Glossary

Commonly used terms in the in the casino world.

Advantage Play (AP): Techniques used by players to gain an edge over the casino, legally and ethically.
Backup Spin: A mythical belief that people think an additional spin will give them more wins. Statistics say otherwise.
Bankroll: The total amount of money a player sets aside for gambling.
Bet Size: The amount of money wagered on each spin or game.
Bonus Features: Special game features that can trigger additional rounds, multipliers, or free spins.
Buy-A-Bonus (BABA): A feature where players can purchase access to a bonus round.
Camping: Sitting at a nearby slot machine waiting for a ploppy to get up and leave behind some sweet +EV.
Casino Host: A casino employee who provides personalized service to high-value players, often offering comps and perks.
Coin-in: How much total money you run through a slot machine. It's not the same as how much you lose because an average machine will pay you back roughly 90% of what you put in. So you could do $1,000 coin-in and only be down $100.
Comps: Complimentary items or services provided by the casino, such as free meals, drinks, or hotel stays.
Degen: Someone with a gambling addiction. They will sometimes attempt basic advantage plays by vulturing, but they use their winnings to further fuel their addiction by playing non-AP machines. Sometimes used as a verb to describe when an AP knowingly plays a game just for fun, e.g., I was degenning on Dragon Link.
Denomination: The unit of your bet size. A 75 credit bet at a 1¢ denomination is $0.75. At a 10¢ denomination, it is $7.50. Higher denominations sometimes have a higher RTP.
Expected Value (EV): A statistical measure of the average outcome of a bet over time.
Free Play: Casino credits given to players to use on slot machines, often as part of a promotion.
Hand Pay: A payout or bonus in a single gaming round (single linepay or an entire bonus round) that meet or exceeds $1200 (USA). This event will also generate a W2G for tax purposes. Generally casinos will not withhold taxes under a certain amount unless you specifically request it. Taxes on a hand-pay is 24%.
Hit Frequency: The frequency with which a slot machine pays out winnings.
Hot Machine: A slot machine that seems to be paying out more frequently than usual. *PLEASE NOTE, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HOT MACHINE*.
Hustler: Anyone who attempts to make a profit playing slot machines. Could be a degenerate vulture or a successful machine pro.
Line Pay: Refers to payouts based on specific winning combinations that align on paylines in a slot machine. A payline is a line across the reels where matching symbols must appear to win. Different slots have varying numbers of paylines, from a single line to hundreds. If your spin results in a winning combination along any active payline, you receive a payout based on the paytable.
Loose Machine: A slot machine that has a higher payout percentage (RTP) than average.
Loss Limits: Pre-set limits on the amount of money a player is willing to lose in a session.
Machine pro: A person who makes a living playing slot machines. This person may or may not be an advantage player.
Multiplier: A feature that increases winnings by a certain factor, e.g., a 2x multiplier doubles the winnings.
Must Hit By (MHB): A must-hit-by progressive, sometimes called a mystery jackpot. A MHB progressive increases in value on every spin and is guaranteed to be awarded before it reaches a certain dollar amount. For example, a MHB might start at $250 (called the reset value or seed amount), increment $0.01 for every dollar put into the machine (a meter of 1%), and then be guaranteed to hit before it reaches $500. Some MHBs are programmed to hit at a random point and others are programmed to always hit towards the top. Oftentimes machines will have multiple MHBs, for example, a minor and a major. The minor will be for a smaller amount and will hit more quickly. This serves to entice players to keep playing, while slowly building up the major to a point where it seems worth chasing.
Nerfed: If a slot machine has been nerfed, it means the game software has been updated to make it less advantageous for APs. The extent to which nerfing happens is debateable.
One Bonus Round (OBR): Meaning "one bonus round". The term used by grinders for hitting a machine. It means to play a game until you hit a bonus round, then no matter the outcome, you walk away from that machine.
Persistent State: A temporary state in a slot machine where the player has a higher chance of winning.
Player's Card: In a casino, a player's card is your golden ticket to the perks and rewards. Think of it as a loyalty card: you use it while playing slot machines or table games, and it tracks your gambling activity. The more you play, the more points you rack up, and these points can be redeemed for various rewards like free meals, hotel stays, or even cash back. Plus, it often grants access to exclusive promotions and events. It's the casino's way of keeping you hooked and coming back for more.
Ploppy: A player who plops down and mindlessly pours money into a slot machine with little understanding of how the game works. Also called a normie or civilian.
Progressive Jackpot: A jackpot that increases with each bet placed until it is won.
Random Number Generator (RNG): A computer algorithm that ensures the randomness of slot machine outcomes.
RTP (Return to Player): The percentage of wagered money that a slot machine returns to players over time.
Session: A period of time during which a player engages in gambling.
Slot Machine: A gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its users.
Stepladder Betting: This strategy involves gradually increasing your bets as you win, moving up the "rungs" of a ladder. If you lose, you step down to a lower bet and start climbing again. The idea is to maximize wins during winning streaks and minimize losses during losing streaks. No statistical significance gives credence to this methodology.
Sticky Wilds: Wild symbols that remain in place for multiple spins, increasing the chances of winning combinations.
Tax Limits: In the context of slot machine gaming, tax limits refer to the thresholds set by tax authorities for reporting and taxing slot machine winnings. For example, in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires casinos to issue a Form W-2G for any slot machine winnings that exceed $1,200. This form is used to report the winnings to both the player and the IRS, and the player must include these winnings in their annual income tax return.
There's been ongoing discussion about raising this threshold due to inflation and the administrative burden it places on casinos and players. Some proposals suggest increasing the limit to $5,800 to better reflect current economic conditions.
Tilt: A term used to describe a player's frustration or loss of control while gambling.
TITO: Stands for Ticket-In, Ticket-Out. Slot machines pay out winnings by printing a bardcoded ticket instead of dispensing coins or tokens. Players can redeem these tickets for cash at the cashier booth, designated machines or insert them into other machines for play.
Unit: An amount relative to your bet size. A bonus that paid 100 units would be $50 on a $0.50 bet and $500 on a $5 bet. The same concept can also be expressed as a multiple, such as 100x.
Variance: The spread between values in a dataset. In slots, this describes how risky or volatile a play is, meaning you can either win a lot or lose a lot. As a machine pro, variance is your enemy. Even if you are playing an +EV game, experiencing bad variance can destroy your bankroll in the short term. Games with high variance can certainly be lucrative, but you need a big enough bankroll to weather the ups and downs.
Volatility: The level of risk associated with a slot machine, indicating how often and how much it pays out. Lower volatility means the game awards frequent smaller wins, higher volatility means you may win less often, but when you do, they can be bigger wins.
Vulture: Someone who swoops in on obvious plays. They often engage in camping (see above) and might not understand the concept of +EV. They learn by copying other successful players.
Win Multiplier: A feature that multiplies the winnings of a winning combination.
Win Rate: The percentage of spins that result in a win.
Wild Symbols: Symbols that can substitute for other symbols to create winning combinations.
Win Streak: A series of consecutive wins.
Zero Play: A strategy where a player plays a slot machine with no bet to observe its behavior.