Beginners Guide:

Casino Terminology

Abbreviations and Acronyms

These are terms commonly used on Gambling Websites, Blogs and Forums:

Term

Meaning

+EV and -EV

EV = Expected Value: This is the expected outcome (theoretical result) of wagering a certain amount on a game where the RTP is a known figure.

e.g. The term is usually used in relation to bonuses. Say you had a 100% cashable bonus on a $100 deposit and had to wager the Bonus x 10 on a 95% RTP slot;

That would be $1,000 in wagering @ 95% = a loss of $50.

So at the end of the wagering you would have lost half of your $100 bonus, but still be left with the other half. This bonus would therefore be +EV to a value of $50.

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Advantage Player

This term is used for any player who takes casino bonuses only when they think that by doing so they have and overall edge over the casinos and can make a profit by doing so. This can apply to single bonuses, or taking multiple bonuses as a whole. They will use ANY betting pattern which is allowed in T&Cs and which they think will lead to profit.

AWP Slot

Amusement With Prizes: This is a game (also called a Fruit Machine or Pub Slot) which looks a lot like a Slot Machine, but works in a totally different way – they are NOT truly random. i.e. Unlike proper Video Slots, you do not have an equal chance of hitting the jackpot on each spin you play. Put very simply, the machine will only pay out a Jackpot after it has taken in way more than the jackpot amount from the player(s).

B&M Casino

Bricks and Mortar Casino: A real casino you can walk in to, rather than online.

BDBA

Break Da Bank Again; A popular very high variance slot in MicroGaming Casinos.

Bonus Abuser

This is a nonsense term used by the less reputable casinos as an excuse for confiscating winnings and/or deposits from players who win using their bonuses.

It is “nonsense” because if the player does not break any of the bonus T&Cs that the casino set out – then they can’t be “abusing” anything.

Bonus Banned

A player may be “Bonus Banned” at any casino, group or even software brand at the discretion of the operator. This only occurs if the player is a known fraudster or, in the opinion of the operator, has made too much money from their bonuses without risking much (if any) of their own funds. Bonus Bans can be lifted if the player shows a willingness to deposit without a bonus & risk their own money.

Bonus: Cashable

Usually the best deal; the bonus credit is added to your account balance automatically on deposit, or shortly after you claim it.

As soon as you complete the WR, the entire account balance is yours to keep.

Bonus: Flexible

This bonus is a mixture of Cashable & Phantom; The bonus funds are added to your account and are initially all phantom. As you wager, the bonus credits are converted into real cash reducing the amount of ‘phantom’ chips. You can cash-out at ANY time without having to complete the full WR, but when you do any remaining bonus chips are removed from your account and lost forever. Some MG casinos use this system, see Flexi-Bonus.

This type of bonus is great because if you hit a good early streak or big slot win you are not committed to huge WR!

Bonus: Casumo

I can’t think of a catchy name for this unique system – so I have named it after the only casino that (as far as I am aware) has it - Casumo Casino!

Unlike other casinos, when you wager with a bonus in play both real cash & bonus cash are bet at the same time. E.g. If you took a 100% bonus, each bet will be made up of 50% real cash & 50% bonus cash – and any wins you get are paid out in the same proportion. If you complete the full WR required, everything becomes cash you can withdraw. BUT, you can cash-out at ANY TIME before completing WR and just forfeit the bonus chips. This means your own cash is never tied in to any WR.

So this system is great, even for player who don’t normally like to take bonuses: just deposit your normal amount and play your normal games, but at DOUBLE your normal stake. If you win you can cash-out anytime, losing the bonus chips which weren’t really yours to start with. If you make the WR, you really do get a BONUS!
Terms & Conditions apply.

Bonus: Safety-Net

I added this new type of bonus after first discovering it at a casino in February 2014.

With this one the bonus funds are added to your account as with cashable.

When you start playing, you use your deposited funds first; if you have a good win you can cash-out without doing the WR, but your bonus funds are forfeit.

Only if you lose your deposited amount do you start wagering with the bonus chips, and THAT is when your WR begins; bets placed previously with your deposited funds do not count in the WR. Once you finish the WR you can cash-out your whole balance.

Because of the benefit of being able to cash-out early without completing WR, this bonus earns +1 on the rating system used throughout this site.

Bonus: Phantom

So called because the entire bonus is removed from your account upon your first withdrawal request. These are normally high % bonuses with relatively low WR. Due to the format, many bonus players use them in an ‘all or nothing’ way – placing very high wagers to try to win a lot of profit off the bonus so they still have a significant sum after the bonus credits are removed on cashing out. Others take them just so they have a big starting balance and so more play-time, and therefore more chance of hitting a big win.

Some players also call this a Sticky or (Sticky Type 1) Bonus, but I think Phantom is a much better term for it. A Sticky bonus is something else – see below.

Bonus: Post-Wager

These Bonuses are cashable, but the bonus is not added to your account until after you have met the WR with your own deposited funds. Most of these bonuses are then instantly withdrawable, but some do require further WR before all the funds are yours to keep.

Bonus: Sticky

These bonuses stay in your account and can never be withdrawn, BUT they are not lost when you cash-out. They are very good because you can withdraw any profits once you’ve met the WR, and then continue to wager with the bonus chips, win & cash out more profit until they are all lost!

Some players call this a Sticky Type 2 Bonus. See Phantom Bonus above.

Crypto

CryptoLogic: Another name for WagerLogic - a popular brand of casino software (No USA).

DonD

Deal or No Deal; As well as being a very popular television game show in many countries, it is also the name of many offline Fruit Machines, online Slots and other types of game based on the show, where your luck picking boxes can lead to HUGE wins!

Even-Money Wager

A term used by some casinos in their bonus T&Cs; It means a bet which returns 1:1 on your wager. e.g. Blackjack, or betting on Black or Evens on Roulette, etc…

Flush

(Cash-out)

Flushing a cash-out just means speeding up the process by the casino removing the money from the “pending withdrawal” state and moving it straight into processing.

Some (not all) of the better casinos will do this for players on request.

Note: This does NOT mean you will necessarily get your money quicker, but you won’t be able to reverse it back into your account and play on.

Free-Chip

This is a bonus given without the player needing to deposit, at a casino where he is already an active member (i.e. has deposited and played in the past), or to attract new players to sign-up and try the casino with NO RISK!

For the best free-chips currently available, see this page.

Fruit Machine

A game which looks a lot like a Slot Machine, but works in a totally different way and is NOT truly random. See AWP Slot above.

Gnome

A person who creates multiple accounts at the same casino in order to try to exploit a generous bonus over and over. This involves using false information and nearly always ends up with the player getting found out, banned, and losing their winnings and/or deposits.

House

The provider of the betting opportunity; e.g. Casino, Poker Room, SportsBook, etc..

House Edge (HE)

This is the percentage the house makes over the long run on any game. e.g. if a game had a House Edge of 5% the casino would make $5 for every $100 wagered on the game.

It is the same thing as RTP, but expressed the other way round; 100% - RTP = HE

IR

Immortal Romance: A very popular very high variance slot in MicroGaming Casinos.

Obviously based on the Twilight series of films – vampires galore!

LOTR

Lord Of The Rings; Was a very popular slot in MicroGaming Casinos. This is one of the very few games to be withdrawn by MG (presumably due to licensing issues).

They later released an exact clone: Girls with Guns, so players can still enjoy the features the original slot had to offer, but with hot girls instead of fantasy characters!

Low-Risk Wager

A term used by some casinos in their bonus T&Cs; They don’t allow Low-Risk Wagering to clear the WR on a bonus. Low-Risk Wagering includes such things as betting on Black and Red at the same time in Roulette. The casino should clearly spell out which exact bets are not allowed; if they don’t, either check with the casino first, or don’t play there.

NEVER assume anything – if you break a rule you wont get paid.

Maximum Cash-out

Maximum cash-outs are usually only enforced when playing with a bonus, though we have heard of some rogue casinos imposing this on a non-bonus deposit! It is important to always check bonus terms for this rule BEFORE claiming the bonus.

MG

MicroGaming: A popular brand of casino software (No USA). See this page.

NDB

No Deposit Bonus: A bonus given without the player having to make a deposit.

Note that if the player has NEVER deposited at the casino before, they usually will be asked to make a small “token” deposit before withdrawing the winnings from the NDB.

This is for anti-fraud and anti-underage gambling verification reasons.

For the best NDBs currently available, see this page.

NetEnt

Net Entertainment: A popular brand of casino software (No USA). See this page.

No-Risk Wager

A term used by some casinos in their bonus T&Cs; this is basically a nonsense term because the only time a wager can be truly “no risk” is if the game has 0% House Edge.

See also Low-Risk Wager above.

PAB

Player Arbitration (Previously called Pitch-A-Bitch): This is CasinoMeister's FREE service to help players with problems at non-rogue casinos. Start on this page. Make sure you read ALL the rules!

Phantom

Phantom Bonus: See Bonuses

Post-Wager

Post-Wager Bonus: See Bonuses

Progressive JP

Progressive Jackpot: This is a jackpot which steadily increases as people play because a tiny proportion of their bet is “filtered off” into a jackpot “pool”.

The jackpot is usually won by getting the top-pay symbols on a certain win-line on a slot, the best hand in a table poker game, or by other similar events occurring.

The odds of winning any Progressive Jackpot are many millions to one against.

In our opinion it is folly to “chase” one.

Pub Slot

A game which looks a lot like a Slot Machine, but works in a totally different way and is NOT truly random. See AWP Slot above.

Rigged

When people talk about a game being “rigged” they mean it has been programmed to produce a non-random result which favours the casino or house.

RJ

Random Jackpot: This is a jackpot, usually on a slot machine, where it is won entirely at random and is not related to the symbols appearing on the reels at the end of your spin. Nearly all casino softwares incorporate an RJ on one or more of their games.

RNG

Random Number Generator; An electronic circuit which produces a random number to be used by casino software to determine the outcome of a game.

Some players talk about the RNG being “rigged”, but this is not possible. All an RNG does is produce a number – if anything is rigged, it is the software.

Rogue Casino

This term was first coined by CasinoMeister; It describes any casino or group who have demonstrated gross unfairness towards one or more of their players. Usually denying winnings due to vague or made up terms, dragging out cash-outs, not paying at all, not responding to players or advocates trying to help them, etc…

Rogue casinos should be TOTALLY avoided by everyone. Don’t even play free-chips.

RTG

RealTime Gaming: A popular brand of casino software (USA allowed). See this page.

RTP

Return To Player: How much the game pays out, on average; Say a slot machine is set to 95% RTP - that means you will get 95% of all your wagers back in winnings.

e.g. For every $100 worth of bets you place, you will win back $95. Note: The RTP is based on playing infinite spins – short sessions can have massively different results.

Shill

This is a person who pretends to be an ordinary player, when in reality they actually work for, or are being paid by casinos to discretely advertise them. Typically a Shill will post on forums such things as “I played at XYZ casino and it’s absolutely great!”

Software

This is a general term used, which actually means the Games Provider – the companies who actually produce the casino games. e.g. Microgaming is the leading brand of software and Net Entertainment is the next most popular.

Spammer

A person who sends out unsolicited e-mails or posts links to their website or casino on forums without permission from the forum owners.

Forum spammers are really stupid as they always get quickly banned.

Spirit of the Bonus

This is a rogue term used by some casinos in their bonus T&Cs; basically it is a cover-all for ANY type of betting activity the casino thinks gives the player an unfair advantage over them. Some casinos will deny winnings based on Spirit of the Bonus even when no specific T&C has been broken. However, no reputable casino should do this.

Sticky

Sticky Bonus: See Bonuses

SUB

Sign-Up Bonus: The first bonus you are offered when joining a new casino. Also sometimes called a Welcome Bonus.

T&Cs

Terms and Conditions: The rules you must adhere to when partaking in any form of online gambling. If bonuses are involved, be sure to always thoroughly read the bonus T&Cs as well as the General T&Cs, as unpleasant rules can be found in either.

Tilt

On Tilt: This is when a player gets fed up or annoyed and starts placing large or reckless bets they wouldn’t normally do. The term is most used for Poker players.

TR1,

TR2,

TS1 &

TS2

Common abbreviations for four of MicroGaming’s most popular slots:

TR1: Tomb Raider (original 15-line version)

TR2: Tomb Raider – Secret of the Sword

TS1: Thunderstruck (original 9-line version)

TS2: Thunderstruck II

Troll

A person posting on forums whose main purpose seems to be stirring up trouble and/or baiting and insulting other members for their own gratification.

Variance

The expected swings in fortune of any given game:

Low Variance: You get lots of frequent wins, but they are mostly very small.

High Variance: You get very few wins, but you have the chance of a massive hit.

Some examples:

Blackjack is a very Low Variance game – the max win is Bet x 1.5

Lotteries are very High Variance – you have a tiny chance of winning millions.

Volatility

Means the same as Variance. See above.

WGS

WGS Technology: A software brand which used to be called Vegas Technology (or V-Tech for short), which in turn was a spin-off of CryptoLogic Software (many identical games) which was used by the once very popular Intercasino.

Casinos using WGS are available for most countries, including the USA but not Canada. For casinos using WGS, see here.

White Label

White Label Casinos are ones where the management don’t actually own and run the software themselves, but sort of “rent” it from the owners. A good example is the Rival Gaming Software Brand; the majority of their casinos are owned by Silverstone Overseas (part of Rival) who also handle the Customer Support and Money Processing. All the casino management do is handle the casino’s Design and Marketing (including setting up bonus offers).

WR

Wagering Requirements: When you take a bonus, this is the amount you need to bet before being allowed to cash out (Except for Flexible or Sticky bonuses – see above).

This involves Wagering a set amount of money on specified games. e.g. If you played 10 hands of BlackJack at $10 per hand, won half & lost half of your hands, your bank balance would be the same as when you started but you will have wagered $100.

However, most non-slot games are “weighted” so they count less in the WR.

E.g. if Blackjack counts at 10%, you need to wager 10x more.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Key

Key to Abbreviations used on the Casino and Bonus info pages on this site:

SW = Software;

BS = BetSoft, IGT = International Game Technology (also known as WagerWorks), MG = MicroGaming, Multi = Casinos with Multiple different softwares; these usually include NetEnt and/or MG with up to dozens of others. NE = Net Entertainment, NW = NuWorks, Own = Propriety Software, PT = PlayTech, Ri = Rival Gaming, RTG = RealTime Gaming, VT = Vegas Technologies, WL = WagerLogic (CryptoLogic), WGS = WGS Technology (Previously called Vegas Technology, or Vtech), WMS = Williams Gaming.

Rating / Date;

SUB = Sign-up Bonus, Data Date = When I last checked the T&C’s of the initial Sign-Up Bonuses.

SUB Rating Points;

This figure is calculated from the value of the SUB in terms of play on 95% return slots. It does not apply to play on other games.

e.g. If the rating is 3.6 on a 100% cashable bonus, mathematically your balance will reach zero exactly when you complete the WR.

A rating of 5.0 would mean you would break-even at WR point (i.e. get your deposit back).

Game Abbreviations;

BJ = BlackJack, SDBJ = Single Deck BJ, Roul = Roulette, Bac = Baccarat, VP = Video Poker, Red = Red Dog, Sic = Sic-Bo, 3-card = 3-card poker

WR;

WR = Wagering Requirements. D = Deposit, B = Bonus.

NOTE;

Some casinos impose stricter WR, or don’t allow bonuses or even play from some countries. Always check T&C’s for this before sign-up.

Anything needs adding to these lists?

Please let me know!

Contact:

KK @ KasinoKing.co.uk

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Only	All casinos are strictly for players aged 18 or over. Welcome bonuses are for NEW players only. Terms and conditions apply – read them! Please gamble responsibly. www.gambleaware.org

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