Highest Payout Online Casino Australia 2026: Where the Maths Actually Favours You

The Payout Illusion: What "Highest Payout" Actually Means in 2026

Every second affiliate page in the Australian market screams about the highest payout online casino. Most of them are selling you a number they did not calculate, attached to a withdrawal speed the operator does not consistently deliver. The phrase itself is a marketing container. It can mean the highest RTP on a pokie, the fastest cashout rail, the biggest welcome bonus, or simply whichever brand paid the most commission that month.

Here is the definition this guide uses. A high-payout casino is one where the published return-to-player figures on its game library are above the market median, the withdrawal process does not quietly eat a week of your time, and the licence behind the operation gives you some kind of paper trail if the cashout goes sideways. Those three conditions rarely arrive together. When they do, the operator deserves the label. When they do not, you are looking at decoration.

The Australian market in 2026 is a strange hybrid. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans online casinos from operating under an Australian licence, so every real-money site serving Aussie players is offshore. That does not make them illegal to use — no Australian punter has been prosecuted for gambling online — but it does mean the regulator is not standing behind your withdrawal. The ACMA blocks and delists illegal services, and the 2026 reforms tightened the screws further, but the day-to-day financial relationship is between you and a company licensed in Curaçao or Malta. Understanding that structure is the first step to reading payout claims without laughing.

RTP vs. House Edge: The Only Two Numbers That Matter

Return to player is the percentage of all stakes a game returns to players over an infinite sample. A 96% RTP pokie returns A$96 for every A$100 wagered across millions of spins. The remaining A$4 is the house edge — the casino's built-in mathematical advantage. A 99% RTP game has a 1% edge. A 94% game has a 6% edge, which is six times as much working against you every time you press spin.

The gap between online and land-based machines in Australia is not a rounding error. Online pokies typically run from 96% to 97.5% RTP. The average pub or club machine in Australia sits somewhere between 85% and 92%. That ten-point spread is structural, not generous. Online operators carry lower overheads and compete on published maths; venue machines answer to a different set of commercial pressures. If you have been grinding the local leagues club and wondering why the bonus rounds feel stingier than your mate's account on a offshore site, the RTP difference is the answer.

What the marketing never says out loud: even a 99% RTP game is a losing proposition in expectation. It is simply a slower bleed. The best-paying pokie in the world still has a house edge, and the maths still favours the casino over time. Treat "highest payout" as "least bad value," not "likely to win." The distinction sounds pedantic until you have watched a 97% RTP session drain a bankroll in forty minutes because volatility decided to have a laugh.

Why a 97% RTP Pokie Still Costs You Money

Run the numbers on a realistic session. A player bets A$2 per spin for 600 spins — a twenty-minute session at a decent pace. At 94% RTP, the expected loss is A$2 × 600 × 0.06 = A$72. Switch to a 96% game and the expected loss drops to A$48. That A$24 gap is not life-changing, but it is the difference between a session that ends with a modest dent and one that feels like a mugging.

The trap is confusing RTP with a session outcome. A 97.5% RTP figure on a high-volatility slot can produce a hundred spins without a meaningful return. The percentage is a long-run average, and your session is a tiny sample inside that average. This is why "which slot has the highest payout" is a question with a correct answer that still does not help you predict the next hour. Goblin's Cave at 99.32% RTP will still take your money on a Tuesday afternoon if the reels feel like it.

There is a second layer that most payout guides ignore. Several Australian-facing operators run multiple RTP versions of the same game. Pragmatic Play's Sweet Bonanza, for example, is commonly distributed at 96.48%, but lower-RTP builds circulate depending on the operator and jurisdiction. The published provider figure is not always the figure running on the site you signed up to. The only reliable check is the in-game information screen, not the affiliate review that sent you there.

The Withdrawal Speed Tax Nobody Talks About

A payout is not a payout until it reaches your bank account. This is the part where the highest payout online casino claims collapse under their own weight. An operator advertising 97% RTP but batching withdrawals twice a day and calling the result "fast" is not offering a high-payout experience. It is offering a high-RTP game library attached to a cashout queue.

The maths on speed is straightforward. A casino paying out in five minutes at 94% average RTP costs you more over a thousand spins than one paying in six hours at 96.5%, and the difference is not close. The RTP gap compounds every spin; the speed gap hits you once per withdrawal. But the psychological tax is real. Waiting three days for a bank transfer on a A$200 cashout turns a win into an administrative chore. Waiting twenty minutes on PayID turns it into a win.

First withdrawals are always slower. Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, Australian-facing casinos must verify identity before releasing funds. First-time verification typically takes two to twenty-four hours if your documents are clean. A blurry licence photo or a utility bill older than three months can push it to forty-eight hours. Once verified, the account flag usually persists, and subsequent withdrawals skip the queue. Budget one slow payout, then expect the fast ones. Anyone promising instant cashout on an unverified account is either lying or running a very loose ship.

Top 7 Highest-Payout Online Casinos for Australian Players in 2026

The ranking below is built on three measurable inputs: published RTP on the core game library, verified withdrawal windows on the fastest supported rail, and the licence behind the operation. Bonus size is a secondary factor because a 400% match with 40x wagering on a 94% RTP library is not a payout advantage. It is a retention mechanism.

1. Bitstarz — The Crypto Cashout Benchmark

Bitstarz has been running since 2014, which in offshore-casino years makes it a fossil. The library carries a documented 96%+ RTP across the core pokies catalogue, and crypto cashouts clear in under ten minutes for most verified accounts. The operator holds a Curaçao licence, which is the standard for the AU-facing market and not a badge of consumer protection. What separates Bitstarz is consistency. The cashout speed is not a launch-week stunt; it has been the operating baseline for years. The welcome package is competitive without being absurd, and the wagering sits in the 40x range, which is average for the segment. If your priority is getting paid before you change your mind about the win, this is the benchmark.

2. Royal Reels — Speed and Bonus Value

Royal Reels takes the lead in the speed-and-bonus dimension in several 2026 rankings. The cashout window on crypto and e-wallets lands in the same tier as Bitstarz, and the bonus structure is more aggressive without tipping into fantasy territory. The trade-off is library depth. Royal Reels leans toward modern video slots rather than classic three-reel machines, so if you want the old-school Aristocrat-style experience, you will be browsing past a lot of Megaways before you find it. For a player who values a fast cashout over a 10,000-title catalogue, the trade is worth making.

3. VegasNow — The 13,000-Title Library

VegasNow is the volume play. The library exceeds 13,000 titles, which is roughly three times what most competing platforms offer. The RTP distribution across that catalogue is not uniformly elite — any library that large will have filler — but the top-tier titles from Microgaming, Pragmatic Play, and NetEnt are present with their standard published returns. The welcome promotion reaches A$5,000 across five deposits with 200 free spins at 35x wagering, which is consistent with industry norms. The cashout is reliable on crypto and PayID once verified. The reason VegasNow sits third rather than first is focus. A 13,000-game lobby is a wonderful problem to have until you spend twenty minutes deciding what to play.

4. Ricky Casino — Volume Play for Pokies Grinders

Ricky Casino's 4,000-title selection is the drawcard for players who want depth without the overwhelming sprawl of a VegasNow. The cashout times are competitive on crypto and e-wallet rails, and the bonus terms are readable — a rarer quality than it should be. The operator is Curaçao-licensed, which means the same caveat applies as everywhere else in this segment: the licence tells you where the company answers to, not where you can seek redress. Ricky earns its place through library curation rather than a single standout metric. For a pokies grinder who wants a deep bench and does not need the absolute fastest cashout on the market, it is a sensible base.

5. 7Bit Casino — The Veteran Crypto Operator

7Bit sits in the same operational tier as Bitstarz for crypto payout speed, typically quoting five to sixty minutes depending on the asset and network conditions. The library is broad, the bonus structure is familiar, and the Curaçao licence places it in the same regulatory bucket as most of this list. The differentiator is longevity. 7Bit has been processing Australian-facing traffic long enough to have a track record on cashout consistency, which is more than most new entrants can claim. It is not the cheapest casino on deposit fees and it is not the most generous on reloads, but the withdrawal rail does what it says on the page.

6. King Billy — The Mid-Tier Workhorse

King Billy occupies the middle of the market without pretending otherwise. Fiat withdrawals process in one to six hours, crypto in twenty to thirty minutes, and the RTP library sits in the standard 96% range. The bonus terms are not the softest — some promotions carry wagering north of 40x — but the cashout mechanics are transparent and the verification queue is not designed as a retention tool. King Billy is the operator you recommend to a friend who wants a normal experience without a headline-grabbing gimmick. In a market full of "revolutionary" platforms that fold after eight months, normal has value.

7. National Casino — Low-Deposit Entry Point

National Casino runs a A$10 minimum deposit and a A$20 minimum withdrawal, with a withdrawal window of up to twenty-four hours on standard rails. That low entry point is the pitch. The RTP library is not the strongest on this list, and the bonus value is modest, but for a player who wants to test a platform with a tenner rather than a hundred, the barrier is genuinely low. The Curaçao licence and PayID support put it in the same structural category as the rest. Treat it as a low-stakes on-ramp rather than a destination for serious volume.

The 2026 Comparison Table: Payout Rates, Licences, and Cashout Reality

Read the table by column, not by row. The "Typical Core RTP" column is the one that matters most for long-session players, and the spread between the top and bottom of this list is smaller than the marketing suggests. The real differentiation sits in the "Fastest Withdrawal" column. An operator with a 96% library and a three-day cashout is a worse payout experience than one with a 95.5% library and a twenty-minute PayID rail. The licence column is uniform for a reason: the AU-facing offshore market is overwhelmingly Curaçao-licensed, with Malta appearing only at the margins.

Legality in Australia: The 2026 Reform Nobody Bothered to Explain

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer online casino services to people in Australia under an Australian licence. That is the sentence most guides stop at, and it is technically true. The practical reality is more layered. No Australian punter has ever been prosecuted for gambling online as of April 2026. Offshore casinos licensed in Curaçao, Malta, or Gibraltar serve Australian players, and the ACMA's enforcement energy is directed at the operators, not the customers.

What the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act 2026 Actually Changes

The Australian Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 on 19 August 2026, with most reforms commencing on 1 January 2027. The headline changes include restrictions on gambling advertising across TV, radio, online, and sports venues; a global opt-out register for gambling advertising; restrictions on direct marketing inducements to new account holders for the first fourteen days and to individuals who have deregistered from BetStop in the last three months; and a ban on commissions to staff or affiliates based on customer activity.

The enforcement side got sharper too. The ACMA completed thirty investigations into seventy-six gambling sites in the April–June 2026 quarter, finding fifty-six breaches of the Interactive Gambling Act. The regulator blocked 187 websites in the same period. The 2026 Act also strengthens BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, with substantially increased penalties for breaches from 1 January 2027. If an operator accepts a bet from someone on BetStop, the financial consequences are about to get considerably less comfortable.

Offshore Licences: Curaçao vs. Malta and What They Mean for Your Money

Curaçao and Malta are the two licences you will see most often on AU-facing sites. They are not equivalent. A Malta Gaming Authority licence carries stricter capital requirements, a formal complaints mechanism, and an external arbiter for disputes. Curaçao's framework was overhauled under the LOK regime effective December 2024, which abolished the legacy master-licence/sub-licence system, but the consumer-protection infrastructure remains lighter than Malta's. Neither licence gives you local legal recourse in Australia. The MGA gives you a paper trail and an external arbiter; Curaçao gives you a licence number and a regulator that is geographically and legally distant.

This matters for payout disputes. If an operator refuses a withdrawal and you are on a Curaçao licence, your escalation path is thin. If the operator holds Malta, you can file a complaint with the MGA and expect a response. That difference does not show up in the RTP figure, but it shows up when the cashout does not arrive. A casino with a 95.5% RTP library and an MGA licence is, for a high-stakes player, a better payout proposition than a 96.5% library attached to a regulator that will not return your email.

Why "Licensed in Curaçao" Is Not a Get-Out-of-Jail Card

The phrase "licensed in Curaçao" appears on nearly every offshore casino footer serving Australia. It is a factual statement about where the company is registered, not a statement about whether the platform is legal in Australia. The ACMA maintains a register of prohibited interactive gambling services, and a Curaçao licence does not exempt an operator from that list. An offshore licence shows you the rules the casino follows in its own jurisdiction. It does not mean the platform is authorised to operate as a legal service inside Australia.

The practical filter is the ACMA's prohibited register, not the licence logo. If a site appears on the register, the licence is irrelevant. If it does not appear, the licence tells you something about the operator's regulatory home. Neither check guarantees a smooth withdrawal. What it does is separate the operators who have something to lose from the ones running a throwaway brand on a recycled licence.

Games With the Highest Payout: The Brutal Ranking

The question "what casino game has the highest payout" has a correct answer that most players do not want to hear. The highest RTP in a casino is not on a pokie. It never has been. The games with the best theoretical returns are the ones that reward skill, and the gap between them and the pokies lobby is larger than the gap between online and land-based machines.

Video Poker and Blackjack: The 99% Club

Video poker variants in the Jacks or Better family can reach 99.54% RTP with optimal play. Blackjack with basic strategy sits around 99.5% depending on the rule set and the number of decks. Baccarat betting on the banker lands at up to 98.94%. These are the games where the house edge is under 2% and, in the best video poker configurations, under 0.5%.

The caveat is not small. Those figures assume optimal play. A video poker player who does not know the correct hold strategy is not playing a 99.5% game; they are playing whatever return their decisions produce, which is usually several points lower. Blackjack without basic strategy is a different game with a different edge. The "99% club" is a members-only arrangement, and the membership fee is homework. For a player willing to learn a strategy chart, these games offer a genuinely better payout profile than any pokie. For a player who wants to press spin and hope, they are not relevant.

The Highest-RTP Online Pokies (With the Asterisks Attached)

This table is accurate and almost useless without the asterisk column. Goblin's Cave's 99.32% is a theoretical figure under optimal play, not a guarantee that a casual session will return 99 cents on the dollar. Mega Joker's 99% is weighted toward the supermeter mode, which requires a specific play pattern to access. Blood Suckers at 98% is a low-volatility grind with a bonus round that does most of the lifting. The number is real. The experience of playing the game is not the number.

Operators can also run lower-RTP builds of these titles. The provider's published figure is the maximum, not necessarily the configuration live on your chosen site. Always check the in-game info screen. If the figure differs from the one in the affiliate review that sent you, believe the game, not the review.

What Slot Has the Highest Payout? The Short Answer and the Long Catch

Goblin's Cave at 99.32% is the short answer. The long catch is that the RTP figure is a long-run average over millions of spins, and your session is a rounding error inside that average. A high-RTP game can still produce a brutal session. A lower-RTP game can produce a lucky one. The number tilts the long-term maths; it does not script the short-term outcome.

There is a more useful question hiding behind the one everyone asks. Instead of "what slot has the highest payout," ask "what slot has the highest payout at the stake I actually play, on the site I actually use, in the version actually running." That question has a practical answer: check the game's info screen, confirm the RTP, and cross-reference the volatility against your bankroll. A 99% RTP game with extreme volatility is not a better fit for a A$50 session than a 96.5% game with medium volatility. The highest payout is the one you can actually survive long enough to collect.

Payment Methods and Withdrawal Speed: Where the Real Payout Happens

The payment rail decides the payout experience more than the RTP figure does. A casino with a 96% library and a PayID rail that settles in under an hour is a fundamentally different product from a casino with the same library and a three-day card reversal queue. The rail is the variable the player can actually control, and it is the one most payout guides spend the least time on.

PayID, Crypto, and the Death of POLi

PayID runs on the New Payments Platform and settles in under sixty seconds in normal conditions, 24/7 including public holidays. For casino withdrawals, the practical window is one to sixty minutes once the operator's internal review clears. PayID has become the default AUD rail for a reason: it uses the same domestic infrastructure your salary lands on, and it removes the two-day bank transfer problem entirely. Most Australian-facing operators now support it, from Rocket Casino and National Casino to SkyCrown and Casino Mate.

Crypto is faster on paper and more variable in practice. TRC-20 and Solana withdrawals can settle in two to fifteen minutes; Bitcoin runs ten to forty minutes depending on network congestion. The trade-off is the network fee and the additional step of moving funds between wallet and bank. For a player already holding crypto, it is the fastest end-to-end option. For a player who has never touched a wallet, the learning curve is not trivial, and the "instant" label is doing more marketing work than the actual experience justifies.

POLi is gone. Australia Post pulled the pin in September 2023, and any casino still listing it is either running an outdated cashier page or routing through a workaround. PayID over Osko is the same idea executed better. Neosurf remains a deposit-only option — instant, prepaid, and useful as a hard spending cap because the voucher value is the ceiling. It does not support withdrawals at most operators, which makes it a one-way rail.

Minimum Deposits and Withdrawal Caps

Minimum PayID deposits at Australian-facing casinos sit at A$10 across most operators in 2026, with a handful going as low as A$5. The low minimum is not necessarily a player-friendly feature; it is a customer-acquisition tool. A A$10 deposit is just enough to trigger a welcome pack that promises free spins with a theoretical maximum payout that almost nobody hits. The low barrier is real. So is the fine print attached to it.

Withdrawal caps matter more for high-stakes players. Most offshore brands cap payouts at A$5,000 to A$10,000 per transaction, with monthly ceilings between A$40,000 and A$100,000. A player who hits a large win and discovers a A$5,000 weekly cap will be waiting months for the full amount, regardless of how fast the individual transactions clear. Check the cashout limits before you deposit, not after you win. The operator's banking page is the source of truth, and it is usually one click away from the bonus page that got your attention.

How We Picked These Casinos (and Why Most "Top 10" Lists Are Garbage)

The methodology behind this ranking is deliberately narrow. We weighted published RTP on the core library, verified withdrawal windows on the fastest supported rail, and the regulatory tier of the licence. Bonus size was treated as a secondary factor because a large bonus with steep wagering is a marketing expense, not a payout advantage. The average wagering requirement across offshore AUD-accepting casinos sits between 35x and 45x in 2026, with 30x below average and 50x steep. A 400% match at 45x on a 94% RTP library is not a high-payout offer. It is a long grind with a shiny wrapper.

Most "top 10 highest payout casino" lists fail on three counts. They rank by affiliate commission rather than measurable payout metrics. They quote RTP figures from the provider's marketing sheet without checking the in-game version. And they treat "fast withdrawal" as a binary the operator self-certifies, rather than a window measured on a verified account. The result is a list that tells you which brand pays the reviewer, not which brand pays the player.

The list above is not immune to commercial pressure, but the ranking criteria are at least stated. Bitstarz leads on cashout consistency because the crypto rail has been the operating baseline for years, not because a launch promotion paid for the top slot. VegasNow sits third because a 13,000-title library is a genuine differentiator even if the RTP distribution is uneven. National Casino sits seventh because a A$10 minimum deposit is a real entry point even if the bonus value is modest. The ordering reflects a trade-off between measurable payout factors, not a single number dressed up as a verdict.

New Casinos, Same Maths: What to Watch in the 2026 AU Market

New Australian-facing casinos launch every quarter, and the pitch is always the same: bigger bonuses, faster payouts, a "revolutionary" platform. The maths underneath the pitch is almost always identical to the incumbents. A new brand on a Curaçao licence with a 96% RTP library and a 40x wagering requirement is not offering a new payout paradigm. It is offering the same product with a different landing page.

The 2026 new entrants worth watching are the ones that differentiate on a measurable axis. Spinfin launched in August 2026 with a platform built on different operational rules, though the payout mechanics will be the test. Wazamba entered the AU market in July 2026 targeting younger adults through interactive gameplay, which is a marketing strategy rather than a payout advantage. SirBetalot, launched in 2024 on a Curaçao licence, has built its lineup around Pragmatic Play and NetEnt pokies with a standard RTP profile. None of these are inherently better or worse than the incumbents. They are the same maths with a fresh coat of paint.

The useful filter for a new casino is the same as for an old one: check the in-game RTP on the titles you actually play, confirm the withdrawal window on a verified account, and read the cashout limits. A new brand that publishes those numbers clearly is worth a look. A new brand that leads with a bonus percentage and buries the wagering terms is a retention funnel, not a payout opportunity. The age of the licence is not a quality signal. The transparency of the payout terms is.

Responsible Gambling: The Part Every Affiliate Site Skips

The highest payout casino is still a casino. The house edge is still working against you, the RTP is still a long-run average, and the bonus terms are still designed to keep you playing longer than you planned. The responsible-gambling section is not a legal formality. It is the part of the payout equation that determines whether a session is entertainment or a problem.

BetStop and the 2026 Self-Exclusion Reforms

BetStop is the National Self-Exclusion Register. It lets you exclude yourself from all Australian-licensed online and phone wagering services in a single step for a minimum of three months and up to a lifetime. The 2026 reforms strengthen the register and increase the penalties for operators that breach it. From 1 January 2027, the financial consequences of accepting a bet from a self-excluded person become considerably more severe. The ACMA has already penalised operators for breaches — Picklebet accepted bets from an individual who had registered with BetStop hours earlier, and the regulator did not treat it as a clerical error.

BetStop covers Australian-licensed wagering services. It does not automatically cover offshore casinos on Curaçao licences. That is a structural gap, and it is one of the underdiscussed costs of the offshore market. An operator outside the Australian licensing system may not be obligated to check the register. If self-exclusion is part of your harm-minimisation strategy, the offshore market is a weaker environment for it. That is not a reason to avoid offshore casinos entirely, but it is a reason to treat the register as one tool among several rather than a complete solution.

The "Free Spin" Lie and Other Marketing Traps

A "free" A$10 spin on Starburst at 96.1% RTP has an expected value of A$9.61, not A$10. The casino's "gift" is a carefully crafted illusion that masks a 0.39% loss per spin. That is the benign version. The less benign version is a "free" A$20 spin carrying a 40x wagering clause, which requires A$800 of play before any winnings can be withdrawn. The casino recoups the cost long before the player sees a cent.

The word "VIP" deserves the same cynicism. A VIP programme that promises exclusive bonuses but attaches a thirty-day wagering requirement turns a A$100 "gift" into a A$3,000 grind. The VIP lounge is a retention mechanism with better furniture. That does not make it worthless — a player who was going to grind anyway might as well collect the reload bonuses — but it is not a payout advantage. It is a loyalty discount on a product with a negative expected value.

The only reliable payout in the casino ecosystem is the one you withdraw. Everything else is a number on a marketing page. The RTP is real, the house edge is real, and the cashout window is real once you clear verification. The bonus is real too, but it is real in the way a loyalty card is real: it gives you a small return on spending you were going to do anyway. Treat it accordingly.

Is the highest payout online casino in Australia actually legal?

Online casinos cannot hold an Australian licence under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, so every real-money site serving AU players is offshore. No Australian punter has been prosecuted for gambling online as of 2026. The practical filter is the ACMA's prohibited services register, not the licence logo. Offshore sites licensed in Curaçao or Malta operate in a grey zone: legal for the player, not authorised under Australian law.

What is the highest paying online slot for Australian players?

Goblin's Cave by Playtech carries the highest published RTP at 99.32%, followed by Ugga Bugga at 99.07% and Book of 99 at 99%. The catch is that these figures assume optimal play and the game version actually running on your site may differ. A 99% RTP game with high volatility can still produce a losing session. The percentage tilts the long-run maths; it does not guarantee a short-term outcome.

Which payment method gives the fastest casino withdrawal in Australia?

Crypto is the fastest end-to-end rail, with TRC-20 and Solana withdrawals settling in two to fifteen minutes. PayID follows closely at one to sixty minutes once the operator's internal review clears. E-wallets run one to twenty-four hours, and card withdrawals are the slowest at one to five business days. First withdrawals take longer because of identity verification under AUSTRAC rules.

Do high-payout casinos have lower wagering requirements?

Not necessarily. The average wagering requirement at AU-facing offshore casinos sits between 35x and 45x in 2026, and the highest-RTP operators often sit in that same range. A casino can have a 97% RTP library and a 45x wagering requirement on its bonus. The two metrics are independent. Read the wagering terms on the specific offer, not the casino's average RTP, because the bonus terms are where the payout advantage usually disappears.

Can I withdraw my winnings instantly from an Australian online casino?

"Instant" is a marketing word with no regulatory definition in Australia. Crypto can settle in minutes and PayID in under an hour once the operator approves the request, but the internal review is the variable that matters. First withdrawals require identity verification, which typically takes two to twenty-four hours. After that, the account flag persists and subsequent withdrawals skip the queue. A realistic instant window is five to thirty minutes for crypto and one to sixty minutes for PayID on a verified account.

What is the difference between RTP and payout percentage?

In practice, they mean the same thing: the percentage of all stakes returned to players over a very long sample. A 96% RTP game returns A$96 for every A$100 wagered across millions of spins. The remaining A$4 is the house edge. The distinction some operators draw between "RTP" and "payout percentage" is marketing, not mathematics. Both figures describe the same long-run average, and neither predicts a single session's outcome.