Casinos can be intimidating to new visitors, but navigating around the casino and learning where everything is found helps, especially if you know in advance what some of those strange casino terms mean. In addition to the property itself, each game has certain words that may be confusing. Before you play a game like craps, it helps to learn some craps terms. For other games you can start right here!
The casino property itself has several places you'll want to visit first, such as the player's club. No, that's not a place to sit and have a drink, it's a booth or counter where you can join the casino's player-tracking system. Really, it's a good thing to earn comps.
Because casinos are fighting for your business, they offer casino freebies such as cash-back and free meals. These are all earned based on how long you play and what your average wager is. Which game you play does not matter, but playing poker will earn you the least and slot play is likely to earn you the most (because you play so many spins per hour).
If you have any questions when you arrive, you can go to the concierge desk, they are specially trained to know everything about the property. Before you get there, the following terms may help ease your worries about playing at a casino. Clicking on individual games like crapswill take you to terms for those games.
Casino Terms A to H- Action: Total amount bet; a player who bets a lot is said to give a lot of action
- Aggregate Winnings: Cumulative or total winnings on a game; may reduce a players total payoff
- Baccarat: Table game played with 6 or 8 decks; bets include player, banker and tie
- Banker: The dealer; games like Pai Gow offer a chance for players to risk more and be the banker
- Bankroll: Any money used for gambling; each casino table starts with a known bankroll
- Barred: Casino guests may be removed from the premises and barred from returning
- Beginners Luck: New players are sometimes lucky when learning a game
- Bet: A wager on an unknown outcome; the wager is at risk of being lost
- Bingo: Game played with 80 numbered balls and players have cards to match numbers
- Black Action: When a player is betting $100 chips; sometimes just "action" or "color"
- Blackjack: Table game of 21 played against the dealer; closes to 21 without going over wins
- Bonus: Usually a separate bet to win on an outcome other than the tables standard wager
- Break Even Point: When a players total wagers return to their starting dollar amount
- Burn Cards: Cards removed from the deck and not used during the current shuffle
- Buy-in: Amount of cash used to play a game
- Carousel: Group of slot machines placed together
- Case Bet: Last wager made, usually due to lack of funds
- Casino Advantage: The house-edge; games offered are in the casinos favor
- Casino Rate: Discounted rate offered to good casino guests
- Check (Cheque): A casino chip or wagering device
- Chuck-A-Luck: Old casino game played with three dice in a wire cage
- Color Up: When a player cashes their chips at the table into larger denomination chips
- Comp: Short for complimentary; a freebie offered by the casino for previous play
- Copy: When the player and banker have the same two or five-card hand - the banker wins
- Craps: Table game played with a pair of dice; 7 and 11 wins on the comeout roll for passline wagers
- Credit: Money offered for wagering by a casino's credit department in the form of a "marker"
- Cut and Cut Card: A card-size, non-playing marker used to separate the deck after a shuffle
- Cut off spot: hand next to the button; pre-flop spot before the button (dealer)
- Deal: The act of delivering the cards during a round of play
- Down Card: A card delivered by the dealer that is not viewable to other players
- Draw: To take additional cards
- Drop: Money used to buy chips at the gaming tables and dropped into the Drop box
- Edge: The casino advantage over any the player on any wager
- Even Money: A bet that pays 1 to 1
- Eye In The Sky: Surveillance; cameras used to watch over the casino
- Face Cards: Playing cards that have a face: Jacks, Queens and Kings
- First Base: The first spot where the playing begins on a table
- Flat Bet: Minimum bet or a bet that is always the same
- George: A generous player who tips the dealers well
- Gross Winnings: Total return on wagers including the original bet
- Hard Count: Place where coins are counted by casino employees
- High Roller: Player who makes large wagers
- Holding My Own: Staying close to even after many wagers; still holding your own bankroll
- Hole Card: In blackjack, the card that is face-down and unseen by the players
You may find other words that are confusing, but this should give you a head-start.
