Gambling Terms Explained

Bet

A single instance of wagering money on a gambling game. Some games allow multiple bets.

Betting Limits

The limits that have been placed on the amount a player can bet by the casino or online casino. You’ll sometimes see both a minimum and a maximum bet listed for each game.

Blackjack

A casino table game in which participants attempt to beat the dealer by scoring a hand of as close to (but without going over) 21. Also, the name of the best hand in the same game (an ace and a ten-point card, a total of 21).

Bonus

This is an incentive given to players at online casinos for opening a new account and then making a deposit. Usually bonuses are matching bonuses, this means that the size of the bonus depends on the size of the deposit being made.

Burn Card

A single card that is dealt face down at the start of a shoe in most table games, or any time new community cards are revealed in a game of poker. This is to prevent the accidental reveal of the top card.

Casino Advantage

The mathematical edge the casino has over the players.

Casino tokens (also known as casino or gaming chips, checks, or cheques)

These are small discs used as currency in casinos.

Croupier

The casino employee who is in charge of certain games, particularly roulette and some high stakes tables.

Dealer

The casino employee who deals cards to players and ensures the progress of the game. Dealers are used in many common games, like poker, blackjack, and baccarat.

Double Down

A bet of equal size to an initial bet, such as in blackjack. In most cases, both bets will now either win or lose together.

Expected Value

The return a player will expect to see on average over the long run on a given bet. The expected value can be positive or negative, depending on whether the bet is profitable or not.

Face Card

A term for any playing card with a “face” on it – kings, queens, and jacks.

Fixed Odds

A fixed-odds game is one in which the chances of winning and associated payouts are fixed ahead of time. For example, a scratch off card is a fixed-odds game, as are the simulated horse racing games that are popular in many online casinos.

Gambling

Playing a game of chance for stakes such as money or other items of value.

Hit

The taking of an additional card, such as in blackjack.

House Edge

The advantage the casino has over the player. This is usually expressed as a percentage of each bet made by the player.

House

The people who offer the bet (the casino, bookmaker, slot machine owner, etc.) and they always have the “edge”. This means that the designers of the machine or game make sure that it works in their favour and they will always make money overall.

Jackpot

The biggest prize available to win on a slot machine or in other games. Typically, the word jackpot is only used for a special prize, such as a progressive prize or one associated with a side bet.

Keno

A game similar to a lottery, in which players choose numbers and hope to match them to the numbers drawn by the casino.

Odds

Probability is the likelihood of a specific outcome or event taking place. To work this out, you divide the number of specific outcomes with the number of possible outcomes.For example, if you were rolling a dice and wanted the number three to come up, there is only one specific outcome; at the same time, there are six possible outcomes because the dice could land on one, two, three, four, five or six. So the probability of you rolling a three is 1 in 6.

Random Number Generator (RNG)

A device used to produce a random, unpredictable sequence of numbers. They are mainly used for ascertaining the results of online gambling games in which dice must be rolled or cards must be dealt.

Return to Player (RTP)

Is the term that gambling businesses use to describe the percentage of all the gambled money that a machine or game will pay out over time. RTP is calculated over the long term, rather than being a calculation of short term payout.

Roulette

A game played using a wheel with a ball that can fall into one of many numbered pockets. The players may make a variety of bets that predict which pocket (or group of pockets) the ball will fall into.

Shoe

A device that can hold several decks worth of playing cards. Shoes are used in games like blackjack to hold the collection of cards that the game is dealt from.

Slot Machine

A game in which players spin reels in order to match combinations of symbols / pictures across pre-determined paylines.

Snake eyes

Is the outcome of rolling the dice in a game and getting only one pip on each die. The pair of pips resembles a pair of eyes, which is appended to the word snake because of the creature’s long-standing association with treachery and betrayal.

Video Poker

A machine game that simulates the action of five-card poker games. Players choose to discard and replace cards from their hand, and then are paid if they make at least the minimum hand needed to win. Common video poker games include Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild.

Wild Card

A card that can be a substitute for any card value. These are common in poker and video poker.