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Stepping into the virtual online casino floor can feel a little overwhelming – particularly for beginners and newcomers alike. And it’s not just the immense gaming libraries, complex bonus terms, or sophisticated payment systems that create such feelings. In fact, it’s often the terminology itself that throws people off and makes them feel inadequate with their knowledge.
However, as you read through our guide today, we are confident that those barriers will be broken down. Moreover, by the time we are finished, you’ll feel prepared, knowledgeable, and ready to get started.
RTP (Return to Player)
Starting with one of the first and most important terms you’ll come across, we have RTP. This stands for ‘Return to Player’, and it essentially details the percentage of all wagered money that a game pays back to players (on average). RTP is used by players as an indicator of how frequent wins could come (in conjunction with our next term), and whether the game has good ‘value’ or not.
Volatility
Closely linked to RTP is volatility. But unlike RTP, which tells you the percentage of money paid back to players, volatility tells you how frequent and how large payouts could be. In low-volatility games, payouts tend to be smaller but more frequent. As for high-volatility games, payouts tend to be less frequent but can be more substantial when they occur.
Wagering Requirements
Whenever you claim a casino bonus such as free spins or deposit boosts, you’ll typically see the term ‘wagering requirements’ in the T&Cs. This can make or break the value of a bonus, yet this doesn’t relate to things like odds at reputable casinos such as Virgin Bet. In a nutshell, wagering requirements simply indicate the number of times you must ‘wager’ bonus funds before you can withdraw any winnings resulting from them.
For example, a 100 coin bonus with a 30x wagering requirement means you must wager a grand total of 3000 coins before winnings become eligible for cashouts. So as you can imagine, the lower the wagering requirements, the better the potential bonus!
House Edge
House edge is closely tied to RTP. This is the casino’s built-in advantage on a game, and you can work it out by subtracting the RTP from 100. Every game has a house edge, and the lower this number is, the better your chances are of leaving that game in the green. That’s precisely why games like Blackjack are immensely popular at online casinos, as many Blackjack versions have house edges as low as just 0.50%!
Bankroll
Lastly, we’ve got to mention arguably the most important term of them all – the bankroll. This is a term you will see at all online casinos, and it merely means the amount of money you have available to wager in your account. That said, smart players decide ahead of time how much they’re willing to risk and stick to it, which then evolves into a term known as ‘bankroll management’.
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Keep these terms in mind, and we assure you – things will feel far less intimidating!
