Casino Glossary

Some games, mainly poker variants, have a maximum betting limit of Betting the Pot, which is betting the amount that is in the pot at the moment. At times the pot amount that is equaled is calculated as the amount of money in the pot, plus the amount you would bet if the player was to raise it again, in case the pot was raised by the previous player.

In card games that are played with a joker, most famously Joker Poker, the joker card is also called a bug.

The casino's statistical edge over the players in a game. Varies from game to game.

From the word 'Complimentary', these are gifts that the casino offers its members. Although online casinos do not offer discounted hospitality costs and flights like regular casinos do, they have unique comps of their own.

Giving out cards during a card game.

The term used for a casino employee who deals. Also called a Banker and a Croupier. Online casinos have a virtual Dealer, except for Live Games in which the dealer is a real person carried over video camera technology.

A statistical calculation of the expected player loss relative to the initial amount bet. The House edge is the casino's inbuilt advantage.

As such, it is a good measure to base player expectations over time, but falls short of being a precise forecast. A 0.5% House Edge in Blackjack, for example, means the player should expect to lose $0.5 for every $100 bet. The calculation does not, however, take in additional money bet (doubling, raising) or ties.

A portal at the online casino site from which the player can access any game or any section on the site, such as the latest news, promotions and other.

Card game tournaments, and sometimes other competition systems, count points, with each game won worth a point or two, and the winner of the competition the first to reach a certain number of points.

Online casinos may offer multi-player games, which mean playing Blackjack, Baccarat, Poker and other games against others, not only against the casino.

The percent of each dollar bet at the online casino that is returned to the players. This proportion, for example a 97.2% payout percentage, means that this percent of the total money bet at the casino is paid out to winners.

Online casinos can keep the payout percentage higher than land based casinos, namely for their low maintenance expenses. Thus the online casino from the previous example keeps only 2.8% of the total bets. (That is also the House edge at the casino.) Ensuring this is the case, verification certificates are posted on the site for players to view.