iGaming Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the B2B iGaming terms operators run into — payments, compliance, platform tech, affiliates, and game mechanics. New terms added weekly.
62 terms · Full references: Payments, Compliance & Licensing, Technology & Integration, Marketing & Affiliates, Game Mechanics, Business & Operations
A
Acceptance Rate
Acceptance rate is the share of attempted deposits that get approved — a metric where gambling runs structurally below e-commerce, and every point is revenue.
Account-to-Account Payments (A2A)
A2A payments move money directly between bank accounts over instant rails like Faster Payments, SEPA Instant and PIX, with no card network in the middle.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
AML is the set of laws, controls and monitoring an operator runs to stop criminal money moving through player accounts.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
ARPU divides gaming revenue (GGR or NGR) by active players in a period; ARPPU, ARPDAU and ARPMAU are the same metric with a different denominator.
B
Bet Builder
A bet builder lets players combine multiple selections from the same event into one bet — the highest-margin product in the modern sportsbook.
Bonus Abuse
Bonus abuse is extracting value from promotions in ways the operator didn't intend — usually by breaking a stated term rather than by playing cleverly.
Breakage
The share of issued bonus value that players never convert into withdrawable money — the gap between promotional face value and real cost.
C
Cash Out
Cash out lets a bettor settle a bet before the event ends, at a value derived from live odds — always priced with a margin in the operator's favor.
Channelisation
The share of a country's gambling activity that takes place with licensed operators rather than on the unlicensed market — the main measure of whether a regime is working.
Chargeback
A chargeback is a forced payment reversal initiated by a player's bank, returning funds and often adding a penalty fee.
Churn Rate
Churn rate is the share of active players who stop playing over a given period - the metric that quietly decides profitability.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA is the total marketing spend it takes to acquire one depositing player — a core unit-economics metric for operators.
Crash Game
A crash game shows a rising multiplier that can bust at any moment — players cash out before the crash or lose the stake. Aviator made the format a genre.
Customer Data Platform (CDP)
A CDP unifies player data from every system into a single real-time profile that marketing and CRM tools can act on.
D
Data Warehouse (DWH)
A DWH is a central analytical store that consolidates historical data from every operator system so you can query any question.
Device Fingerprinting
Device fingerprinting builds a stable identifier from browser and hardware attributes, letting operators link accounts that share a device even across cleared cookies.
E
Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)
EDD is the deeper level of identity and source-of-funds checking triggered when a player's risk profile crosses a defined threshold.
Esports Betting
Esports betting is wagering on competitive video gaming, priced from official publisher and tournament data rather than from anything visible on a public scoreboard.
F
G
Game Aggregator
A game aggregator is a B2B layer that connects an operator to games from many studios through one API, one wallet integration and one contract.
Game Certification
Game certification is independent lab testing that confirms a game, RNG or platform meets a regulator's technical standard, evidenced in a report the regulator accepts.
Game Weighting
The percentage at which each game contributes toward a bonus wagering requirement — slots usually 100%, table games often 10% or less.
Geofencing
Geofencing is the technical enforcement of a geographic boundary — allowing or blocking play based on the player's verified physical location, using multiple signals rather than IP address alone.
Grey Market
A grey market is a jurisdiction where online gambling is neither clearly legal nor actively prohibited — operators serve it offshore at their own risk.
Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR)
GGR is the total amount players stake minus the winnings paid back to them. It's the operator's top line before bonuses, taxes and fees, and the base most gaming taxes are charged on.
H
I
K
L
M
Max Cashout
A cap on how much a player can withdraw from bonus winnings, usually expressed as a multiple of the bonus — the single biggest lever on promotional cost.
Merchant of Record (MoR)
The merchant of record is the entity legally selling to the customer and liable for the transaction — a structural choice that shapes an operator's whole payment setup.
Mobile Money
Mobile money is a phone-number-based payment system (M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, Airtel Money) that serves as the primary deposit rail in much of Africa.
Multi-Accounting
Multi-accounting is one person operating several player accounts, usually to claim a single-use promotion repeatedly or to hedge positions across accounts.
Must-Drop Jackpot
A must-drop jackpot is guaranteed to pay out before a set deadline or amount — daily drops and capped pots that create urgency by design.
N
O
Open Banking
Open banking is the regulated framework that lets licensed third parties initiate payments and read account data directly from bank accounts via APIs — the rails behind pay-by-bank cashier methods.
Overround
The overround is the margin a bookmaker builds into its odds — the amount by which implied probabilities across all outcomes exceed 100%.
P
Payment Orchestration
Payment orchestration is a layer that routes each transaction across multiple PSPs and acquirers — smart routing, cascading retries, failover, and one reporting view.
Platform Migration
Platform migration is moving a live gambling operation — players, wallets, game history, obligations — from one platform provider to another.
Player Account Management (PAM)
Player account management (PAM) is the core iGaming system that holds each player's identity, KYC status, wallet, bonus state and responsible-gambling limits.
Player Lifetime Value (LTV)
LTV is the total net revenue an operator expects from a player across their entire relationship, not just their first deposit.
Prediction Market
A prediction market lets people trade contracts on the outcome of future events, with prices reflecting the crowd's odds.
Progressive Jackpot
A progressive jackpot grows with every bet — a slice of each wager feeds a prize pool that keeps rising until one player wins it.
Progressive Web App (PWA)
A PWA is a website that behaves like a native app — installable, offline-capable, with push — without going through an app store.
Provably Fair
Provably fair is a cryptographic method that lets players verify each game round wasn't manipulated — born in crypto casinos, now standard in crash games.
R
Random Number Generator (RNG)
An RNG is the certified software algorithm that produces unpredictable outcomes for casino games — every spin, card and crash multiplier starts here.
Remote Game Server (RGS)
An RGS is the server that runs a game's math and logic remotely — the casino frontend just renders results delivered over an API.
Responsible Gambling (RG)
Responsible gambling is the set of tools and duties operators use to keep play safe — limits, reality checks, self-exclusion, and intervention.
Return to Player (RTP)
RTP is the share of total stakes a game is built to pay back to players over the long run; a 96% slot keeps 4% of turnover as the house edge.
Revenue Share
Revenue share is a commission model where a partner earns an ongoing percentage of the revenue from players they refer.
Rolling Reserve
A percentage of a merchant's card volume that the acquirer withholds from each settlement and releases after a holding period, as cover against chargebacks.
S
Self-Exclusion
A player's binding request to be barred from gambling for a set term, which every licensed operator must check against national registers and enforce across brands.
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
SCA is the PSD2 requirement that electronic payments be authenticated with two of three independent factors — knowledge, possession, inherence — enforced through 3-D Secure on cards and natively in open banking flows.
Sub-Affiliate
A sub-affiliate is a partner recruited by another affiliate, who earns an override commission on the traffic their recruits send.
Supplier Licence (B2B Licence)
A supplier licence is the authorisation a jurisdiction requires from B2B vendors — platforms, aggregators, studios and key service providers — supplying licensed operators, separate from the operator's own licence.
Sweepstakes Casino
A sweepstakes casino runs a dual-currency model — Gold Coins for play, Sweeps Coins redeemable for prizes — operating in the US under sweepstakes promotion law.
T
Time to Interactive (TTI)
TTI measures how long a page takes before a user can actually tap and interact reliably — a key mobile performance metric.
Turnkey Casino
A turnkey casino is a complete, vendor-built gambling platform that an operator runs under its own licence and brand, paying a setup fee plus revenue share.
Turnover Tax
A gambling tax levied on the total amount staked rather than on operator revenue — which makes a small headline rate a very large effective burden.
V
W
Wagering Requirement
A wagering requirement is the multiplier a player must bet through before bonus funds become withdrawable — the number that defines what a bonus really costs.
White-Label Casino
A white-label casino is a ready-made platform, run under the provider's license, that an operator brands as its own.