Casino glossary
The casino world has many games and many rules. Understanding the terms used when playing is not easy, especially if you are a novice. (Even experienced players have a lot to keep track of.) So, we have created a glossary for you to look up the various words and terms you might come across while gambling.
A
Responsible gaming : Responsible gaming is collection of measures to reduce the negative effects of gambling.
American Roulette: A roulette variant that is played with 0 and 00 unlike European Roulette which only uses 0.
Ante: A poker term for a forced bet that all players must pay.
Asian Handicap: A form of betting in which one of the teams receives a handicap. This means that the other team must make up for the handicap for your wager to activate.
B
Bad beat: A poker term in which a player has a very good hand but loses to an even better hand.
Bankroll: A player's total cash balance.
Basic strategy: The optimal strategy for Blackjack. Should you embody it, the House will have an advantage as low as 1%.
Bet behind: To play behind another player. You may play in the same box as another player in a card game, but the first player retains control.
Betting system: Different systems that a player can use for their bets. An example is Martingale.
Bingo: A term in bingo where the player manages to fill an entire line.
Bitcoin: A kind of virtual currency that can also be used to play on Bitcoin casino . There are currently no Bitcoin casinos in New Zealand.
Black jack Blackjack is a term that denotes not only the name of the game but also the name of the best possible hand that one can have in said game. A hand of blackjack consists of an ace and a 10 or a face card.
Blind: A rotating bet in poker games such as Texas Holdem and Omaha Holdem.
No Deposit Bonus A bonus that the casino gives you without you having to deposit any money is a no-deposit bonus.
Bookie : A person or agent who accepts bets on game items.
Burn Card: A card in poker that is discarded instead of dealt.
Bust/Thick: When a player or dealer goes over 21 in Blackjack.
C
Cascading Reels: A game mechanic involving the removal of symbols from winning combinations on the reels and then replacing those symbols with new ones.
Cashback A form of bonus in which the casino returns a portion of your lost cash. At present, this bonus is not offered in New Zealand.
Chemin De Fer: A Baccarat common in France where players take turns being a banker.
Chips: Chips used for casino games. They can have different values such as 10 dollar or 50$Onor.
Cluster pays/cluster wins: In a slot machine, the usual way to create winning combinations is to have them land on paylines. There are also slots with something called "Cluster Pays," where the more wins you get in a cluster of symbols, the better. But most of the time, winning combinations are formed on paylines.
Croupier: The French word for the dealer in Roulette. Responsible for spinning the roulette ball and paying winnings.
D
Daily jackpot : These work like regular progressive jackpots but they are triggered every day.
Dealer: Casino hosts who take care that a casino game runs as it should.
Deuce: A term for a 2 in card games.
Dolly: The cursor used to mark the winning number in Roulette.
Double Ball Roulette: A roulette which uses two bullets instead of one.
Drawing: Means either a draw or drawing another card.
Games that allow you to double your win: Most slot machines have some version of a doubling game or fresh bet feature that gives the player a chance to double their last win. These games add risk to the already risky exercise of playing a slot machine, and the stakes often feel high because you are augmenting an existing win.
A bet that covers nearly a third of the roulette wheel: A roulette bet that covers almost a third of the roulette wheel. You can choose to bet 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36. Pays 2: 1.
E
eCogra: e-Commerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance is an independent agency that reviews that casino operators act fairly.
One-armed bandit: An old name for what we today call slot machines or slots.
A Prison: A rule found in French roulette. Provides the player an opportunity to play again if they have wagered on even money and the roulette ball stops on 0.
European Roulette: A game form that uses only 0 as opposed to American Roulette which has both 0 and 00.
F
Fish: The player who is the worst at the poker table or often loses.
Flop: The first three cards in a game of Texas Holdem.
Freeroll : A free poker tournament .
Freezeout: A poker tournament where you can't buy back in if you fall out.
Complimentary spins: Complimentary spins are played on a slot machine. These complimentary spins can either be a feature of a slot machine or a bonus that an online casino provides to a player.
Coverage: Should the dealer acquire a ten-value card, you can ensure with assurance that the dealer will wind up with a ten-value card in Blackjack and that you won't.
H
Home advantage: Playing at home in various sports often gives a slight advantage.
High Roller: A player who plays for exceptionally large sums.
Here: A term used in Black jack then you want more cards.
Hopper In the days of yore, slot machines contained coins which were stored in hoppers. Today, most machines have switched to a voucher system.
House advantage: A percentage that shows how much advantage the House has over the player. Called house edge in English.
Hole cards: The first cards you are dealt in games like Texas Holdem and Omaha.
Inside bets: A bet on any of the numbers in roulette .
I
Deposit Bonus / matched bonus: A bonus that awards you with extra cash when you make a deposit at a casino. This is often termed as 100% extra up to $2000 on your initial deposit.
I-slot: This category is even more modern video slots that are often interactive.
J
Jackpot: See "progressive jackpot".
Jackpot Slots: A slot machine that is connected to a jackpot network with a progressive jackpot .
Joker: A card that can replace all other cards in a deck.
Even Money / Even Money: If the player gets Blackjack and the dealer shows an ace as the first card, the player can choose to take a safe win. This win pays only 1:1 compared to the 3:2 that a Blackjack usually pays.
K
Classic slot machines When we refer to classic slot machines, we are usually talking about machines with simple game formats. For instance, these may utilize fruit symbols on the reels and seldom feature any sort of advanced bonus round.
Column insertion: A roulette bet that covers almost a third of the roulette wheel. Pays 2: 1.
Short Shoes / Shoe: In card games such as blackjack and Caribbean Stud Poker, the cards are drawn from a shoe.
Encryption: A technology that casinos use to protect a player's personal data.
L
Layoff: A bet that a betting site makes on another betting site to reduce its risk.
Lightning Blackjack / Lightning Dice / Lightning Roulette Classic casino games that contain multipliers, increasing the excitement of the games.
Small series / Tiers: A roulette bet that includes the numbers 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33.
Limp: Calling the big blind in a game of poker.
In-play wagering: A form of betting that allows the bettor to place a wager on the outcome of a sporting contest as the event is taking place.
Live casino: A form of online gambling where the player plays casino games with real dealers. The dealers of these online casino games are live from a studio.
Loyalty program: Some foreign casinos provides extra bonuses and rewards to loyal players. Because of the New Zealand Gambling Act, loyalty programs are nonexistent in New Zealand.
M
Martingale: A betting system that involves the player doubling his bet after each loss.
Deposit bonus at the casino; for instance, it can be labeled as a matched 100% bonus, with a cap of 2000 dollar.
Megaways The Megaways game engine was developed by Big Time Gaming and offers a random number of ways to win really big with each spin of the reels. With each turn of the reel, you get all new paylines as well as a different set of numbers to work with when determining if you've hit a winning combination. Big Time Gaming's engine is now used by many other game developers.
A blackjack hand in which the dealer or player has an ace and even if they were to take another high card, the hand would not go over 21. The reason for this is because an ace can be worth 1 or 11.
Monsterhand: A poker hand that is very strong.
Multiplier: A symbol or feature in a slot machine that multiplies your winnings.
N
No limit: A poker term that means that the game has no betting limits.
Games: A bet in Roulette where you bet on 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15.
Nuts (Nuts): The best possible hand in a game of poker.
O
Odds: Odds is how much a betting site gives you when you bet right on a betting item.
Wagering Free bonuses: These are bonuses that you can take out right away and not have to satisfy any sort of play-through conditions to get your hands on them. Places that do this are often called "no-wager" places.
Wagering requirements Many casino bonuses have wagering requirements to stop people from misusing the bonuses. Most of these conditions just say how many times you need to play with the bonus before you can cash it out.
Orphelins: The numbers in Roulette do not belong to either the big or small series. Includes the numbers 17, 34, 6 and 1, 20, 14, 31, 9.
What is the remaining number of undivided Cards to achieve a specific hand? If the player could receive 8 particular cards to complete a straight in poker, then one would say there are 8 outs.
Outside bets: A bet on even chances and dozen or columns in roulette.
P
Pay N Play casino A Pay n play casino is a casino where you log in using your BankID. It is also known as a casino where you do not have to register.
Ideal Couple: A mini-game that some blackjack tables have. If you get a pair, and they're the same color, then you get a bonus.
Pit Boss / Pit Manager: A person who supervises the croupiers at a casino.
Pocket Pair: Pocket pairs are when a player gets a pair on their hole cards.
A jackpot that builds up over an extended period and can attain immense proportions until, by chance, a victor brings about its conclusion.
Push: A draw in a game of Blackjack is called a push.
R
Rake: A fee that the casino takes off a large part of the poker hands.
Random number generator (RNG) The algorithm and software that guarantee a digital casino game has a result that is always fair.
Re-buy: When a player buys into a poker tournament again.
Re-spin: A bonus feature that gives you another spin if you meet the slot's$off for a re-spin. For instance, you could achieve it by landing a wild symbol or two scatter symbols. Getting that second scatter is especially good, as it gives you another chance to get the third scatter that's often needed to go into a bonus game.
River: The last card in a game of Texas Holdem.
Roulette wheels The roulette table features a spinning wheel, which decides the outcomes of placed wagers. A nearly universal aspect of roulette is that the wheel holds either 37 or 38 total numbers.
Royal Flush: The best possible hand poker . It is a color ladder from 10 to A.
S
: The authority that oversees the New Zealand gambling market.
Game break: A registration for the New Zealand gambling sector that permits a player to switch off at all casinos across New Zealand simultaneously.
Able: A term used in Blackjack when you don't want more cards.
Sticky bonus: A kind of bonus that the casino does not pay out. Casinos can use this bonus to provide a greater amount of money to their players. It's a way to give your players a bigger bankroll so they can bet bigger. If this bonus has an opposite, it would be the No Sticky Bonus.
Large series/Voisins du zero: A roulette bet that includes the numbers 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25.
T
Tilt: Then a player reacts badly to a loss and it starts playing irresponsibly.
Trustly: Trustly it is a payment method with very fast withdrawals .
Turn: The fourth card in a game of Texas Holdem.
V
Vague as it may be, this term is mostly used to denote a newer kind of slot machine—a machine with nice, modern visuals that are mostly digital (and often animated).
Paylines Winning lines in a slot machine are those that show the same symbols across the payline. A payline is an imaginary line that goes across the slot machine, and it can be anywhere from one to hundreds of thousands of paylines. You can win by showing the same symbols on any of those paylines.
Volatility: How much a slot machine differs from the payback percentage in the short run.
Expected Value (Expected Value) Frequently employed in poker to ascertain the probable winnings of a player, given the present game mode.
W
Wild symbol: A symbol that can replace all other symbols in a slot machine.
On̊
Payback percentage (RTP): The converse of the House. This is the amount a player can expect, on average, to get back from a certain sum wagered.