Bingo Glossary

Your Guide to Bingo Jargon and Terminology

• Bet - The amount of money wagered in any one game by a player.
• Cage - holds the Bingo balls before they are drawn.
• Call - The actual act of calling the Bingo numbers as they are drawn, usually over an intercom.
• Caller - The casino employee who calls out the numbers as they are drawn.
• Catch - when one of your numbers is drawn. ‘Catch 3′ means 3 of your numbers have been drawn.
• Combination Ticket - A single ticket with several different Bingo wagers on it.
• Computer Ticket - A Bingo ticket generated by a computer from the player’s handwritten ticket.
• Draw - When the 20 winning numbers are pulled out at random.
• Draw Sheet - A sheet produced by the casino showing the numbers drawn from the previous game. Has holes punched in it to make it easy to check your ticket.
• Group - Set of numbers that the player has circled to show they are to be seen as an individual way on the ticket (see ‘Way’).
• Hit - When a drawn number matches one of your numbers.
• House - The casino, or whoever else is running the game.
• House Edge - The percent of all wagers the house expects to win over time.
• Jackpot - The prize paid in a progressive game (see ‘Progressive’)
• Bingo Balls - Numbered 1-80, used to make the draw. Similar to bingo balls or ping pong balls.
• Bingo Board - The electronic displays that show the numbers as they are drawn.
• Bingo Counter - The counter where players place their bets and collect their winnings.
• Bingo Lounge - The area in a casino devoted to Bingo.
• Bingo Runners - staff who go throughout the casino collecting Bingo wagers, and paying winners.
• Bingo Writers - The Bingo counter staff who take bets, produce tickets, and pay the winners.
• Limit - maximum amount a casino will pay out to all the winners in total during any one game.
• Live Bingo - Bingo with live draws played by multiple players, ie not video Bingo.
• Net Win - The player’s winnings after deducting the cost of the ticket.
• Odds - The mathematical probability of an outcome.
• Payout Table or Schedule - The chart showing what each type of win pays.
• Progressive - A Bingo game where the top prize (the Jackpot) increases until it is won.
• Quick Pick - A ticket with numbers chosen at random for the player by a Bingo computer.
• Race - A single Bingo game.
• Random Number Generator - A computer program used to randomly select numbers for a Bingo game. Rate - The price paid for each separate wager on a ticket.
• Split Ticket - Two or more groups of numbers played as separate wagers on the same ticket.
• Spots - the numbers chosen by a player.
• Straight Ticket - The standard or basic ticket sold by a casino.
• Ticket - The Bingo ticket with a grid of 80 numbers where the player marks their selections.
• Video Bingo - Bingo played by an individual player on a computerized machine.
• Wager - The amount of money bet.
• Way - One of the bets on a bingo ticket that shows more than one bet.
• Way Ticket - A bingo ticket with more than one bet on the same game.
• Winning Numbers - The 20 numbers drawn in the Bingo game.