a long-run average across millions of spins. It does not mean the game pays out more often, or that you will finish ahead.