It appears entertainment seekers are flocking to online casinos in their millions. In 2020 one in four adults visited a casino provider at least monthly and it’s easy to see why.

Casino games are quick to learn but require an element of skill to master and the internet makes the fun all the more convenient. Consumer technology has reached a point where gaming apps and websites do a great job of simulating real life casinos, as well as offering features their physical counterparts cannot. Rainbow Riches Casino is a prime example, offering traditional games, live casino options and a huge array of popular slots titles. 

We’ve put together a glossary of terms for the uninitiated so you don’t feel overwhelmed during your early gaming sessions.

Ante

The ante is an obligatory wager placed by all players—often during stud games—before the cards are dealt and the round begins. The ante is usually smaller than the blind—we’ll come to that later—but it ensures there is money in the pot before any cards are played.

It encourages players to participate in the hand, rather than fold. The term can be used as a noun (the ante) or a verb (to ante up).

Bankroll

Your bankroll is simply your wallet amount allocated to gaming activities.

Blind

Similar to the ante, the blinds are wagers placed before any cards have been seen. Normally blinds are placed by two players, the first playing the big blind, a larger wager, and the second playing the small blind.

The players obliged to play the blinds moves one place clockwise around the table after each hand. Like the ante, if you’ve played a blind, especially the big blind, you have more at stake in the hand and are less likely to fold.

Burn Card

Burn cards are cards removed from the shoe and discarded after a shuffle or deal.

Call

A poker term meaning to match the current wager.

Chips

The currency of the casino. Chips are exchanged for real money for you to use at a variety of casino games. Different colour chips carry different monetary values.

Dealer

The casino employee responsible for distributing the cards to the players. You ordinarily won’t see a dealer at online casinos unless you’re playing live casino

Face Card

Face cards are any of the high value King, Queen or Jack cards, named so because they depict faces!

House Edge

The casino’s advantage. Statistically speaking, the probability the casino has of winning over the player. There is always a house advantage, regardless of the game, it’s how the casinos make their money, but some games offer players a better chance than others.

Blackjack is known for its low house edge as are some slots, but slots percentages vary wildly from game to game. In the world of slots, the house edge is likely to be referred to as RTP or return-to-player.

Jackpot

A big cash prize, especially one that accumulates before it is won.

Live Casino

Live casino bridges the gap between brick and mortar casinos and the online world. Real life dealers broadcast traditional casino games, like roulette and blackjack, from state of the art studios where several cameras pick up and stream the action across the internet.

Players are able to participate in the games online, from the comfort of their own homes and can enjoy the real life interaction of a human dealer. Accompanying live chat rooms also allow players to communicate among each other.

Odds

A ratio between the amounts staked by the parties involved. Odds represent what you stand to win as a multiplier of your initial outlay, plus your original wager.

Shoe

The shoe is a box that contains playing cards which the dealer draws from.

Shuffle

Any method of randomising the card’s order so as to make the game fair to all players.

Slot Machines

You might know them as fruit machines, slots, pokies or even one-arm bandits. Slot machines are casino staples and occupy a large amount of floor space in most casinos worldwide.

Fruit machines are games of luck where on each pull of the lever or push of the button, a number of reels spin independently from one another and come to rest displaying symbols

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