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.