Gambling is full of different terminology or speak, so to say. From Land based casinos to online gambling, there are a variety of Gambling Terms that one soon needs to become familiar with. Gambling terms seeks to provide an authoratative thesaurus or dictionary listing of these Gambling Terms. The phrases and words contained within this listing apply to both traditional casinos as well as the online gambling environments. So lets get on and learn the lingo so to speak!!

One of the first things you notice as you start to enter the hundreds of different websites and see their latest promotions is that most are offering free play. They want you to spend time looking around their site, the flash advertisements other sites pay to display for links require maximum online traffic so it makes the first task of finding a site that suits you much easier. Once you have selected an online casino site the next task of downloading the software on which to play the game is also in most cases free. Again this is essential to the very nature of online gambling, players would limit themselves to a single game or website if they had to pay for it at one software provider.

A - Gambling Terms beginning with A

Across the Board: A craps bet for the numbers in all the boxes.

Act: The façade a skilled blackjack card counter uses to throw off casino personnel.

Action: The amount of money being wagered over a period of time on a certain game, or at a certain casino.

Action Player: A gambler that has an intense playing schedule, and who bets large amounts of money.

Aggregate Limit: The casino’s limit of money that they are willing to pay on a single keno drawing. Normally, the limit is set at $50,000.

All-King Ticket: A keno ticket with nothing but individual numbers that are circled in order of them to be played in all of the possible combinations together.

Any-Craps: A craps wager or bet that the shooter will, on the next toll, hit a total of 2, 3, or 12.

Any-Seven: A bet that the craps shooter will roll a total or 7.

Gambling Terms beginning with the letter B

Back Line: The area in which a player betting against the craps shooter, places a wager on the craps layout.

Bonus Whore: Online Players who go to several casinos simply seeking the bonus money offerings. They usually play just to the wagering requirements and normally have a mathematical methodology.

Back the Bet: To make a craps bet that is free-odds.

Bank Hand: The second hand a player receives out of the two hands he is dealt in baccarat.

Backtrack: The outer end of the roulette wheel that is still, and where the ball is spun from.

Bar: a) When a casino restricts a player from the use of their games, otherwise know as “86”.

Bank: a) The individual who covers all of the bets in a gambling game. b) A group of slot machines which are linked together.

Barber Pole: When a wager contains two or more intermixed, contrasting denominations.

Basic Ticket: A keno ticket with a single wager of one to fifteen numbers, also known as a straight ticket.

Behind the Line: The money wagered when a free-odds craps bet is placed behind a Pass-line bet.

Bet Against the Dice: A craps bet that the shooter will lose.

Bet With the Dice: A craps bet that the shooter will win.

Big 6/Big 8: A winning craps wager when the shooter rolls a total of either 6 or 8 before rolling a seven.

Basic Strategy: The system of playing blackjack by taking into account the value of the player’s hand, and the dealer’s up-card.

Big Six Wheel: A large wheel with posted money amounts around the border to be played in a carnival-like fashion.

Blackjack: Also called a natural, this is a perfect blackjack hand with an Ace and a ten-value card.

Blacks: One hundred dollar value casino chips.

Blower: The device used to air-mix and select the twenty numbered ping-pong balls for the drawing in Keno - Land based Gambling Term.

Book: When a player covers a bet that another player wishes to make - Land Based Casino Term.

Bottom Track: The inclined surface of a roulette wheel that the metal ball slides down to reach the numbered slots.

Boxcars: A craps dice total of 12.

Black Bet: A roulette bet that at least one of the eighteen black numbers will win.

Boxman: The casino employee that oversees a craps game. In online casinos you often now get live dealers, so it applies to online casino terminology as well.

Box Numbers: The craps totals, which are displayed in the row of boxes at the top of the craps layout.

Break: In blackjack, to bust, or go over 21.

Break the Deck: To re-shuffle the cards before continuing to play blackjack.

Burn: To discard certain cards before dealing hands in blackjack or baccarat.

Bust: Definition of word or term See ‘break’ – Going over 21 in blackjack.

Buy Bet: A bet on a craps box number that the House charges a 5% commission on, and then pays off at true odds.

Buy-In: a) When a player purchases chips immediately before playing a game. b) The total amount of chips purchased at the start of play.

Gambling Terms beginning with C

Call Bet: A bet made verbally, without placing money on the table.

Cage: Where players exchange casino currency for cash.

Call Down: Also known as a take-down, this is when a player retracts a wager before its fate is decided.

Caller: a) The dealer in baccarat, who directs the activities of the players. b) The announcer in Keno, of the twenty selected numbers.

Cancellation System: A gambling system in which the player adds to a series of numbers after each loss, and crosses out numbers after each win also known as the Labouchere system.

C & E: A craps combination wager of an any-craps bet and a bet on the total of 11, otherwise known as craps-eleven.

Card Counting: Keeping track of what cards have been played in blackjack, also known as casing the deck.

Carousel: A connected oval of slot machines, sometimes with a jackpot.

Casing the Deck: See ‘card counting’.

Casino Host: A casino executive who courts high-rollers with VIP treatment and complimentary services in order to keep their business.

Casino Manager: The chief casino executive in charge of keeping all of the games on line and in running order.

Catch: When a players number matches the casinos drawn number in a keno selection.

Chase: A player who is losing, and who attempts to recoup losses by raising bets.

Check Rack: Where the dealer hordes his supply of chips.

Clocking: When a player keeps track of the outcomes of casino games.

Checks: What casino personnel call ‘betting chips’.

Cocked Dice: When both dice land up against a surface, rather than flat on the craps table.

Cold: When either a player or the table is having an extensive losing streak.

Column Bet: A bet that one of 12 numbers that are in a row, will win in roulette.

Combination Ticket: A keno ticket that has several simultaneous bets of different varieties.

Come Bet: A bet predicting the craps shooter will win the next roll if it is a come-out roll.

Come Odds: A wager on what the come-point will be when the player has made a come bet. This second variation will be paid by the casino at true odds.

Chop: A run of neither party really losing or winning more than the other.

Come-Out: The first dice roll that decides the outcome of the pass-line bets.

Come-Point: The number that must be repeated in order to achieve a winning come-bet.

Commission: The 5% that the casino collects on all winnings from the bank hand in baccarat.

Comp: Complimentary or free items and or services casinos give gamblers in gratitude for their business.

Conditioning: The process of writing out notes on a keno ticket, in order to clarify the types of wagers being made.

Corner Bet: Otherwise known as a square bet or quarter bet, predicting that one of four specified numbers in roulette will win.

Condition: The type of Keno wager with notations made in the right margin of the ticket.

Counter: A blackjack player who keeps account of what cards have been played.

Counter Catcher: A counter who has been hired by a casino to sniff out players who count cards, and to keep those players from playing.

Crapless Craps: A version of craps in which the totals of 2, 3, 11 and 12 count as point numbers.

Craps: Totals of 2, 3, and 12 in a craps game, which cause the pass-line to lose.

Credit Line: The maximum amount of credit the House will give a gambler.

Gambling Terms beginning with D

D’Alenbert System: A betting system that has the player increasing his wager by one unit with each loss, and reduce his wager by one unit with each win.

Dead Table: A gamble table not receiving business.

Desperado: An extremely reckless gambler.

Dice Boat: Where the unused dice in craps are kept.

Dice Buck: The marker used to signal where the point number is on the layout, by using an ‘on’ or ‘off’.

Discard Rack: Where used cards are put during a multiple-deck blackjack game.

Do Bet: A craps bet that favours the shooter over the House, also known as a right bet.

Don’t Bet: A wrong bet or a craps bet in favour of the house, as opposed to the shooter.

Don’t Come: A craps bet predicting the shooter will lose the next roll after the come out.

Don’t Pass: A craps bet that the shooter will lose.

Double Down: To make a second bet on a player’s blackjack hand, in which the player only receives one additional card.

Double Exposure 21: A version of blackjack, in which the dealer must face both of his cards up.

Double Odds: A free-odds craps wager that is double the amount of a player’s line bet.

Double Progressive Slots: Slot machines with two separate growing jackpots which are won separately.

Double-Up System: When a player doubles their wager with every loss – also known as the Martingale System.

Down With Odds: An option for a player who’s come bet has been moved to the same number as his place bet. At this point, the player can have his place bet returned after enough has been subtracted to make his come bet free odds.

Dozen Bet: A roulette bet predicting one of twelve numbers in a sequence will win.

Draw Ticket: How the house identifies the player’s copy of the winning ticket.

Duplicate Ticket: An outside ticket that the player uses somewhat like a receipt.