A gambling glossary

Gambling terms, explained straight

Every term in poker, casino games, betting, racing and card games — defined in a sentence, then explained properly. No adverts, no affiliate links, nothing trying to turn a definition into a deposit.

Most glossaries either give you one vague line or bury the answer under a thousand words of preamble. The pages here are built the other way round: the definition comes first, the facts that make it useful come second, and anything that would only pad the page is left out.

Browse by category

113 terms Casino & Table Games Blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat and the language of the floor. 143 terms Poker Hands, positions, betting actions and table talk. 58 terms Sports Betting Bet types, lines, markets and how a bet is settled. 72 terms Racing & Pari-Mutuel Horse and greyhound racing: form, going, and racing-only bet types. 86 terms Odds, Probability & Bankroll How prices are written, what they imply, and where the margin sits. 43 terms Slots & Gaming Machines Reels, paylines, volatility and bonus mechanics. 93 terms Card Games Rules and terminology from card games beyond the casino. 44 terms Lottery, Bingo & Number Games Draws, keno, bingo calls and prize structures. 46 terms Advantage Play & Game Integrity Counting, edge-sorting and how casinos respond to them. 35 terms Online Gambling & Industry Accounts, wagering terms, regulation and payments. 20 terms Responsible Gambling & Harm Harm, self-exclusion, deposit limits and where to get free help.

Start here

The terms everything else refers back to. If you are new to any of this, these twelve carry most of the vocabulary.

1 Ace of spades The ace of spades is the highest-ranking card in a standard 52-card deck, belonging to the spade suit and traditionally considered the most powerful card in play. 2 Addiction and gambling Addiction and gambling is a behavioural condition in which a person repeatedly gambles despite serious harm to their health, money, or personal life. 3 Annuity vs lump sum lottery The annuity vs lump sum lottery choice lets winners of certain jackpots decide whether to take the prize as a stream of payments over time or as a single cash payment right away. 4 Arbitrage betting Arbitrage betting is a sports-betting strategy where a bettor places bets on every possible outcome of an event across different bookmakers, so the combined stakes produce the same net profit no matter which outcome wins. 5 Baccarat game A casino card game where players bet on which of two hands, Player or Banker, will come closer to a total of nine, or whether they will tie. 6 Basic strategy blackjack A set of rules that tells blackjack players the mathematically correct action — hit, stand, double, split or surrender — for every possible hand against each dealer up-card, minimising the house edge over time. 7 Betting addiction Betting addiction is not a formal diagnostic term; it refers to problem gambling or gambling disorder, a repeated pattern of gambling with loss of control and continuation despite negative consequences. 8 Betting odds Betting odds are the prices a bookmaker sets for a wager. They determine how much a winning bet pays out and also reflect the bookmaker's view of how likely an outcome is. 9 Bingo card A bingo card is a printed or electronic ticket containing numbers or symbols that players mark off as the caller draws numbers at random. 10 Cash bingo Cash bingo is a type of bingo in which the stakes paid by players are pooled to create the cash prizes awarded to winners. 11 Bingo dauber A bingo dauber is a pen-like tool with a sponge tip that players use to mark called numbers on their bingo cards during a game. 12 Bingo Bingo is a game of chance where players try to be the first to complete a set pattern by matching numbers called at random against numbers on their card.

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Who writes this, and why it is free

One person: Ellis Warrender. Fifteen years in casino operations, latterly in table-games training, where the job was explaining house edge and payout structure to new dealers. Left the industry in 2019 and has not worked for an operator or affiliate since.

This site carries no advertising, no affiliate links and no sponsored placements, and it never will — not as a principle to admire, but because the moment a page can earn money by sending you somewhere, you can no longer tell whether it is explaining a term or selling you one. More about that decision.