45 terms, defined the way a bonus clause or a banking page uses them, with a link to the guide or tool that goes further. It is built from what players are asked to agree to, not from marketing copy, and it grows as questions come in.
The number of times a bonus has to be staked before winnings from it can be withdrawn. A 35× requirement on a £50 bonus means £1,750 of bets. The multiplier is worthless until you know what it is applied to, which is why the wagering basis matters as much as the number.
The amount the multiplier is applied to: the bonus alone, or the deposit and the bonus together. At the same multiplier, deposit plus bonus roughly doubles the turnover for a match offer that returns your deposit pound for pound.
The share of each stake that counts towards wagering. Slots commonly count in full while table games and live dealer tables count for a fraction or not at all, so the same £1,000 of play can clear a bonus on one game and barely dent it on another.
A limit on the stake per spin or bet while a bonus is active. The game will accept a larger bet; the operator can still treat it as a breach and void the bonus and the winnings that came with it.
A ceiling on what a bonus or a set of free spins can pay out in withdrawable money, whatever the spins actually won. Anything above the cap is removed when the bonus is cleared.
Bonus money that stays in the balance as a separate pot and can never be withdrawn itself; only what it wins can be. If you cash out before the wagering is done, the bonus is taken back along with the winnings that depend on it.
A bonus that is spent only after your own cash is used up. You can withdraw the cash balance at any point, giving up the bonus, which is the property that makes this type kinder than a sticky one.
A fixed number of spins on a named slot at a fixed stake, paid for by the operator. Winnings are normally bonus money with their own wagering requirement and often a win cap, so the headline count says little without those two lines.
A bonus credited without a payment from you. They are small by design and carry tight caps, so the useful question is how much of it can ever become withdrawable, not how large the headline looks.
A percentage of net losses over a period returned to you. Read whether it arrives as withdrawable cash or as bonus money with wagering attached; the two are different products with the same name.
A match offered on later deposits, after the welcome offer is used. The wagering and exclusion rules usually follow the same pattern as the welcome offer, but they are written separately and can differ.
The operator's name for play it treats as exploiting an offer: opening several accounts, staking in a way that guarantees clearing, or betting over the maximum. The definition sits in the terms, and it is broad enough that reading it before claiming is worth the minute.
The share of stakes a game is built to pay back over a very long run: 96% means £96 per £100 across millions of spins, not within one session. Many slots exist in several RTP configurations and the operator picks which one it runs.
What the casino keeps of every stake over the long run: 100% minus the RTP. A slot returning 96% has a house edge of 4%, which is the average cost of play, paid in small parts all the way through.
How unevenly a game pays. High-volatility slots pay rarely and sometimes very large; low-volatility ones pay often and small. It is independent of RTP, and it decides how long a bankroll lasts far more than the RTP does.
How often a spin returns anything at all, including less than the stake. It is not the same as winning: a spin that pays 20p back on a £1 stake counts as a hit.
The most a game can pay on a single round, stated as a multiple of the stake. It is a ceiling set by the studio, reached rarely or never, and it tells you nothing about the typical result.
A prize that grows with each qualifying stake until it is won, often pooled across many casinos. Part of each stake feeds the jackpot, so the base game returns less than a comparable slot without one.
A mechanic, created by Big Time Gaming and licensed to other studios, in which the number of symbols on each reel changes every spin. The number of ways to win varies with it, up to 117,649 on a six-reel layout.
The company that builds a game. A casino buys or licenses it and hosts the lobby; it does not write the maths. That is why the RTP, volatility and maximum win belong to the studio's page, and the operator's own configuration is a separate question.
Table games dealt by a real person and streamed from a studio. The studio, not the casino, runs the tables, which is why the same game can appear at many casinos at once and why the studio's name tells you more than the casino's.
The identity and age checks an operator must complete before paying out: usually a photo ID, proof of address and sometimes proof of the payment method. Doing it on the day you open the account removes the commonest cause of a stalled first withdrawal.
Evidence of where the money you gamble with comes from, such as payslips or bank statements. It is asked for at higher amounts and is a different request from proving who you are.
A check an operator runs on whether your gambling looks affordable, using credit-reference data rather than documents from you. In Great Britain light-touch checks begin at a net-deposit threshold, and a heavier request can follow at higher levels.
The time a casino holds a withdrawal request before it starts processing. It is the operator's own delay and comes before the payment method's clock, so a fast wallet cannot shorten it.
The rule that money goes back by the route it came in, up to the amount deposited. It is why the deposit method decides how fast the first withdrawal is.
An account that holds money and pays merchants on your instruction, such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller. Fast on the way out and frequently excluded from welcome offers, which is the trade the method makes.
A payment authorised inside your own banking app that moves money bank to bank without a card number or a wallet. Casinos label it instant bank transfer or use a provider's brand such as Trustly.
A card issuer reversing a payment after a dispute. It is not a way to recover gambling losses, and a chargeback on a casino deposit is more likely to get the account closed than the money back.
A free setting offered by most British banks that stops card payments to gambling merchants. It works whatever the operator does, and it usually has a cooling-off period before it can be switched off again.
The regulator of gambling in Great Britain. It licenses operators serving British customers, sets the rules they work to and publishes a register that anyone can search.
The UKGC licence class that covers online casino games offered to customers in Great Britain. The holder is a company, not a brand, and the register entry says which activities it may carry on.
The company that actually holds the licence. Several brands can run on one licensee with the same terms and the same ownership, so two sites that look unrelated may be one business with one set of rules and one complaint route.
The free scheme that excludes you from every UKGC-licensed online gambling site at once, for six months, one year or five years. Sites without a British licence are not part of it.
A request that an operator, a venue or a scheme refuse your custom for a fixed period. It is the strongest tool a player has, and it works only on the operators that take part in it.
A prompt that shows how long you have been playing and what you have won or lost, at an interval you choose. British licensees must offer one; its worth depends on setting it before you start.
A cap you set on how much you can pay in over a day, a week or a month. Lowering it should take effect immediately; raising it should not, and an operator that lets you raise one at once is working against its own tool.
A free independent body that reviews a complaint the operator has not resolved. A British licensee must name one, and you normally need to complain to the casino first and wait for its final answer.
The licence held by many sites that are not licensed in Great Britain. The regulator's own website says it does not handle individual player complaints, which is the practical difference from a UKGC licence.
Malta's gambling regulator. An MGA licence does not authorise a site to serve players in Great Britain; that needs a UKGC licence, which is why many brands hold both.
Our rating out of ten, built from a hundred points across six axes under a published rubric. Only points that were actually assessed count: an axis we have not measured leaves the total rather than counting against the casino.
A casino that has too little assessed evidence for a defensible number, or no licence in the register. We print how many checks were passed instead of a plausible-looking score.
The date we last read an operator's own terms or banking page for the figure beside it. Operators change terms without notice; the date tells you how old our reading is, and the operator's current page governs your money.
The source address, the date it was read and a checksum of the page as it stood, kept for a figure. It is what lets a reader check a number rather than take it on trust.
A link to an operator for which we may be paid if you sign up. It is marked as sponsored, and it does not change the score or the order of a list; how that is kept apart is set out in our disclosure.
Tell us through the contact page. A term goes in when we can define it from a regulator's rules, an operator's own wording or a studio's published figures, with a place to check it.
UK
