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Glossary

44 terms from both desks, each defined in a sentence or two.

A

Affiliate iGaming
A publisher or marketer that refers customers to a gambling operator in return for payment, usually a share of the net revenue those customers generate, a fixed fee per new depositor, or a mix of the two.
Airdrop Crypto
A distribution of tokens to wallet addresses at no charge, usually to reward early users of a protocol or to spread ownership of a new token. Recipients are often chosen from a snapshot of past on-chain activity.
AMM (automated market maker) Crypto
A smart contract that prices trades with a formula based on the balance of assets in a liquidity pool, instead of matching buyers and sellers in an order book. Most decentralised exchanges are built on AMMs.

B

Block Crypto
A batch of transactions added to a blockchain together. Each block contains a cryptographic reference to the one before it, which is what makes the history hard to alter.
Bonus wagering iGaming
The condition attached to a bonus that requires a customer to stake a multiple of the bonus, or of the bonus plus deposit, before related winnings can be withdrawn. A 30 times requirement on a 100 bonus means 3,000 in total stakes.
Bridge Crypto
A service that moves assets between blockchains, typically by locking tokens on one chain and issuing an equivalent representation on another. Bridges hold large pooled balances and have been frequent targets of exploits.

C

Cash out iGaming
A sportsbook feature that lets a customer settle a bet before the event has finished, at a value based on the current odds. The price offered includes an additional margin in the operator's favour.
Chargeback iGaming
A reversal of a card payment initiated through the card issuer, typically on grounds of fraud or an unauthorised transaction. High chargeback rates can cost an operator its payment processing relationships.
Cold wallet Crypto
A wallet whose private keys are kept on a device or medium that is not connected to the internet, such as a hardware wallet. It trades convenience for much lower exposure to malware and phishing.
Consensus Crypto
The process by which the independent nodes of a blockchain agree on a single valid history of transactions. Proof of work and proof of stake are the two most widely used consensus mechanisms.

D

DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) Crypto
An organisation whose rules and treasury are managed by smart contracts, with decisions made by token-holder votes instead of a conventional management structure. Legal status varies by jurisdiction.
DEX (decentralised exchange) Crypto
A trading venue run by smart contracts, where users swap tokens directly from their own wallets without depositing funds with an intermediary.

F

Free spins iGaming
Slot spins credited to a customer at a fixed stake without charge, as a promotion or as a feature triggered within a game. Winnings from promotional free spins are usually subject to wagering requirements or a cap.

G

Gas Crypto
The unit that measures the computational work a transaction requires on Ethereum and similar networks. The fee paid is the gas used multiplied by the price per unit of gas, which rises when the network is busy.
GGR (gross gaming revenue) iGaming
Total stakes minus total winnings paid to customers, before bonuses, taxes and other costs are deducted. It is the standard top-line measure of a gambling business and the base for many gambling taxes.

H

Halving Crypto
The scheduled 50 percent cut in the reward paid to Bitcoin miners for each new block, which occurs every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. It slows the rate at which new bitcoin is issued.
Handle iGaming
The total amount wagered by customers over a period, before any winnings are paid out. The term is most common in North American sports betting; turnover is the usual equivalent in Europe.
Hash rate Crypto
The total computing power being applied to a proof-of-work network, measured in hashes per second. A higher hash rate makes the network more expensive to attack.
Hold iGaming
The share of handle that an operator actually retains as revenue after paying winners, expressed as a percentage. Unlike theoretical margin, hold varies from period to period with results.
House edge iGaming
The average share of each wager that a game is mathematically expected to keep for the operator over the long run. It equals 100 percent minus the RTP; European roulette, for example, has a house edge of 2.70 percent.

I

In-play iGaming
Betting on an event after it has started, with odds that update continuously as play unfolds. Also called live betting.

K

KYC (know your customer) iGaming
The checks an operator must carry out to establish a customer's identity, age and, at higher levels of activity, source of funds. They are required under gambling licence conditions and anti-money-laundering law.

L

Layer 2 Crypto
A network that processes transactions away from a base blockchain but settles back to it, inheriting some or all of its security while offering lower fees and higher throughput.
Liquidity pool Crypto
A pool of tokens locked in a smart contract that traders swap against. Those who deposit the tokens, known as liquidity providers, earn a share of trading fees and bear the risk that the relative prices of the pooled assets change.
Live dealer iGaming
Casino table games run by a human dealer in a studio and streamed by video, with customers placing bets through an on-screen interface. Outcomes come from physical cards and wheels instead of a random number generator.

M

Margin (overround) iGaming
The amount by which the implied probabilities of all outcomes in a betting market exceed 100 percent. It represents the theoretical fee a bookmaker builds into its odds.
Mempool Crypto
The set of valid transactions that have been broadcast to a network but not yet included in a block. Block producers generally select from it in order of the fee offered.

N

NGR (net gaming revenue) iGaming
Gross gaming revenue minus bonus costs and, depending on the definition used, gambling taxes, payment fees and other direct costs. Affiliate revenue-share deals are usually calculated on NGR, and definitions differ between operators.

P

Parlay (accumulator) iGaming
A single bet combining two or more selections, all of which must win for the bet to pay. The odds of each leg are multiplied together, which also compounds the bookmaker margin.
Private key Crypto
The secret number that allows funds at a blockchain address to be spent by producing a valid digital signature. Anyone who obtains it controls the funds, and it cannot be reset if lost.
Proof of stake Crypto
A consensus mechanism in which participants lock up the network token as collateral for the right to propose and attest to blocks. Dishonest behaviour can be punished by destroying part of that stake.
Proof of work Crypto
A consensus mechanism in which miners compete to solve a computationally expensive puzzle for the right to add the next block. Rewriting history would require redoing that work, which is what secures networks such as Bitcoin.
Provably fair iGaming
A method that lets players verify game results cryptographically, using a server seed committed to in advance by its hash, a client seed and a nonce. It shows a result was not altered after the bet, not that the game has a low house edge.

R

Rakeback iGaming
A refund to the player of part of the rake, the fee a poker room takes from each pot or tournament entry. Crypto casinos also use the term for a rebate calculated as a share of the house edge on each wager.
RNG (random number generator) iGaming
The software that produces the unpredictable numbers used to determine outcomes in digital casino games. In regulated markets it must be tested and certified by an independent laboratory.
Rollup Crypto
A type of layer 2 that executes transactions off the base chain and posts compressed batches back to it. Optimistic rollups rely on fraud proofs during a challenge period, while zero-knowledge rollups submit a validity proof with each batch.
RTP (return to player) iGaming
The percentage of all money wagered on a game that it is designed to pay back to players over the long run, typically measured across millions of rounds. It is not a prediction for any individual session.

S

Seed phrase Crypto
A list of 12 or 24 words that encodes the master secret of a wallet and can regenerate all of its private keys. It is the wallet backup and should be kept offline and never shared.
Self-exclusion iGaming
A formal request by a customer to be blocked from gambling for a set period or permanently, either with a single operator or across all licensed operators through a national scheme. Operators must refuse service and stop marketing to the person for the duration.
Smart contract Crypto
A program deployed on a blockchain that runs exactly as written when called by a transaction. Once deployed its code is generally difficult or impossible to change, so bugs can be costly.
Stablecoin Crypto
A token designed to hold a fixed value, most often one US dollar. The peg is maintained through reserves of cash and short-term debt, through overcollateralised crypto loans, or, less reliably, through algorithmic supply adjustments.

V

Validator Crypto
A participant in a proof-of-stake network that proposes and attests to blocks in return for rewards. Validators post stake as collateral and can lose some of it for going offline or acting dishonestly.
Volatility iGaming
A measure of how widely the results of a game swing around its average return, also called variance. High-volatility games pay out less often but in larger amounts; low-volatility games pay small amounts more frequently.

W

White label iGaming
An arrangement in which a brand runs a gambling site on another company's platform, licence, payment processing and game content. The brand typically handles marketing while the provider handles operations and compliance.

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