UK "compensated" slots -- Does anyone really get what is going on?

Thanks. I think I get the gist of what you've written as to how all of the conditions inter-relate to ensure the game's RTP is met.

I do find it quite disturbing though, that beyond the baisc framework set down by the UKGC it's down to individual game designers/programmers like yourself to decide how it all goes from there. It's a bit like allowing a dealer at a blackjack table the freedom to remove four aces from a six deck game for a shoe or two if the chip tray has been depleted by winning players - provided the wins/losses over any given amount being put across the felt average out to the EV for the game, or thereabouts, what's the problem? I really struggle with the fact that the UKGC are supposed to be protecting the interests of the gaming public in the UK, and yet they allow this type of covert engineering to exist, and without any real programme of validation that ensures the said gaming public are receiving a fair game. It's one of the reasons that, if it was down to me, I'd regulate electronic gaming design so it was based purely on RNG outputs as it is in the States, where every spin has the same chance of hitting a jackpot, and players aren't at risk of being disadvantaged by what's happened before they started playing. I appreciate that might well put you out of a job - sorry about that.

Thanks again for the overviews.