Casino Glossary A–Z

Plain-English definitions for the terms buried in casino terms and conditions.

ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)

A free, independent service that settles disputes between a player and a casino when the operator's own complaints process has failed. Every Gambling Commission licensee must be signed up to an approved ADR provider and must publish who it is. Their decision binds the operator, not you — you keep the right to go to court.

Affordability check

A background assessment of whether your gambling spend looks financially sustainable. In the UK it is data-based: a light-touch public-records check at £150 net deposits a month, and a staged financial risk assessment at much higher levels. It is not the same as a document-based source-of-funds request.

Faster Payments

The UK bank payment scheme that moves money between accounts in seconds, around the clock. When a casino says a withdrawal was 'sent', Faster Payments is usually the rail carrying it, which is why bank withdrawals can land almost instantly once the casino has actually approved them.

GamStop

The free national self-exclusion scheme for online gambling in Great Britain. One registration blocks you from every UKGC-licensed online operator for six months, one year or five years. Every licensee must be integrated with it, and the exclusion cannot be lifted early.

Game weighting

The percentage of your stake that counts towards a wagering requirement, set per game type. Slots usually count 100%, while table games and live dealer games often count 10% or less — or nothing. Weighting is the reason a bonus can feel impossible to clear on blackjack.

KYC (Know Your Customer)

The identity, age and address verification a casino must complete before you are allowed to gamble. Usually it runs automatically against public data; when it fails you are asked for documents. Completing it at signup is the single best way to avoid a slow first withdrawal.

LCCP

The Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice — the Gambling Commission's rulebook that every British licensee must follow. It covers everything from verifying customers before play to how complaints, marketing and customer funds must be handled. Breaches lead to fines or licence action.

Max cashout

A cap on how much of your bonus winnings you are allowed to withdraw, often expressed as a multiple of the bonus or a flat figure on no-deposit offers. Anything above the cap is removed when the bonus converts, so it quietly sets the real ceiling on an offer's value.

Net deposits

Deposits minus withdrawals over a period. UK affordability thresholds are measured this way, so depositing £300 and withdrawing £200 in a month counts as £100 net rather than £300 — a distinction that changes whether a threshold is crossed at all.

Reverse withdrawal

A feature that lets you cancel a pending withdrawal and put the money back into your playable balance. It is a well-documented way for players to gamble away money they had decided to take out, and the better UK operators either remove it or make the pending window very short.

RTP (Return to Player)

The percentage of all money staked that a game returns to players over a very large number of spins. A 96% RTP slot keeps £4 of every £100 wagered on average across millions of spins. It says nothing about any individual session, and some titles ship in several RTP versions.

Segregated funds

Player money held in an account kept separate from the operator's own business funds. The Gambling Commission grades protection as basic, medium or high depending on the arrangement, and every licensee must tell you which level applies — it determines what happens to your balance if the company fails.

Self-exclusion

A binding block you place on your own account for a minimum period, which the operator must enforce and cannot quietly reverse. It goes further than a time-out: marketing must stop and the account cannot be reopened until the term ends and a cooling-off period has passed.

Sister site

Another casino brand run by the same operator or on the same platform licence. Sister sites frequently share terms, payment processing, support teams and even bonus policy, so identifying them tells you what to expect before you sign up — and whether a 'new' casino is really new.

Source of funds

Evidence of where your money came from, requested under anti-money-laundering rules. Unlike an affordability check this is document-based: payslips, bank statements, a P60 or proof of a sale. There is no single national trigger level; each operator sets its own risk thresholds.

Sticky bonus

A bonus that can never itself be withdrawn — you can play with it and keep qualifying winnings, but the bonus amount is stripped out at cashout. The opposite is a non-sticky or cash bonus, where the credited amount converts to withdrawable money once conditions are met.

UKGC account number

The unique number identifying a licensed operator on the Gambling Commission's public register. It appears in a casino's footer and lets you look up the licensee, its trading names and any regulatory action. Sister brands on one licence share the same number.

Volatility

How a slot distributes its returns. High volatility means rare but larger wins and long dry spells; low volatility means frequent small wins. Two games can share the same RTP and feel completely different, which is why volatility matters more than RTP for session experience.

Wagering requirement

How many times you must stake a bonus (or deposit plus bonus) before winnings become withdrawable. UK offers are capped at 10x since January 2026. Always check whether the multiplier applies to the bonus alone or to deposit plus bonus — it doubles the work.

White label

A casino brand operating under someone else's licence and platform. The front end is bespoke, but terms, payments, support and compliance sit with the platform holder — which is why a network of white labels behaves identically despite looking like separate companies.