Hold Percentage
The share of all the money wagered (the handle) that an operator keeps as revenue after paying out winnings, measured over a period of play.
Definition
Hold percentage is gross gaming revenue divided by handle (the total amount staked) over a defined period, expressing how much of every unit wagered the operator retains once winnings are paid out. It exists in two forms: theoretical hold, derived from a game's built-in house edge (100% minus RTP for casino games, or the margin baked into betting odds), and actual hold, the realised figure that swings with luck and player behaviour in the short term before converging toward the theoretical value over large volumes. Because players frequently re-stake their winnings, handle can far exceed the money originally deposited, so a hold expressed as a share of handle is usually much smaller than the operator's revenue expressed against net deposits. It is a measurement of realised outcomes, not a promise of returns to any individual player.
Worked example
A sportsbook accepts £1,000,000 in bets (handle) across a month and pays out £940,000 in winnings, leaving £60,000 in gross gaming revenue; its hold percentage is 60,000 ÷ 1,000,000 = 6%. For a slot with a 96% RTP, the theoretical hold is 4% of every wager — but if a player redeposits and re-stakes winnings, a £20 deposit can generate £100 of handle, so that 4% hold still produces meaningful revenue relative to the amount actually deposited.
Why it matters
Hold percentage is a core revenue and performance metric: it lets operators forecast income, compare products and channels, benchmark performance, and set marketing and bonus budgets, while linking game design choices (RTP, betting margin) to realised business outcomes. For analysts, finance teams and regulators, understanding the gap between theoretical and actual hold prevents misreading short-term variance as a trend, and understanding hold-on-handle versus hold-on-deposits prevents overstating how much a product "keeps" from a player's own funds.
Related
Note: Denominator conventions vary and materially change the number: online operators typically compute hold against handle/turnover, whereas land-based casinos often compute "hold" against the drop (cash and chips brought to the table) rather than total wagers. "Hold" is also used loosely as a synonym for house edge or betting margin, and sports-betting hold is sometimes quoted from the odds overround rather than realised revenue. The illustrative figures here (e.g. ~5-8% sportsbook hold, 4% slot theoretical hold) vary widely by product, market, game and operator, and reporting definitions can differ by jurisdiction and accounting standard — verify against the specific operator's or regulator's methodology.