In case you are confused by casino terms, and you don’t know a match bonus Martingale, this is for you. Here is a comprehensive guide to all the terminology, slang, and jargon you’re likely to encounter when playing online for fun or real money. This handy A-Z glossary is all you need to help you navigate the smooth slang of a card shark like a pro. So ante up, sidle the wheel of fortune, and kiss Lady Luck.
Ace: represented by the letter A and one of four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades). It’s the highest valued card in poker and worth either 1 or 11 in Blackjack.
Action: Usually in poker games. It’s the amount of money currently in play, which increases with every additional bet.
Action Jackson: A regular player and a gambling enthusiast.
Active player: Any player currently holding a stake (has bet money) in an active game.
Aggregate limit: The maximum payout for a single game of a particular casino.
Aggregate winnings: The entire winnings of a single player active in a specific game.
All in: In the game of poker, betting with all of a single player’s chips in one go. Often this is a tactic to scare other players of the game (to make them fold), or challenge players to match bets (to make them call).
Ante: Minimum amount required to play a poker hand (a buy-in), placed on the table before cards are dealt.
Baccarat: A game where the winning hand is closest to a total of 9. Jack, Queen, King are worth zero. All other cards are worth their face values.
Banker: The dealer in a poker game.
Bankroll: A player’s total cash used to gamble.
Bet: Money laid down in a casino game. Poker is played with a set of bets, including raising bets of other players, matching bets of other players.
Bettor: The player who places a bet.
Blackjack: A casino card game that aims to beat the dealer’s hand by getting the highest possible hand without going over 21. The highest-scoring hand in this game is two cards making 21: an Ace (worth either 1 or 11) and a face card (Jack, Queen, or King, each worth 10). Other cards are worth their face value.
Blind bet: In Texas Hold’em poker, a kind of mandatory ante based on where the dealer seat players. Two types of blind bets are the little blind and the big blind.
Bluff: Half of the strategy, and all the joy in a poker game is bluff, an aggressive betting strategy designed to fold other players. When done well, the weakest-handed player may win. Well known bluffs include going all-in on a poker hand when no one else has, or taking new cards or placing a huge wager without discarding, implying a pat hand to other players.
Boat: Gambler’s slang for a full-house hand in poker.
Bonus: Extra incentive money or casino gambling credit for players. Bonuses may be offered as a multiplied percentage of an initial deposit, or as a feature activated in a specific game (free slot spins).
Bonus ban: If a player violates a bonus offer’s terms and conditions, this results in the player being banned from all future casino bonuses.
Bonus bet: A side bet.
Box cars: In craps, dice roll resulting in two 6s.
Bust: In Blackjack, to receive a card that causes the player to exceed 21. If a dealer busts, the players who didn’t bust win automatically.
Call: A poker bet that matches the bet of the previous player.
Cap: The maximum amount a player can bet on any game.
Cash back: A assured percentage of a player’s losses paid back by the casino as an inducement.
Cash out: Converting online player’s wins into cash. Players must complete a cash-out request in an online casino’s cashier section.
Casino advantage (or house advantage): The house’s probability edge overplayers. Some casino games offer a higher house advantage than others. Professional gamblers calculate which games have the lowest house advantage.
Check: To play it safe by passing on the betting round in a poker game.
Come-out roll: In craps, dice’s first roll in phase.
Comp points: Certain online casinos award loyalty points to achieve certain gambling levels or VIP player status. Point rewards vary with bonus spins, extra cash, or gaming credit.
Complete hand: A poker hand that uses all five cards, such as a straight or a full house.
Craps: A dice game where players and observers bet on a single dice roll, or rolls, or phases. A game aims to match the initial dice roll before rolling a 7. Rolling 2, 3, or 12 on a come-out roll is known as ‘crapping out’ or ‘craps’.
Croupier: A dealer at casino game table of French origin, like Roulette and Baccarat.
D’Alembert Strategy: A roulette strategy that involves decreasing your bet by one after a win and increasing it by one after a loss.
Deal: To distribute cards in the game, usually starting from the dealer in a clockwise direction.
Dealer: A casino employee in charge of taking bets and dealing cards.
Deuce: Another name of the number 2 card.
Discard: The act of disposing of unwanted cards, after the initial deal in a poker game.
Don’t Pass: A ‘wrong’ or a ‘don’t win’ bet in craps. When a player doen’t match his initial dice roll before rolling a 7.
Double down: In blackjack. After two initial cards have been dealt, and a player has the option to double their bet and take only one card.
Double up: Betting twice a player’s win on the next hand or spin outcome.
Draw: The draw is the second hand dealt after a player discards one or more initial hand cards.
E-wallet: The online casino account for a player to deposit, withdraw, and store funds.
Encryption: Rigorous security measures using computer encoded processes that only computers can interpret. To ensure the fairness and safety of every transaction, online casinos use encryption technology.
Face card: A card showing a face and holding the highest value of all cards, next to the Ace. In the game of poker, the face cards are the Jack, Queen, and King. In Blackjack face cards are worth 10.
Fibonacci Strategy: A roulette strategy using the numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence. It was developed in the 1200s by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci.
Flop: In Texas Hold’em poker. The first three cards dealt face-up on the community board.
Flush: A poker hand made of five cards of the same suit (spades, clubs, hearts or diamonds).
Fold: When a player quits poker by placing cards face down on a table. A folding player loses poker hand. Players folding may continue playing the next dealing round.
Four of a kind: A hand in poker made of four cards of the same value, for example, four Kings or four threes.
Free spin: A bonus offered in the slot games.
Fruity / Fruit machine: A slot machine in UK English.
Full house: A poker hand made of a pair and a three of a kind.
Hand: The cards in a game held by players.
Hard hand: A blackjack hand that has an Ace valued as 1.
High card: Poker hand’s highest ranked card. A high card is often used in two matching pairs, i.e. two players with 10s. Besides the 10s, the player with the highest single card (also kicker) wins the hand.
High Roller: A gambler who deposits large amounts of cash into an online casino account, or tends to bet large amounts of cash on each hand or spin.
Hit: In blackjack. To take another card.
Hold: The cards kept after the initial deal. The opposite of a discard in poker.
Hole: In Texas Hold’em. The first two face down cards dealt to every player.
House: The casino. used in the context of ‘house advantage’ or ‘house rules’.
Inside bets: A bet placed on the numbered section of a roulette table. Inside bet includes betting on a single number, or a combination of numbers in rows, lines and corners.
Inside straight: A hand in poker, where a player needs a card to score a straight in the middle of a game.
Insurance: A special bet in blackjack where the dealer’s up card is an ace, and a player bets that the dealer will get a blackjack.
Jack: In poker. A face card represented by the letter J and a royal figure and.
Jacks or Better: A variant of the poker where two jacks is the minimum winning hand.
Jackpot: The top of a video slot game. Progressive jackpots increase in value over time, fixed jackpots contain a fixed amount which can be won by the player.
Keno: A popular casino game similar to a lottery, where players choose a numbers and place wages on the chances of scoring all or some of the winning numbers. Classic casinos used numbered balls selected from a rotating hopper, and random number generators are used in online casinos.
Kicker: A single card of the highest value used to break a tie between two poker hands.
King: A face card represented by the letter K and a king figure.
Line bet: The activated paylines on video slot with multiple paylines.
Live chat: A customer support service provided by online casinos that uses direct player/support messaging, usually to answer questions or solve issues.
Martingale Strategy: A betting strategy of roulette where a player doubles their bet on every losing spin until they win. It is usually used with even money bets such as odd/even or red/black, because of the near to 50% chance of winning each bet.
Match bonus: A bonus in online casinos when player deposit money into his account, usually some percentage of the deposit.
Multi-hand poker: A type of poker that allows player to play multiple hands at the same time.
Multiplier: A slot bonus feature that multiplies payouts for a specific spin results.
No pair: The lowest poker hand with no two cards matching.
No deposit bonus: A type of casino bonus given to players without a deposit requirement. Usually a maximum cash-out is applied to these bonuses.
Odds: A game based on a specific outcome or a chance of winning a particular bet. Usually expressed in a ratio, for example, the odds of obtaining a Royal Flush in straight poker are
649,740:1.
One-armed bandit: Slang for an old style slot machine that rarely paid out, one that benefited the house to a lot.
Outside bets: Bets placed in the betting area outside the numbered area of a roulette table. Outside bets include black/red, even/odd, and columns and dozens of numbers.
Pai gow poker: Pai gow poker, also known as double-hand poker, is a alteration based on Chinese dominoes. Paig gow poker is palyed with a standard card deck of 52 cards plus a Joker. Players receive 7 cards, and they must create two poker hands with these cards: a two-card hand and a five-card hand.
Pair: Any two matching cards, for example, two Kings or two fours.
Pat hand: An entirely complete hand from the first cards dealt.
Payline: In slots. A row or a line that pays out when the winning combination lines up.
Payout: The amount of money paid to player by casino for winning.
Pay table: The place within a casino slot that shows all the winning combinations.
Pokies: Slot machines in Australian English.
Progressive jackpot: A jackpot that grows until someone wins it.
Queen: A face card represented with the letter Q and the figure of a queen.
Raise: A bet in poker that matches the previous bet, and then adds additional money on top.
Rank: A specific hand in poker or the value of a card.
Reels: In a slot game. The wheels containing symbols. Online slots often have 3 or 5 reels with multiple paylines.
River: The third and final phase of placing cards in Texas Hold’em. The dealer places one final face-up card in the section of community cards on the table.
Roulette: ‘Little wheel’ in French. A casino game invented in the 18th century in France. As it is impossible to predict in which pocket of the spinning wheel the ball will land, it’s a game of chance with completely random odds of winning.
Royal flush: The highest valued hand in poker. The 5 top cards in consecutive order and of the same suit, i.e. 10 of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, and the Ace of Diamonds.
RTG: Acronym for Realtime Gaming. A software company that designs casino games to download or to play online.
Scatter symbol: The best friend of a slot player. A specific symbol in a slot machine (usually matching the theme of the slot game) that triggers bonus when it appears. Multiple appearances of the same figure give higher payouts and bonuses.
Select lines: The number of paylines that player selects in an online slot game.
Showdown: The moment in a poker game when all players compare their cards to name the winner.
Shuffle: To mix up cards in a deck to completely randomize them.
Snake eyes: In craps. A roll of two 1s.
Soft hand: In Blackjack. A hand with an Ace valued as 11.
Slots: A slang for a slot machine, an old spinning reel machine which is triggered by pulling a lever (stone casinos) or by pressing the spin button (online casinos). Special symbols lining up in a row when reels stop spinning results in winning points of a player, bonuses and/or money.
Spin: To press a button in an online casino slot or roulette game to start the action. In land-based casinos, a croupier spins the roulette wheel, and a player pulls a lever on a slot machine.
Split: A bet that covers two adjacent numbers in roulette. A blackjack bet where a player splits two cards into two separate hands.
Stand: To stop taking cards in blackjack.
Sticky: A bonus amount that a player of an online casino is not allowed to withdraw.
Straight: A hand in poker made of any five cards in a row, but not of the same suit.
Straight bet: In roulette. A bet on a single number that has the highest payout, as well as incurs the maximum risk.
Straight Flush: The second-highest ranked poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit in a row, but not the Royal Flush.
Street: A roulette bet that covers a column of three numbers on the wagering grid.
Suit: One of the four symbols (spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds) that appears on each card in a standard deck.
Terms and Conditions (T&Cs): The rules regulating the use of an online casino site, its services, games, payout rules, bonuses, and who is allowed to play.
Texas Hold’em: The most popular type of poker in the world. Each player receives only two face-down cards (hole cards). Then five additional face-up cards are dealt in stages in the centre of the table (community cards), and each player attempts to build a winning poker hand using both the community cards and their hole cards.
Three of a kind: Three matching cards in a poker hand, i.e. three Kings or three eights.
Trigger: To activate a special feature or a bonus in the video slot game.
Trips: A slang for the three of a kind.
Turn: In Texas Hold’em. The second stage of dealing community cards, when a single card is dealt followed by the flop stage.
Two Pair: Poker hand of two sets of two matching cards.
Up card: The dealer’s face-up card in blackjack.
VIP: A very important person. Someone who receives special hospitality, treatment, and bonuses from a casino.
Wagering requirement: The minimum amount a player must play online casino before a player can make a withdrawal from a player account. Requirements for wagering are generally based on a bonus earned.
Welcome bonus: Bonus to a new player for joining an online casino and creating an account.
Wild: The wild card in card games is a joker or another special card used to finish a hand. The wild symbol
in slots completes a row of symbols on a payline.