Reference
The glossary
The words this industry uses when it is talking to itself. One or two sentences each, no vendor names, no recommendations.
A
- AMLPlatforms
- Anti-money laundering: the controls, monitoring and reporting that stop gambling being used to launder funds. Enforced on the operator, and increasingly evidenced through the platform.
- AggregatorSlots
- A single integration that resells many studios' content. Saves an operator dozens of separate certifications and integrations, and puts one supplier between them and every studio in the catalogue.
B
- Bet builderSportsbook
- Combining several markets within one event into a single priced bet. Its margin comes from correlations between the legs, which is why not every combination is offered.
C
- CertificationPlatforms
- Independent testing of games, RNGs and platforms against a regulator's technical standard. Per market, per version — which is why launching in one more country is never only commercial work.
- ChargebackPayments
- A cardholder disputing a transaction with their issuer. Costly twice — the amount and a fee — and a high rate can put a merchant into a card scheme monitoring programme.
G
- GGRPlatforms
- Gross gaming revenue: stakes minus winnings, before bonuses, taxes and fees. The headline number in most supplier contracts and most regulatory returns.
- Geo-blockingPlatforms
- Refusing play from jurisdictions a licence does not cover. Sounds trivial and is a licence condition; failing it is one of the more common enforcement actions.
I
- In-playSportsbook
- Betting after an event has started. Needs low-latency data and fast settlement, which is why the data supplier matters as much as the sportsbook platform.
K
- KYCPayments
- Know your customer: verifying identity, age, address and source of funds. A legal obligation, and the step where most deposit funnels lose the most people.
L
- Live dealerSlots
- Casino games dealt by a person in a studio and streamed to players. Capital-intensive — studios, tables, staff, shifts — which is why the segment consolidates.
N
- NGRPlatforms
- Net gaming revenue: GGR minus bonuses, chargebacks, payment fees and sometimes gaming duty. What revenue-share deals are usually written against, and the definition varies by contract — read it.
O
- Odds feedSportsbook
- Priced markets delivered to a sportsbook in real time. The pricing, not the software, is the product.
- Open bankingPayments
- Paying directly from a bank account through a regulated API, without a card. Lower fees and no chargeback, at the cost of a bank redirect in the flow.
P
- PAMPlatforms
- Player account management: the system holding the player record, wallet, bonuses and responsible-gambling limits. Usually the piece an operator is really buying when it buys a "platform", and the piece that makes a migration hard.
- PSPPayments
- Payment service provider: connects a merchant to card schemes, bank rails and local methods. Operators typically run several, because approval rates differ by country and by issuer.
R
- RGSSlots
- Remote game server. Runs the game logic and the random number generator on the studio's side and streams results to the operator, so a studio can ship a game to many operators without any of them hosting it.
- RTPSlots
- Return to player: the share of stakes a game is designed to pay back over millions of rounds. A property of the game's maths, certified by a test house, not a promise about any session.
S
- Safer gamblingPlatforms
- Deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion, affordability checks and the monitoring behind them. Once a bolt-on; now something regulators expect the platform to provide natively.
T
- TradingSportsbook
- The function that sets and moves prices and manages liability. Can be run in-house or bought as managed trading services, which is the usual make-or-buy question in sportsbook.
- TurnkeyPlatforms
- A platform sold with the licence, payments and often the games already attached. Fastest route to launch; least control over any individual piece.
V
- VolatilitySlots
- How a game distributes its RTP over time. High volatility pays rarely and larger; low volatility pays often and smaller. Two games can share an RTP and feel completely different.
W
- White labelPlatforms
- Operating under somebody else's licence and platform, with your own brand on the front. The licence holder carries the regulatory obligation, which is also why it sets the terms.
Missing a term, or think one of these is wrong? The corrections policy says how to tell us.