Pokie review · Australia
Starburst is a five-reel, ten-line pokie from 2012 with a published return of 96.08% and a top win of 800x. This page reads those figures plainly, including the ones the provider leaves out, and makes no claim about what a session will pay.
Figures checked on 19 October 2026
A 96.08% return, a 23.0% hit frequency and an 800x top prize describe a game built for frequent small returns and short sessions, with no published volatility figure to soften the arithmetic and no free spins round to change it.
Paid placement. Paid placement. The operator pays for this position; it does not affect anything measured on this page.
96.08%
Long-run average across all spins, online version800x
Multiple of the stakeThe plate at the top of this page lists return to player at 96.08%, maximum win at 800x, a grid of five reels and three rows, ten paylines, a hit frequency of 23.0%, provider NetEnt, released in 2012. Those are the figures the provider publishes. The return is a long-run average across every stake and every player; it is not a target for a session, and a short run of spins can land far either side of it.
A 96.08% return means that, across an enormous number of spins, the game is designed to return about A$96.08 of every A$100 staked. It does not mean a player gets that back in an evening. The 23.0% hit frequency says roughly one spin in four produces some return, which is frequent, but many of those returns will be smaller than the stake that produced them.
Ten lines that pay both ways, with a 23.0% hit frequency, produces a steady drum of small returns rather than long empty stretches broken by one huge result. The published top prize is 800x the stake. The game does not publish a jackpot, and no free spins round or bonus buy-in is published either, so there is no separate feature mode to chase.
That shape suits short sessions and small stakes. It does not change the arithmetic. The maximum win is a ceiling on a single result, not an expectation, and most sessions will end somewhere well below it. Any return figure is an average over the long run; your session is one sample, and it can be a losing one.
The published features are narrow. The star wild expands to cover a whole reel and substitutes for all paying symbols; an expanding wild triggers a respin, and up to three respins can follow. The provider publishes the wild behaviour and the respins, but no free spins round and no bonus buy-in.
The provider also does not publish a volatility number for this game. The manufacturer prints a Volatility label with no value, so no volatility figure is quoted on this page. That leaves a reader to infer the feel from what is published: a 96.08% return, a 23.0% hit frequency and an 800x top prize. Those three figures together describe a game that returns often in small amounts, which is consistent with short sessions, not with a payout-chasing approach.
The table below sets the Starburst figures beside five other pokies, ordered by published return to player from highest to lowest.
| 1Big Bamboo | 96.13% | High | — | Push Gaming |
| 2Wolf Gold | 96.01% | Medium | 5,000x | Pragmatic Play |
| 3Queen of the Nile | 95.98% | Medium | 800x | Aristocrat |
| 4Pompeii | 95.96% | Medium | 1,500x | Aristocrat |
| 55 Dragons | 95.17% | Medium | 1,000x | Aristocrat |
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Big Bamboo leads the shortlist on published return at 96.13%, with high volatility and 50 lines.
Wolf Gold pays 96.01% on a medium-volatility, 25-line layout with a published 5,000x top win.
Queen of the Nile returns 95.98%, medium volatility, 20 lines, and shares Starburst's 800x top win.
The published return to player is 96.08%. That is a long-run average across all play, not a promise for any single session.
The published maximum win is 800x the stake. It is a cap on a single result, not an expected outcome.
No free spins round is published for this game. The published feature set is the expanding star wild and the respins it can trigger.
The provider does not publish a volatility value for this game, so no volatility figure is quoted here. The published return of 96.08% and hit frequency of 23.0% are the figures available.