Today there are over 2000 online casino sites. However, most of them offers games from just 5-10 top online gaming software providers: Microgaming, Playtech, Cryptologic, RealTime Gaming just to mention a few.

Casino games have different build-in odds or house edge. For example, for each $1 of bets the casino pays back $0.95 (on average), in this case the house edge is 5% and corresponding average payout is 95%. The build-in payout depend on the game: for video poker the average payout percentage is about 98% or higher, for slots 96% payout is rather high. Blackjack games pay back up to 99% and higher, while payouts for roulette games range from 94.74% (American) up to 97.37% (French roulette).

To ensure fair gaming and responsible practices trusted online casinos are monitored by independent auditors and provide monthly reports on average payout percentages for different types of games and for all games combined. These monthly reports are available on casino websites for general public.

Independent online gambling portals collect information on casino payouts and provide rankings. You can check out recent best online casino payout percentages here to find the best 25 casinos that paid the highest percentage of total wagers to their players. The average monthly payouts for "all games conbined", poker and video poker, and slots are listed and ranked.

The list contains major Microgaming, Playtech and Cryptologic online casinos that provide reviewed payout percentages. You can see that top 2 places are occupied by Microgaming online casinos, the second pace finisher feature Cryptologic games. That's for the total payouts. However, highest average payouts for slots are reported at Playtech casinos.

If you look at the payouts data more closely you'll see that, despite of the same software and games with the same odds, some casinos pay more then the others, from month to month. Why? Because they offer bonuses every month and players COMP programs where for every wager players collect points redeemable for casino cash. Moreover, these casinos always offer the latest games with better odds, while others have a smaller selection of casino games.

I would not mention here the best casinos in terms of payout percentages or promotions but make sure that you check out the payouts and other important information before playing for real money.

The highest odds do not only allow you to play longer for your money but increase your chances of winnings. I've seen several stories when an online player lost almost the entire deposit but the last $10 allowed him to hit $30K+ progressive jackpot. Just think if the odds were a bit worth...