Every casino guide leans on a handful of technical terms. This glossary defines them once, plainly, so the other guides can stay focused on the argument.
The money terms
- Return-to-player (RTP) — the long-run share of wagers a game returns across millions of rounds; the RTP guide covers what it can and cannot tell you.
- House edge — the mirror of RTP: the share the game keeps on average. A 96% RTP is a 4% edge.
- Turnover / wagering requirement — how much must be wagered before a bonus converts to withdrawable funds; the maths live in the bonus guide.
The behaviour terms
- Volatility / variance — how unevenly a game distributes its payouts. High volatility pays rarely and larger; low volatility pays often and smaller.
- Hit frequency — how often any winning outcome occurs, regardless of size.
- Chasing losses — increasing play to recover losses; the mechanism behind most gambling harm, described in the responsible-play notes.
The game-shape terms
- Payline / ways-to-win / cluster — the three main formats for registering wins, covered in the slots guide.
- Live dealer — a human-dealt physical game streamed from a studio; the machinery is in the studio guide.
- Roadmap — the coloured result-history grids in baccarat; descriptive, never predictive, as the baccarat guide explains.
The safety terms
- Self-exclusion — a formal commitment barring you from operator services for a chosen period; treat it as permanent once set.
- Deposit limit — a cap set before play begins; the envelope method is a manual version.
- Phishing — fake sites or messages impersonating a service to harvest credentials; the recognition checklist is in the domain-check guide.
Definitions are editorial descriptions, not legal or financial advice; local law governs everything actionable.