lab studies / gladiator legends
Gladiator Legends logo
lab study, simulation-based

177 million spins on gladiator legends: an 8-point RTP ladder, and the floor version added up to 14 points to the bust rate

exp · 073 · 2026-06-27 · simulation-based

provider Hacksaw GamingRTP 96.31% (versions: 96.31*;94.44;92.66;88.19)volatility extreme
at 50c a spin
€5,000
biggest win
10,000x top win
~199
spins to the bonus
about 40 min at 5/min
€55
average bonus
when it hits (110x)
€0.48
avg back per spin
of your 50c
win hit frequency 26.7% (~1 in 3.7 spins)max win 10,000x = €5,000 (a feature event)
gladiator legends is a 2023 Hacksaw arena game, and it carries one of the wider RTP ladders we have measured, 96.31%, 94.44%, 92.66% and 88.19%, an 8-point spread the casino selects. we simulated 177,030,532 spins (90,000 sessions per version) at the 96.31% default and the 88.19% floor. at $0.50 a spin against a $100 bankroll, 77.7% of sessions busted on the default and 85.0% on the floor. at $0.20/$100 the floor adds nearly 14 points: 41.8% rising to 55.5%, from a setting the player never sees.

Run it yourself in the live simulator. All figures are simulation-based observations, not predictions. See our methodology.

what we measured

parametervalue
provider / engineHacksaw Gaming · feature spins, arena theme
configs simulated96.31% (provider default) · 88.19% (published floor of the ladder)
published rtp ladder96.31% / 94.44% / 92.66% / 88.19%, a verified 8.12pp spread
volatilityvery high (5/5)
hit frequency26.7% (single-source)
stakes$0.20 / $0.50 / $1.00 per spin
bankrolls$50 / $100 / $200
sessions10,000 per stake/bankroll cell, 90,000 per version
spin cap2,000 spins per session
max win10,000x stake (a feature event)
feature buys10x / 40x / 100x / 400x (non-UK)

model inputs worth flagging: the four-step RTP ladder, the 10,000x max and the priced bonus buys are sourced; the hit frequency (26.7%) is single-source. Hacksaw does not publish a bonus trigger frequency, so we modelled it (about one feature every ~200 spins) as a documented assumption; the bonus payout distribution and base-versus-feature split are model assumptions calibrated to the published RTP and the 10,000x cap. the cross-version comparison holds all inputs constant, so it is robust; absolute bonus figures are estimates.

how long bankrolls survived

survival curves, share of sessions still alive vs spins played

the stake sets the clock. at the $100 bankroll the default-version median ran 579 spins at $0.50. very high volatility means long dry stretches between rare large hits, and the bankroll grinds down in between.

bust rates

bust-rate grid, share of sessions that busted before the spin cap

bust rates within the 2,000-spin cap, 96.31% default version, 95% confidence intervals:

$50 bankroll$100$200
$0.20/spin71.9% ±0.841.8% ±1.03.6% ±0.4
$0.50/spin89.5% ±0.677.7% ±0.853.9% ±1.0
$1.00/spin94.9% ±0.489.2% ±0.678.1% ±0.8

plain reading: hold the bankroll at $100 and move the stake from $0.20 to $0.50, and the bust rate nearly doubles from 41.8% to 77.7%. the only safe cell is $0.20 against $200 (3.6%).

the bonus wait, and what it pays

on our modelled trigger rate (about 1 in 200 spins, an assumption), the feature carries about 57% of the total return. the payout side (model-based estimates): the average feature paid 110x stake but the median was 60x, and 43% paid under 50x. the 10,000x ceiling is the rare tail; a typical feature pays around half the average.

what a finished session looks like

final bankroll by percentile

the final-bankroll distribution at $0.50/$100 has almost no middle. seven sessions in ten ended with under $0.50 of the original $100, busted, in effect, with the median finish near $0.45. then it leaps: the 90th percentile kept $343. the arena theme lands in the same die-or-detonate shape as the rest of our library.

the rtp version lottery

gladiator legends has one of the wider spreads we have measured: a published ladder from 96.31% down to 88.19%, an 8.12-point gap, and the casino picks the rung. we ran the full grid at the default and the floor; same model, same inputs, only the RTP changed:

cell96.31% default88.19% floordelta
$0.20/$100 bust41.8% ±1.055.5% ±1.0+13.8pp
$0.50/$100 bust77.7% ±0.885.0% ±0.7+7.3pp
$0.50/$200 bust53.9% ±1.065.3% ±0.9+11.5pp
$1.00/$200 bust78.1% ±0.884.9% ±0.7+6.8pp

the floor version raised the bust rate by 7 to 14 points depending on the cell, because the spread is eight points wide. same game, same colosseum. the only difference is the RTP the operator chose to run. the version is the one variable a player can actually pick, so play it where the published RTP is highest. our casino hub ranks operators by exactly that.

methodology note

we simulate models calibrated to published math, RTP, hit frequency, volatility profile, bonus behaviour, not the provider's game engine. results are sample-based observations from 177,030,532 simulated spins (180,000 sessions across two RTP versions), with 95% confidence intervals shown. hit frequency (26.7%) is single-source; the bonus trigger frequency is not published and was modelled (~1 in 200) as a documented assumption; the bonus payout distribution and base-versus-feature split are modelled. the base-game ceiling (400x) is a reasoned estimate; the 10,000x max is a feature event. casino-by-casino RTP figures are the published ladder, not statements about any operator's current configuration. model validation: gladiator-legends v1, analytic calibration exact at 96.31% and 88.19%, 10M-spin checks within tolerance. slots are negative-expectation games; nothing here predicts outcomes or improves odds. corrections policy: methodology.html.

Where the max win actually comes from

base 41%
feature 55%

57% of this game's RTP is locked inside the bonus you rarely trigger; the base game on its own returns just 41%.

A normal spin in our simulation never returned more than ~400x (€200). The 10,000x top win is a feature event, it only came out of the bonus. (base-game ceiling: model estimate)

Play the Gladiator Legends demo, or stress-test it

Looking for the Gladiator Legends demo or free play? A demo shows you a handful of spins. Our free simulator runs Gladiator Legends across thousands of sessions and shows what actually happens to a bankroll over time: the bust rate, how long the money lasts, and the wait for the bonus. It is the demo with the math switched on.

stress-test Gladiator Legends free

FAQ

Is there a Gladiator Legends demo or free play?

Yes. You can play Gladiator Legends in demo mode at most casinos, and you can stress-test it free in our simulator, which runs thousands of sessions and reports the bust rate and session length, the demo with the math switched on.

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