How Crypto Casinos Choose Which RTP Build to Run

The return figure on a slot is not a property of the slot. It is a choice somebody made, and the person who made it works for the casino, not the studio.

Most players assume a game has a return the way it has a theme. It does not. It has a menu of them, and here is who picks from it and why.

The Same Game, Several Certified Versions

Studios build a title once and certify it several times at different configurations.

Starburst has shipped at 90.10%, 92.13%, 94.10%, and 96.09%. Aviator can be configured by operators at 97%, 96% or 94%. In every case, the artwork, the mechanics and the feel are identical, and the only difference is the paytable maths sitting underneath.

The operator selects which build to run. That decision is made once, applied to the whole player base, and displayed in a panel almost nobody opens.

Four Things That Drive the Choice

The reasoning is commercial and not arbitrary, and each driver pulls in a predictable direction.

Tax and Duty

The largest single force, and there is a live example running right now.

UK Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% of gross gaming revenue on 1 April 2026. What followed has been reported across trade coverage: operators shifting their standard slot configuration down a notch or two, from the 96% band toward 94%, with negotiations reportedly bottoming out around 92%.

The mechanism is straightforward. Duty is charged on gross gaming revenue, which is the margin the games generate. Raise the duty and an operator either accepts a thinner net position or widens the margin to compensate, and widening the margin means selecting a lower build.

So a tax decision in one market reaches players as a smaller number in an information panel, with no announcement and no visible change to the game.

Market Positioning

Operators competing on different things configure differently.

A platform selling itself on value has a reason to run higher builds and say so, because the figure becomes a marketing asset. A platform competing on bonuses, promotions and rewards has to fund those from somewhere, and margin is where they come from.

Neither approach is dishonest. They are different businesses making consistent choices, and the player who reads only the promotional offer sees half of the trade.

Jurisdiction Floors

Some regulated markets set jurisdiction floors. Certain European regimes mandate minimum returns on slot content, which removes the low end of the menu from operators serving those markets.

Offshore licensing regimes generally do not impose such requirements, which leaves the full range available.

That is not a criticism of any particular operator, and it does mean the same title can legitimately run at 96% in one market and considerably lower in another, with the difference invisible to a player who does not check.

Commercial Terms With the Studio

The quietest driver and the hardest to observe from outside.

Revenue share arrangements, volume commitments and the length of a relationship all shape what a studio offers an operator. Which builds sit on the menu in the first place is a negotiated question, not a fixed one.

Players never see this layer, and it partly determines the range available before any operator decision gets made. Who supplies a lobby therefore shapes the figures available in it.

Dexsport Is the Party Making This Choice

Worth working through with a real platform, because the article describes a decision somebody has to make.

Dexsport licenses its entire catalogue and runs no in-house originals. That means every return figure across its lobby is a studio build the platform selected, with no house-built alternative sitting alongside it at 99%.

Two things follow. The platform is exactly the actor described above, choosing from each studio's menu across roughly twenty slot providers plus Evolution, Playtech and Ezugi for live content.

And because it holds an Anjouan licence instead of a UK one, the duty pressure driving configurations down in Britain does not apply to it in the same way, though supplier-level shifts affect everyone carrying the same titles.

The useful part for a player is that demo mode runs across much of the library, so you can open any title and read the figure the platform selected before staking anything. That turns an invisible commercial decision into a visible one, for free.

Why Nobody Notices

The final honest point, and it explains the whole system.

None of this is hidden. Certification requires the figure to be published, and it sits in the information panel of every game at every licensed operator. A player who checks it knows exactly what was chosen.

Almost nobody checks. The industry knows almost nobody checks, and the practice of configuring builds downward exists comfortably alongside full disclosure precisely because disclosure without attention costs nothing.

Which makes the fix unusually simple:

• Open the information panel before staking anything

• Read the configured figure, not the studio's headline number

• Compare it against what the same title runs at elsewhere, since the spread across operators can be several points

Dexsport's demo mode makes all three free. Catalogue and platform quality matter too, and neither is worth much if the games are configured at the bottom of their range.

Confirm what is legal where you live, keep stakes within a set budget, and play only if you are of legal age, since KYC or AML checks may apply.

Responsible gambling deserves a mention here because build selection is invisible by design: a game feels identical at 94% and 97%, and the difference only appears in a balance over time.

Disclaimer: The information here is provided for general purposes only and is not legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Return configurations, duty rates and operator practices vary by market and change over time, and some developments cited are as reported in trade coverage. Consult each game's published information before playing. Betting carries risk, and rules vary by country, so check the law where you live. Please gamble responsibly, within your means, and only if you are of legal age.