Casino Glossary

A casino affiliate is a person or website that promotes online casinos and earns a commission for every player they...

AML stands for Anti-Money Laundering and refers to the legal framework that requires financial institutions, including...

Baccarat is a card comparison game between a Player hand and a Banker hand. You don't play either side. You bet which...

Your bankroll is the total amount of money you've set aside specifically for gambling. Not your rent money. Not your...

Basic strategy is a set of rules that tells you the mathematically optimal play for every possible hand combination in...

When the dealer shows an Ace in blackjack, you're offered insurance. It's a side bet, usually costing half your...

Bonus abuse is a broadly defined term that casinos use to describe any behaviour they consider exploitation of their...

Bonus buy (also called feature buy or ante bet) lets you pay a fixed amount to trigger the free spins round instantly,...

A bonus code is a short string you paste at sign-up or in the cashier to unlock a specific promotional offer. Some...

Cascading reels (sometimes called tumbles, avalanches, or rolling reels depending on the provider) replace traditional...

Cashback is a bonus where the casino returns a percentage of your net losses over a set period. Lose $500 in a week...

Chasing losses is the act of continuing to gamble, increasing bets, or making additional deposits in an attempt to win...

CPA stands for Cost Per Acquisition and it's an affiliate compensation model where the casino pays a flat fee for each...

A crypto casino accepts deposits and withdrawals in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and others. Some...

The Curacao eGaming licence is issued by the government of Curacao, a small island in the Caribbean. It covers all...

A dead spin is a spin that returns nothing. Zero. You press the button, the reels stop, no symbols line up, and your...

In online casinos, "dealer" almost always means a live dealer. A real person streamed from a studio, running a real...

Drops and Wins is Pragmatic Play's network-wide promotion that layers random cash prizes on top of normal slot spins...

An e-wallet is a digital payment service that acts as an intermediary between your bank account or card and the casino....

eCOGRA (eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) is a London-based independent testing agency that audits...

Expected value (EV) is the average amount you can expect to win or lose on a bet if you could repeat it an infinite...

Flat betting is the strategy of placing the same wager on every round, regardless of whether you won or lost the...

Free spins are bonus rounds where you spin without paying. They're triggered by landing enough scatter symbols during...

Promotional free spins are not the same as the free spins feature inside a slot. These are bonus spins given to you by...

Game weighting determines how much of your wager on a specific game type counts toward completing your wagering...

GamStop is the UK's national self-exclusion scheme. Register once and every UKGC-licensed casino, bookmaker, and bingo...

Gross Gaming Revenue is the total amount of money wagered by players minus the total amount paid out in winnings. If...

A grinder is a player who opts for the long game. Low stakes, extended sessions, methodical play. Instead of going for...

A high roller is a player who stakes significantly above the casino average. There's no universal threshold. At a...

Hit frequency tells you how often a slot produces a winning combination on any given spin. It's usually expressed as a...

Hold and Win is a bonus mechanic where special coin or money symbols lock in place while the remaining reels respin....

The house edge is the built-in mathematical advantage the casino has on every bet you place. It's expressed as a...

Instant payout means a withdrawal lands in your account within seconds to a few minutes of request. It's real at some...

KYC stands for Know Your Customer and it's the identity verification process that licensed online casinos are legally...

The Martingale is a betting strategy where you double your wager after every loss. The logic: when you eventually win,...

A match bonus is a deposit bonus where the casino matches your deposit by a certain percentage up to a maximum amount....

The max bet rule puts a ceiling on how much you can stake per spin or per hand while bonus money is active. The typical...

A max cashout (or maximum withdrawal limit) caps the amount you can withdraw from winnings earned with a specific...

Max win is the absolute ceiling on what a slot can pay you from a single spin or bonus round, expressed as a multiple...

Megaways is a reel mechanic originally developed by Big Time Gaming and licensed to dozens of other providers. The...

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is one of the most respected gambling regulators in the world. A casino holding an MGA...

The minimum deposit is the smallest amount you can fund an account with in one transaction. It's usually set by the...

A multiplier does exactly what the name suggests. It multiplies your win by a fixed factor. Land a $10 winning...

A natural, often just called "blackjack," is a two-card hand that totals 21. That means an Ace plus any 10, Jack,...

Net Gaming Revenue is what remains after you subtract bonus costs, taxes, payment processing fees, and chargebacks from...

A no deposit bonus gives you a small amount of free money or free spins when you register at a casino, without...

A non-sticky bonus keeps your deposit funds and the bonus funds separated. You play with your own cash first. If you...

A payline is a pattern across the reels that determines whether a combination of symbols counts as a win. Classic slots...

The pending period is the gap between when you click "withdraw" and when the casino actually processes your payment....

Processing time is how long it takes for a casino to execute your withdrawal after the pending period has ended. This...

A progressive jackpot is a prize pool that grows every time somebody spins a linked slot without winning it. A tiny...

Provably fair is a verification system, primarily used by crypto casinos, that lets you independently confirm that a...

Rakeback originated in online poker, where the "rake" is the small percentage the poker room takes from each pot....

A reload bonus is a deposit match offered to players who have already used the welcome bonus. Instead of a one-time...

Responsible gambling isn't a slogan you scroll past. It's a set of practical habits that keep gambling as entertainment...

Revenue share is an affiliate compensation model where the casino pays the affiliate a percentage of the Net Gaming...

Reverse withdrawal is a feature that lets you cancel a withdrawal request while it's still in the pending period and...

A Random Number Generator is the software engine that determines the outcome of every spin, card deal, and dice roll in...

RNG certification is the process by which an independent testing lab examines and verifies that an online casino's...

Roulette is a wheel game where players bet on where a ball will land after the wheel spins. Numbers run 0 to 36 on...

RTP stands for Return to Player and it's expressed as a percentage. A slot with 96.5% RTP will, on average, return...

Scatter symbols pay or trigger features based on how many appear anywhere on the reels, not just on active paylines....

Self-exclusion is a tool that lets you voluntarily ban yourself from gambling at a specific casino or across an entire...

A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency pegged to the value of a fiat currency, almost always the US dollar. Tether (USDT) and...

A sticky bonus (also called a non-cashable or phantom bonus) is one where the bonus amount is removed from your balance...

Surrender is a blackjack option that lets you fold your hand after the initial deal and get half your bet back. You...

Tilt is borrowed from poker terminology and it describes a mental state where frustration, anger, or emotional upset...

A casino tournament is a timed leaderboard competition where players accumulate points based on wins, bet volume, or...

A tumble feature (also called cascade, cascading reels, or avalanche) removes winning symbols from the grid after a...

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is the regulatory body for all gambling activities in Great Britain. Any casino...

Variance (also called volatility) describes the risk profile of a slot. It tells you how the payouts are distributed:...

A VIP program is a tiered loyalty system where higher-staking players unlock better rewards. Points accrue on every...

Volatility, also called variance, describes how a slot pays out over time. High-volatility games hand out small wins...

A wagering requirement is the total amount you need to bet before bonus funds or winnings become withdrawable cash. If...

Ways to win is a slot payline alternative. Instead of fixed lines running across the reels, matching symbols pay...

A welcome bonus is the offer a casino hands new players on sign-up, usually tied to the 1st deposit. The most common...

A whale is casino slang for a player who bets at an exceptionally high level. We're talking thousands or tens of...

A white label casino is an online casino built on a pre-existing platform with a unique brand applied on top. The...

A wild symbol acts as a substitute. If you have two matching symbols and a wild on the same payline, the wild fills in...

A withdrawal limit caps how much you can cash out over a given window. Limits come in daily, weekly, and monthly...