Online Casino Glossary of Terms

All or Nothing

Some poker hands or other games like craps feature the "All or Nothing" bet, where you either win it all or lose it all with a hefty one-roll bet or a poker hand. Due to the high risk, it's not advisable for new players or those managing their budget to engage in this wager. Instead, players might be better served betting the same amount they can afford to lose.

Anchor

The anchor is a casino glossary term that notes the last player at the blackjack table or another card game. Because the anchor is usually to the dealer's right, in many ways, they serve as the wild card because they move before the dealer moves or shows their hand.

Back Door

Depending on the context in which you use this casino glossary term, making an appearance through the "back door" has a physical meaning where elite VIPs, celebrities, or high rollers enter through a special entrance away from the main casino floor. Alternatively, "back door" can mean shady or unofficial deals involving the casino and other players. An excellent example of a back door deal is 1995's Casino, starring Robert De Niro.

Bad Beat

Imagine having the poker hand to win the round. But when it comes time to show the cards, another player who started with a weaker hand turns out to be the player who wins. Welcome to the poker blues known as Bad Beat. Even though you might have started with a strong hand, another player wins by dealing with community cards.

Banker

The banker is normally associated with a casino game like baccarat, but the banker can also play a part in some blackjack variants. In baccarat, the banker is a type of bet players can make. However, the banker is also the one dealing with the shoe dealing cards. For blackjack games, like Spanish 21 that doesn't have tens, players can gamble on the Banker having the winning hand by making a side bet (often referred as a banker bet).

Bankroll

Bankroll, better known as budget, is the heart and soul of any casino glossary. After all, it's the amount of money a player bets on casino games or sports betting. A losing bet depletes your bankroll, while a winning bet adds to it. Promotions and deposit bonuses are other ways to add to your bankroll.

Barred

Barrel

If you've played poker, at some point or another, you probably felt like you were under the barrel. In this context, a barrel bet is when a player bets the same amount, usually hard-hitting and expensive ones, throughout the playing rounds. If done right, the barrel bet can make other players in the poker game feel uneasy, lose concentration, and ultimately make a mistake.

Beginner's Luck

Betting Limits

Most table games have a betting limit. An online casino expects to have as many players as possible feel comfortable participating, so a betting limit is in place at virtual casino tables. Most casinos have special tables for those with deep pockets. Also, having a betting limit helps casinos stay in control of the house edge. It's also worth noting that having a betting limit applies to sports betting.

Betting Right

In a casino game like craps, the term betting right means rolling the dice or gambling on bets where the odds have a higher chance of success. For craps, to help offset the house edge, "betting right" would mean sticking with the pass line and come bets.

Blind Bet

If you're knee-deep into poker, you might better know a blind bet as a forced bet. Either way, forcing a bet is done before hole cards or other cards are dealt. The blind bet is one of the most important casino terms poker players should remember because players help to swell, and that's waiting for you to win. In the casino world, you have a small and big blind.

For the small blind, the casino expects the first player to the dealer's left to make this bet. The player sitting to the left of the small-blind player makes the big blind, which is typically the standard or minimum bet for that game.

Bluffing

For good reason, bluffing is one of the most searched gambling terms for in-person casinos. When the chips are down and you don't have a strong hand, you could still pull off that rock-solid poker face and convince the other players to fold, which can result in winning the hand. For this reason, above all, poker players are encouraged to develop posture and study other players in anticipation of this move.

Blackjack players with an unfavorable or non-winning hand might try to psyche out the other players into hitting and going bust by making a split or standing with their two cards with authority to bait the other players into a mistake and a losing bet.

Bones

In the gambling world, bones is a craps term that refer to the dice that players roll. You might also hear the term bones with other dice games.

Bonus

Retail and online operators offer casino bonuses and promotions to attract new members and incentivize current ones to continue playing casino games. These bonuses can be daily, weekly, or monthly. You might also have free spin bonuses for slot machines.

Speaking of slots, it's common to have a free spins bonus round. Three scatter symbols usually trigger free spins.

Breaking the Bank

Brick

When a specific card in a player's poker hand has little to no value when it comes to determining the outcome of the round.

For example, if a player has a three in their hand and none of the community cards match or help you win in any way, it's (the three) considered a Brick.

Broadway

Better than strolling down Broadway in The Big Apple or the Broadway Strip is the chance to win the highest straight playing poker. Specifically, Broadway refers to a winning hand with a ten to the ace. So, between the ten and the ace is a jack, king, and queen.

Burn Card

Sometimes, you might notice the dealer tossing out a card from the play. This is known as the burn card. With games like baccarat and blackjack, there might be tampering with the card, or it's marked. To prevent edge sorting, which helps the player toss over the house edge, the dealer removes the card from play.

Buy-In

Cage

This is where players go in a brick-and-mortar casino to exchange money for tokens and chips with a casino employee. The tokens work for their preferred slot machine, and the chips for the table games. Also, players can cash out their tokens and chips with a casino employee for real money.

Call

To call in poker refers to a player matching the current bet or raising their initial bet. Depending on the amount of money you call or raise, it can drain or boost your bankroll. For bingo, to call is to announce each winning number from the draw.

Card Counting

In a card game like blackjack, players keep tabs, either mentally or illegally, with another player at the table game to track which high-value cards, like aces and tens, have already been dealt and to whom. Even though you might be incredibly skilled, most casinos will throw out players that they suspect of card counting because it works against the house edge and dampens the payout percentage.

Card Shark/Card Sharp

Depending on the casino world you play in, you might come across the expressions card shark and card sharp. ​However, a card sharp is usually about a player that might have become adept at cheating in ways that you can see to win, while a card shark has mad skills.

Card Washing

If you're playing with a live dealer or even at a high-caliber land-based casino, you might observe the dealer mixing and shuffling the cards several times and in different ways.

Cascading/Collapsing Reels

Cashback

Cashing Out

Cashing out is the opportunity that gamblers live for. Your strategy paid off, or that straight flush or the royal flush came on time and saved your bacon. Regardless of the game, once you win, you take your chips to a casino employee at the cash cage to get your money. Or, sometimes, the croupier at the roulette wheel or table game cashes in your chips for you.

Casino (House) Advantage or Edge

Chasing

Because slot machines, other casino games, and sports betting are games of chance, losing comes with the territory. Sometimes, if you lose too much or too often, you might make reckless bets to win back what you lost instead of sticking with an even money bet to try to slowly recoup.

Chips

Chopping the Blinds

"Chopping the blinds," is when players in a game, usually a high-stakes one, agree to get back their big blind bets without playing a betting hand. Sometimes, players change their minds, and everyone walks away from the table with no skin in the game.

Class II Slots

Class II is a slot machine category found in many casinos in Vegas, Reno, and other locations. This particular slot machine plays like a bingo game, where players can actually view the draws on the machines. It's common to find these slots at casinos owned by Native American tribes.

Class III Slots

In contrast, Class III is a category that most slot games fall under. These are the typical fruity three-reel games or progressive jackpot slots. Class III slot machines use a random number generator to satisfy audits to maintain transparency.

Coattail

Riding someone's coattail also applies to the casino world. Sometimes, you might be around a player on a heck of a winning streak or a high roller. It's common for players to kiss up to them or try to befriend them in order to share their success. Or, because they were successful, you try to emulate their betting style, which is unwise. Riding someone's coattail in this regard is a gambler's fallacy that can have heavy consequences.

Cold Streak

Going on a cold streak is something every gambler dreads but will experience if they play long enough. A cold streak is a string of losing bets.

Color Up

If you're ready to step up the amount of money to gamble, then color up your chips. The term color up describes how players or a high roller trade in smaller chips for larger value ones. At casinos, the different colored chips represent a specific value.

Color Out

If you need to exchange larger value chips for smaller ones, that process is called color out. Like you would for coloring up, coloring out leads to trading down for cash or smaller value chips.

Community Cards

The dealer deals five community cards face-up in poker games like Omaha Limit or No Limit. The players use these cards with their hole cards to build the strongest possible hand.

Comp

Most casinos, including virtual ones, have a rewards or loyalty program. The money wagered, win or lose, leads to comp points that are redeemable for cash or other perks like free hotel stays, luxury vacations, and more.

Composition Dependent

If you play blackjack, your next move might hinge on the dealer's upcard compared to your hand. Simply put, composition dependent is where you ignore other game signals. When all else fails, or you're not using a specific strategy, the composition dependent method helps players remain on track with the original bet, or remain viable for an even money bet.

Comp Hustling

It's one thing to work on building up points, but it's something else to try and con a casino for more comp points. Comp hustling is when some gamblers abuse bonuses and promotions that are meant to incentivize players to make bets. The goal is to build up enough points to make wagers without touching their money as much as possible.

Continuous Shuffling Machine (CSM)

Depending on the game, a continuous shuffling machine is used to deal the cards. Some casino employees use a continuous shuffling machine in between playing hands to shuffle and deal the cards.

Corner Bet

In most roulette variants, the corner bet, also known as the square bet, involves gambling on four numbers. These four numbers, in essence, form a square, thus the term. If any of the numbers in that square hits, you win the bet. Players place their chips in the spot where the four numbers hit on the roulette wheel to signify this bet.

Croupier

Often interchanged with the dealer, the croupier is usually associated with managing and accepting chips and bets in roulette.

Deal

Deck

Deck Penetration

If you play blackjack, deck penetration is the count or the percentage of cards that the dealer has already passed out in the round. After each betting hand finishes, the cards return to the playing deck or are thrown out for a new and unused deck.

Deposit

Draw

Doubling Down

Blackjack players sometimes double their original bet based on their first two cards. Because they double down, they can get a third card but must stand during the rest of the hand.

Double or Nothing

Down Card

The down card, like a hole card, is the specific card the dealer deals face down. Only the player with the down card knows the value, unlike community cards in a poker hand.

e-COGRA

Unlike legal online casinos like Caesars Palace Online Casino and bet365, which are licensed by state gaming authorities, e-COGRA oversees the best social casinos and regulates them. More specifically, e-COGRA stands for eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance. This governing body works with some legal casinos to verify fair and accurate gameplay.

Element of Risk

No matter how favorable the odds or how sound a strategy is, every casino game carries an element of risk. In other words, the element of risk is a gauge of how much you can lose in contrast to a favorable payout percentage.

EPROM

EPROM, or "Erasable Programmable Read-On Memory," is a specialized chip that can still store and manage information, even if the switch or slot machine, for example, is turned off.

Even-Money Bet

An even-money bet is a 1:1 payout percentage. In other words, your bet pays the same as your original bet, so you draw even.

Expanding Wilds

Expected Win Rate

Sometimes known and referred to as expected value, it is a concept similar to ROI (Return on Investment), where a player can gauge how much or the amount of money they can win in the long run. Using a particular strategy like the Paroli, for example, helps influence the expected win rate.

Face Card

In card games like baccarat and poker, the face cards are the jacks, kings, and queens. These royalty cards don't have to be the same suit. Depending on the game, face cards count for different values.

Fixed Odds

In sports betting, where the money line, spread, and other bets fluctuate, fixed odds are usually determined in advance before playing certain games. Some sports bookies might have fixed odds, like in horse racing, to encourage sports betting. The advantage of fixed odds is that players know how much they stand to win or lose before playing.

Flat Betting

Some gamblers, including a high roller, throw caution to the wind and wager the same amount of money through several playing rounds. Flat betting ignores strategies and odds. In other words, the player already has their mind made up. Flat betting, done right, can also be used to help avoid big losses.

Flop

In some poker games, the flop refers to the community cards dealt for the second time. Specifically, these cards are also dealt face up for all players to see and use in their hands and hole cards. Players make their bets after the flop.

Fold

Sometimes, your poker hand is so weak that it's best to take your losses. So, rather than try to bluff, you fold your hand and game for another day.

Free Spins

Gambler's Fallacy

Even though casino games are determined randomly, some players believe that their particular skill, a lucky charm, or a past event will shape future ones.

Hand

Hold Percentage

After all the betting and house edge for each wager, the casino tallies up all remaining revenue from those bets. This is the hold percentage. The hold percentage is the ultimate gauge to determine a casino's bottom line or how successful a casino game is.

Hole Card

In many poker games, the dealer deals each player a hole card. Hole cards are always dealt face down and for the player's eyes only until the showdown.

Hit

The action of requesting an additional card in blackjack.

High Roller

Hop Bet

If you play craps, the hop wager is a special one-roll bet where instead of wagering on the winning number, you gamble on which combination of numbers lead to the final result. While hop wagers tease higher payouts, the risks might not be worth it for most gamblers.

Horn Bet

Also, for craps, the horn bet involves hitting either a deuce, three, eleven, or a twelve after rolling the dice. Either you hit one of those numbers, or you lose.

Hot Streak

Every gambler works hard for that elusive hot streak in sports betting or other casino games. A hot streak is a line of successful winning bets.

Hot Table

If you're in the middle of a hot streak, your game table is the hot table. This is where other players and onlookers will gather to share in your fortune or try to join the table to stop your streak.

House

The house is the casino itself, which is sometimes known as the bank. You're competing against the house to win any casino game. This is where the concept of RTP and house edge come into play.

House Edge

The house edge is the percentage or gauge that the casino holds onto from each wager. In other words, it's the polar opposite of the RTP.

House Rules

Initial Bet

When you play, you might hear it called the original or the first wager. The initial bet is the stepping stone to many betting strategies, like the Martingale. For example, if your first bet is a dud, the Martingale calls to double the next one. If you win, you return to the first bet placed.

Inside Bet

In most roulette variants, the inside bet is a gamble on a certain number combination for higher payouts. The inside bet consists of betting straight up on a number, a split bet, street, corner, and basket wagers.

Insurance Bet

Jackpot

There's nothing like the sound of a slot machine going off, dumping all those coins with flashing lights. While some table games have a jackpot, the jackpot is more for slot machines. Depending on the slot, you might have multiple fixed jackpots or a progressive pot that grows with each wager until someone hits it.

Juice

Kicker

The kicker is a dear gambling term for poker players. It is the highest-value card in a playing hand that doesn't necessarily play a role in winning. If there is a tie, the kicker can be used to settle the winner, much like if two teams have the same record. Strength of schedule, head-to-head games, and conference wins break the tie.

Ladderman

If you play baccarat, the ladderman is a designated casino employee who oversees the game to ensure everything is on the up and up. The ladderman also manages the dealer and is there to handle misunderstandings and disagreements.

Letting it Ride

"Letting it Ride" is a betting method usually for Let It Ride Poker. In this instance, players make three identical wagers that aren't immediately used. As the game progresses and the cards are dealt, players can take back a wager or "Let It Ride" for the big payday.

Limits

The restrictions set for the amount players can bet or raise in a given game.

Live Dealer Games

In 2019, Evolution Gaming changed the world of online gambling with the advent of live dealer play. Streamed in 4K resolution from a professional studio, online gamblers compete against a dealer or croupier at the same caliber as playing in person.

Lay the Odds

Lobby

Martingale

The Martingale is commonly associated with roulette and baccarat variants like Punto Banco. If your first bet or your last winning wager doesn't pan out, the Martingale calls for players to double their next bet. If it is a winner, go back to the last winning wager.

Match Play

To compete against their online counterparts like BetMGM and FanDuel, retail casinos often use match-play coupons that give players free credits to play certain table games. Usually, players have to create a membership account to qualify for a match-play coupon.

Maximum

Minimum

Muck/Mucking

Multiplier

Multi-Hand Games

Natural

Net Winnings

Non-Sticky Bonus

Nut Flush

Poker players in search of the royal flush can sometimes still make a winner with a straight flush or the highest possible flush with the cards remaining from the community cards.

Odds

Open

Open-Limping

The first poker player that makes the big blind is the open-limper. Open-limping is when the big blind players make the smallest possible wager instead of raising or folding.

Overlay

Paint

Painting is a gambling term for face cards and ace cards. These are the big money cards for blackjack.

Pass

Pat

Payline

To win with most slot machines, players must get three or more of a like symbol to land on the payline. Some slots have a single payline, while others can have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands with mega way slot games. Players can adjust them with payline arrows.

Payoff (Payout)

Payout Percentage

Payout Table

Penalty Card

Some card games introduce the penalty card, which can actually take away points if a certain card is drawn.

Phantom Bonus

Online casinos might reward a specific promotion based on a member's deposit or other action. Like other promotions, phantom bonuses have wagering requirements that must be met.

Pigeon

Pit

It is the specific area where the table games are. The pit is often in the middle of the casino to draw the most attention and traffic.

Pit Boss

The pit boss is the specific casino employee who manages all the dealers and monitors all the game action. The Pit Boss can throw out players who they suspect of cheating or card counting.

Pocket Cards

Pony Up

Simply put, to pony up is to show the moolah and put it on the table to get the game started. If you lose, you also have to pony up the money to the winner.

Pot

Probability

Probability is something seasoned gamblers take into account because it's a crutch to determine the likely results from certain wagers. Probability is associated with determining the house edge and RTP.

Progression Betting

Some betting strategies require players to steadily increase their wagers under certain circumstances. For example, the D'Alembert in roulette calls for players to increase wagers by a dollar if they win, while the Martingale calls for doubling wagers after a loss.

Progressive Jackpot

The progressive bonus accrues with each wager and is shown in real time to entice players to join in. They can be part of a local casino network or on a wider network. Some hit at a certain value or a specific time. Progressive games like Mega Magma can easily top one million bucks.

Provably Fair

Push

In case of a tie, like in sports betting, the player's bet is returned.

Rail

Railing involves watching others play the game. You might decide to stick around the hot table to pick up pointers to use in your personal strategy.

Random Number Generator (RNG)

Legal casinos, including virtual ones, must give players a fair shake to maintain their licenses. To meet this license requirement, they use a random number generator for fair and random results.

Reload Bonus

River

Royal Flush

The royal flush is the best of the best of poker hands. Getting a royal flush involves getting an ace, king, queen, jack, and a ten in the same suit.

Seven-Card Stud

Seven-card stud features the ante bet and then four betting rounds. The fourth, fifth, and sixth playing rounds involve one more card, face up. The seventh playing round is called the river. Afterward, the showdown begins.

Shoe

In baccarat games, the dealer or the Banker has the shoe from which the cards are dealt. In Punto Banco, there is a designated banker. In Chemin de Fer, a player is in charge of the shoe. In Baccarat Banque, all the players take turns with the shoe.

Showdown

The showdown is where the remaining poker players show their hands in variants like Texas Hold'em. In other words, if you didn't fold, you have to put up by showing your cards before the dealer and other players.

Side Bet

Some card games have side bets beyond the regular game bets. Baccarat, for example, has the Dragon Bonus and Super 6. Because of the insane house edge associated with them, they are not often worth the risk to pursue.

Sign-Up Bonus

A bonus or promotion that online casinos offer to incentivize players to sign up on their platform

Sign-Up Bonus

Skin

Soft 17

In blackjack, a soft 17 is when the dealer's first two cards have an ace, which counts as eleven and a six. In this scenario, the dealer must stand.

Splashing the Pot

There's an elegance and grace when placing your chips while raising or betting. But, for those who throw around chips, they are splashing the pot. The problem is they can land in the wrong place and cause chaos and possibly fights in the game.

Stake

The stake is another way of how much a player bets or gambles on a spin, slot game, or card game.

Standing Hand

A hand that is valued at a 17 or higher in blackjack.

Sticky Bonus

Sticky Wilds

Straight Flush

Getting a straight flush in poker involves getting five straight cards in ascending numerical order from the same suit. Straights are second only to the royal flush in winning power.

String Bet

A string bet is when a player doesn't follow through smoothly with an action, like raising. Instead, they wait to do it at a later point. Casinos frown on this action because it confuses gameplay and where the chips should really be and the actual money wagered.

Suit

Table Game

Card games like Texas Hold'em poker and roulette are considered table games because they require a dealer or croupier to orchestrate the game and take chips.

Tapping Out

If you've lost your last dime, you have no choice but to tap out and leave the game. Tapping out means you have no more money to continue playing.

Total Dependent

For blackjack, a total dependent involves the total card value, and not the specific cards themselves. The total dependent determines whether to hit, stand, or split if the variant allows it.

Trips (Three of a Kind)

True Odds

When you do away with strategies and complex bets, true odds are the real odds associated with different wagers.

Underplay

Upcard

Vigorish (Vig)

Wager Requirements

Wild Card

Some card games introduce the joker card as the wild factor. Jokers replace other cards with the same value.

Wild Symbols

Withdrawal