Casino and betting glossary

Bonus pages are written in their own dialect. This glossary translates it: one entry per term, plain words first, a number example where numbers help. Terms run in four groups - bonus terms, casino play, betting terms and odds. When a term decides what you keep, we say so.

Bonus terms

Welcome package

The offer for a new account, often spread across the first two to four deposits. Each part usually carries its own match percentage, cap, wagering and expiry, and the headline figure adds them all together. Read the terms of each deposit separately, not just the total. Compare current offers on our welcome bonuses page and use how to compare casino bonuses to rank them.

Match bonus

The casino adds a percentage of your deposit as bonus money, up to a cap. A 100% match doubles the deposit; a 200% match triples it. The bigger the match, the more you usually have to wager before you can withdraw - so the percentage alone says little about value.

Wagering

The amount you must bet before bonus money (or winnings from it) can be withdrawn, stated as a multiple. The key detail is what the multiple applies to: the bonus only, or the bonus plus your deposit. The second roughly doubles the work. Our wagering calculator turns any requirement into a betting total.

Playthrough

Another word for wagering, more common on sportsbooks and in North America. "Playthrough 10 times" means you must place bets totalling ten times the stated amount before it turns into withdrawable cash. Check whether only certain odds or markets count - sportsbooks often exclude short-priced bets from the playthrough.

Rollover

A third name for wagering, used mostly by sportsbooks. A sports bonus with a rollover of 5 times on the bonus needs bets worth five times the bonus amount, usually at minimum odds and within a deadline. Low rollovers are the norm in sports; casino-style multiples of 20 or more on a sports bonus are steep.

Max bet

The largest single stake allowed while a bonus is active. Go over it, even once, and many casinos can void the bonus and any winnings. It stops players from clearing wagering with a few huge bets. The limit is often a fixed amount per spin or round, sometimes a percentage of the bonus. It is one of the most commonly broken terms.

Cash-out cap

The most you can withdraw from a bonus, whatever you win with it. Common on no-deposit bonuses and free spins. Anything above the cap is removed when you cash out. A big win on a capped offer still pays only the cap, so read it next to the headline number.

Free spins

Spins on a named slot at a fixed stake per spin, paid for by the casino. Winnings usually land as bonus money with its own wagering, and the spins often expire within a day or a few days. Value per spin is the stake times the slot's return. See current offers on our free spins page.

Wager-free

A bonus or set of free spins with no wagering requirement: winnings go straight to your cash balance. Wager-free offers are usually smaller, but you keep what you win, subject to any cash-out cap or expiry. Often the best value per unit of bonus. Browse them on wager-free bonuses.

No-deposit

A bonus you get without paying in - usually a small amount of bonus money or a handful of free spins on sign-up. Expect strict terms: high wagering, a low cash-out cap and a short expiry, and often a deposit needed before the first withdrawal. Current offers sit on no-deposit bonuses.

Reload

A bonus on a later deposit for an existing account, often weekly or tied to a day. Match percentages are usually lower than the welcome offer, and the wagering rules are typically similar. Reloads matter more than the welcome offer if you plan to stay at one site.

Cashback

A refund of part of your net losses over a period, paid as cash or bonus money. Cash cashback is the cleanest type; bonus cashback carries wagering. Check whether it is calculated on losses or on total bets, and the cap. Find current offers on cashback bonuses.

Sticky

A sticky bonus can be played but never withdrawn. When you cash out, the bonus amount itself is removed and only the winnings above it can be paid out. Sticky offers look large but are worth less than their headline, because the bonus never becomes yours.

Non-sticky

Also called a parachute bonus. Your deposit is played first, and the bonus only kicks in once the real money is gone. If you win on the deposit, you can withdraw without touching the bonus or its wagering. That flexibility makes non-sticky offers worth more than sticky ones of the same size.

Game weighting

How much each bet counts toward wagering. Slots usually count in full; table games, live casino and video poker often count partly or not at all. A 10% weighting means a bet counts for a tenth of its size, which multiplies the real cost of clearing a bonus on those games.

Expiry

The deadline to use a bonus or meet its wagering, counted from when it is credited. Miss it and the bonus, plus any winnings tied to it, is removed. Free spins often expire within a day or a few days; match bonuses within one to four weeks. A short expiry with high wagering is a red flag.

Minimum deposit

The smallest payment that triggers a bonus or that the cashier accepts. A bonus minimum can be higher than the cashier minimum, so a small deposit may go through without unlocking the offer. Some payment methods also have their own higher minimums - check both.

Bonus code

A short code entered at deposit or sign-up to claim a specific offer. If an offer needs a code and you skip it, the casino usually cannot add the bonus afterwards. Codes are published on the operator's promotions page and on offer cards. A code does not change the terms behind the offer.

Casino play

RTP

Return to player: the share of all money bet on a game that it pays back over a very large number of plays, set by the game's maths. A 96% RTP slot returns 96 units per 100 staked over the long run, so the house keeps about 4. Short sessions can land far above or below it. Many games ship in several RTP versions - check the game's info screen.

Volatility

How a game's payouts are spread. Low-volatility slots pay small wins often; high-volatility slots pay rarely but bigger. Two games with the same RTP can feel completely different. High volatility makes bonus wagering riskier: a balance can hit zero long before the requirement is met.

KYC

Know Your Customer: the identity checks licensed operators run before or during play, usually photo ID, proof of address and sometimes proof of payment method. In the EU they flow from the anti-money-laundering rules in Directive (EU) 2015/849. Expect checks at the first withdrawal at the latest. Mismatched details are the most common reason a withdrawal stalls.

E-wallet

An online payment account that sits between your bank and the casino, such as Skrill, Neteller or MuchBetter. E-wallets often process withdrawals faster than cards or bank transfers. Watch the bonus terms: some casinos exclude deposits made with certain e-wallets from welcome offers. The crypto casino bonuses guide covers the crypto equivalent.

Pay N Play

A Trustly product that folds sign-up and the first deposit into one step. You pick your bank and log in to online banking with your usual bank ID credentials; Trustly passes the casino the verified identity data it needs to open your account while the deposit goes through. There is no registration form and no username or password to invent. Because the identity comes from your bank login, it only runs where Trustly offers it: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands and the UK. Our Trustly casinos guide covers the Finnish side.

Licence

The permit a regulator issues to an operator. It decides which rules the operator follows, where players can complain and what happens to disputes. Regulators differ widely in how strictly they enforce. Our casino licences explained guide compares the main ones, from Malta to Curacao.

Self-exclusion

A tool that blocks you from an operator, or from every operator under a national scheme, for a set period. Most licensed sites also offer deposit limits, loss limits, session reminders and time-outs. If gambling stops being fun, see our responsible gambling page for help in your country.

Betting terms

Moneyline

A bet on who wins, with no handicap. Favourites pay less, underdogs more. In hockey and baseball the standard moneyline usually includes overtime or extra innings; a separate regulation-time line does not. In soccer the three-way version (home, draw, away) is called 1X2.

Point spread

A handicap applied to the score so both sides are near even money. The favourite must win by more than the spread; the underdog can lose by less and still win the bet. Whole-number spreads can push. Used mostly in American football and basketball.

Puck line

Hockey's spread, almost always fixed at 1.5 goals. The favourite at -1.5 must win by two or more goals; the underdog at +1.5 wins if it wins outright or loses by one. Because the line is fixed, the prices move instead of the number.

Handicap

A head start or deficit applied to one side before the event. European handicaps keep the draw as an outcome; Asian handicaps remove it with half and quarter lines, splitting the stake on quarter lines. Research on 84,230 European soccer matches found Asian handicap bets carry lower margins than 1X2 bets.

Totals

Over or under a line on the combined score - goals, points, runs, maps or games. Half-point lines cannot push; whole-number lines return the stake on an exact landing. Totals let you bet on the shape of a game without picking a winner.

Parlay

Several selections combined into one bet, also called an accumulator. The odds multiply, and every leg must win. So does the bookmaker's margin: four legs priced as coin-flips land 6.25% of the time. Check any ticket in our parlay calculator.

Same game parlay

A parlay built from several selections in one game - a player's points, the team result, the total. Because the legs are linked (a star scoring a lot makes his team more likely to win), books reprice the combination rather than simply multiplying the odds. No book publishes its margin on these.

Bet builder

The tool that builds a same game parlay. You pick markets from one event and the book returns a single combined price. Availability varies by sport: soccer and the big North American leagues have the deepest bet builders, niche sports often none.

Prop bet

Short for proposition: a bet on something inside an event rather than its result. Player props cover goals, shots, assists or yards; game props cover first scorer, corners or whether overtime happens. Prop menus are deepest in basketball and football.

Futures

A bet on an outcome settled weeks or months later: a league title, a tournament winner, a season award. Prices move all season. Because there are many runners, futures markets usually carry a bigger margin than a single game, and your stake is tied up until settlement.

Live betting

Betting while the event is in play, with odds that update continuously. It suits fast-moving sports but is also faster than your judgment. A scoping review by Killick and Griffiths found in-play betting potentially more harmful than other forms because of its speed and constant bet opportunities.

Cash out

An offer from the book to settle your bet early for a set amount, before the event ends. The amount is the book's price for your bet right now, usually including extra margin. Cashing out locks in a result; it is not free insurance.

Early payout

A book feature that settles your bet as a winner before the event ends if your team goes ahead by a set margin - for example two goals in soccer. The bet pays even if the lead disappears. Each book sets its own trigger and lists the sports it covers.

Odds boost

A price raised above the book's normal odds on a chosen selection or parlay. The boosted part often has a cap on stake or winnings, and some books pay the extra as a bonus bet. A boost raises your payout if you win; it does not change your chance of winning.

Free bet

A bet the book pays for. In most cases the stake is not returned when it wins - only the profit. That makes a free bet worth less than its face value, and it keeps more of that value at higher odds.

Bet insurance

A promise to refund a losing bet, usually as a free bet rather than cash. Common forms: refund if your first bet loses, refund if one leg of a parlay fails, refund if your fighter loses by decision. Because the refund is a free bet, it is worth less than the stake it replaces.

Minimum odds

The lowest price a bet must have to count toward a bonus, a free bet or a rollover. Short-odds bets below the minimum do not count. It stops players from clearing a sports bonus with near-certain favourites. On a parlay, some books apply the minimum to each leg, others to the combined price - the terms say which.

Each-way

Two equal bets on one selection: one to win, one to place at a fraction of the win odds. Used in golf and horse racing. You pay two stakes, and the place terms - the fraction and the number of places - decide the value.

Push

A bet where the result lands exactly on the line - a team at -3 winning by 3, or a total of 45 with a 24-21 final. The stake is returned, as if the bet never happened. Half-point lines cannot push. Inside a parlay, a pushed leg usually drops out and the ticket pays on the remaining legs.

Odds

Decimal odds

The total return per unit staked, stake included. Odds of 2.50 return 2.50 for every 1 bet: 1.50 profit plus the stake. Decimal is the default format in Europe and the easiest to compare and multiply. Convert any price with the odds converter.

American odds

The US format. Positive numbers show the profit on a 100 stake (+150 = 150 profit); negative numbers show what you must stake to win 100 (-200 = stake 200 to win 100). Even money is +100. Same prices as decimal, written differently.

Fractional odds

The traditional UK and Irish format, still common in horse racing and golf: profit per unit staked. 3/1 pays 3 profit per 1 staked; 1/2 pays 1 profit per 2 staked. Add 1 to the fraction to get decimal odds: 3/1 is 4.00, and 1/2 is 1.50.

Implied probability

The chance of an outcome that the odds suggest, before the book's margin is taken out. For decimal odds it is 1 divided by the odds: 2.00 means 50%, 4.00 means 25%. Adding up every outcome's implied probability gives more than 100% - the extra is the margin.

Bookmaker margin

The book's built-in edge, also called overround, vig or juice. Add the implied probabilities of every outcome, then margin = 1 minus 1 divided by that total. Two sides at 1.909 add up to 104.76%, a margin of 4.55%. Lower margin means more of each bet comes back to bettors over time.

Overround

The total of all implied probabilities in a market. A fair market adds up to exactly 100%; anything above is the book's margin. A soccer 1X2 example published by CEPR, at 1.90 / 4.76 / 3.17, adds up to 105.19%. The more outcomes in a market, the more room for overround.