What is Hold?

Hold, in the slot-machine sense, is the percentage of all money wagered that the machine keeps as revenue over the long run. It is the direct inverse of RTP: a slot with 95% RTP has a 5% hold. The two describe the same thing from opposite sides — what the player gets back versus what the house retains. Worked example: a bank of slots set to 92% RTP runs an 8% hold. On $500,000 of monthly handle, the theoretical revenue is $40,000. A single machine at 5% hold taking $1 million in handle would retain $50,000. These are long-run, theoretical figures; over any short session the actual result swings widely with Variance. Hold matters to operators because land-based casinos track it across the floor to monitor machine performance and tune their game mix, and it tells players, via its RTP twin, how generous a game is over time. The common mistake is twofold: confusing the slot Hold with the sports-betting Hold (the same idea in a different context), and expecting a short play session to mirror the theoretical hold. It will not — high volatility means individual sessions can finish far above or below the long-run figure, which is exactly why the number only holds true over millions of spins. See also RTP, the Hold, the House Edge, Volatility and Hit Frequency.