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GLOSSARY OF ALL THE WORDS USED AND HEARD IN CASINOS INCLUDING SLANG, TERMINOLOGY, JARGON AND VOCABULARY

An alphabetical dictionary for the use of the uninitiated.

• Action - The amount of money bet by a player during a complete gambling session.
• Active Player - Refers to Poker games and to a player who is still in the game.
• Add-on - In Poker, the ability of buying more chips during the game.
• Aggregate Limit - The total payout of a casino during any one game of any kind.
• Aggregate Winnings - Amount won in total or accumulated to a particular point.
• All or Nothing - In Keno, a card with numbers that will only pay out if all the selected numbers are drawn or if none of the picked numbers are drawn.
• Ante - In a card games, the minimum bet required to take part in the hand. In Stud Poker the bet a player must make before receiving cards.
• Arm - In the game of craps the name given to a player who is reputedly such an expert at throwing the dice that he can change the normal odds of the game. Such a player is called 'an arm'. It is debatable as to whether such players exist or are just a legend. However there are craps dealers in casinos who insist that the dice must be thrown against the far wall of the pit so ensuring a random result.
• Baccarat - This game is also known as Punto Banco and Chemin De Fer. This table card game uses 6 or 8 decks of cards.
• Banker - Usually the dealer in card games. There are card games where the dealer rotates.
• Bankroll - Also called the 'Roll' or the 'Wad'. It refers to the total amount that the player or the casino has available to back their bets. The bankroll carried by a player can be at one of several levels. The highest level refers to all the money he has set aside for his gambling activities. A lower level may refer to the amount of gambling money he takes with him on a trip. A bankroll used while traveling may be divided into smaller amounts for each day's play, or split into smaller amounts called table- sitting or session-playing-stakes. This amount will be limit to which the player will bet during a game. The various types of bankrolls are taken into account by those players who like to keep control over the money they spend on gambling.
• Barred or Banned - A person who is permanently not allowed to enter a casino.
• Bet - Wager.
• Betting Limit - In any table game, the minimum and maximum amount of money that a player is allowed to place in a single bet. No one may bet less than the minimum or more than the maximum amount that is fixed for the game. There are casinos which will extend the maximum limit on a special request by a player.
• Bingo - A prize game traditionally played in halls. Players buy cards with numbers on them in a 5 x 5 grid corresponding to the five letters in the word B-I-N-G-O. Numbers such as B-2 or 0-68 are then drawn at random (75 in American Bingo and 90 in British and Australian Bingo) until one player completes a line with five numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row on a card and wins the prize. The rules and prizes vary from place to place. Bingo has become a popular game on the Internet wher prizes can be won.
• Black Book - This is the list of people who are forbidden to enter a casino.
• Blind Bet - In poker, a bet placed before the player sees any of his cards.
• Blinds - A forced bet in Hold'em Poker.
• Boxing - In horse racing, a single ticket comprising more than one parlay, which is a bet plus its winnings bet again.
• Break-Even Point - This is the point at which if you played forever, the bets you made would be about equal to the payoffs you would receive.
• Buck - A bet of $100.
• Bug - The joker in the deck of cards.
• Bump - To raise a bet to as higher value.
• Burn Cards - Removing cards from the top of the deck and placing them in the discard tray after the cards have been shuffled and cut.
• Buy in - The amount of cash used to purchase chips before entering a table game of blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, etc.
• Call - In Poker. To 'call' a bet is to match the bet that is currently on the table.
• Camouflage - Whatever a skilled gambler will do to conceal his activities from the casino. Camouflage may include changing playing strategies or betting habits to copy other types of gamblers, or disguising themselves, or pretending to be intoxicated, or using any trick or ploy in order to confuse the casino's scrutiny.
• Capping - This means the capping of bets by placing extra chips on top of a bet already placed after the deal has begun. In other words, increasing the bet after play has started. This is a serious form of cheating.
• Card Counting - In a Blackjack game. Memorizing the cards played (usually the high cards) so as to know the probability of the cards remaining against the dealer.
• Card Sharp - An expert card player.
• Carousel - Slot machines placed in a circle so as to allow a money changer to stand in the center.
• Carpet Joint - Slang for a super-luxury gambling casino.
• Case money - Gambling money kept separate (in a case) as emergency money.
• Cashier's Cage - The cash desk where chips are cashed in at the end of play.
• Casino Advantage - The 'edge' or profit-margin that the casino has over the players.
• Casino Rate - The reduced room rate that a casino may offer to a good gambling customer.
• Catch - In Keno. 'Catching' a number means that a number you have selected has been drawn.
• Chase - 'Chasing' is placing another bet to try and get back a loss.
• Check - In a casino the word 'check' is another term for a chip. In poker, a is allowed to say 'check', which will allow him to stay in the game without betting.
• Chemin De Fer - (French) A table game using 6 or 8 decks of cards. The game is similar to Baccarat but requires some skill in playing.
• Chip, Chips - Round plastic discs used for betting in a casino instead of money. Money may not be used to bet in a casino. Chips are purchased at the gaming table and cashed in at the end of play at the cashier's booth.
• Chip Tray - The plastic or wooden tray in front of a dealer where he maintains the table's stock of chips.
• Coat-tail - To 'Coat-tail' is to bet on the same numbers as someone who is currently winning.
• Cold - Someone who is 'cold' is a player who is having a losing streak. It may also be a slot machine that is not paying out.
• Coloring Up - When a player exchanges small value chips for larger.
• Combination Way Ticket - A Keno ticket in which groups of numbers are bet in various permutations which allows a player a larger spread of numbers.
• Comps - Complimentary gifts such as free hotel rooms, meals and beverages given by the casino to entice players to gamble.
• Copy - A term used in Pai-Gow Poker when a player and the banker have the same two-card or five-card hand. The banker wins.
• Cracking The Nut - Winning enough money on gambling to cover all expenses and giving a reasonable profit.
• Craps - Table-game played in Casinos with dice.
• Credit Button - These are in slot or video machines. It is a button that lets players bank winnings in the form of credits which can then be used top play with.
• Crossroader - An term used for a gambler who cheats. It originated in the Old West where gamblers cheated at saloons located at crossroads. Casino cheats are still sometimes called Crossroaders.
• Croupier - French for 'Dealer'. Croupiers are found only in games of baccarat and roulette.
• Cut - Following the shuffle of cards in a game and before a new deal, the dealer or a player divides a deck into two parts and inverts them, using a cut card (see below).
• Cut Card - A blank card usually red or black used to cut a deck of cards.