PH22 Glossary — Casino Terms, Explained Plainly

Each term listed here is used endlessly on casino pages, and only a rare few ever explain it. Most of these terms are misunderstood in a specific, predictable way instead of just being unfamiliar, so each entry sets out the definition, the usual misreading of it, and a worked example in which the arithmetic is already done.

Everything in this section

8 pages that each take one entry alone, with no page summarising several. “Not published” in any field above is accounted for on the entry’s own page, naming whoever would have had to publish the value.

Each entry in a paragraph

Each gets just enough detail to show which page deserves your click.

The RTP entry

Short for return to player. It is the percentage of all wagered money a game pays back to its players over an extended period.

Fixed by: Determined by the game studio in the course of building the game. It is met in Game spec tables and studio info panels.

The misreading: It is a common misreading that, with a 96% RTP, a player gets 96% of their money back in an evening.

House edge explained

The arithmetic complement of RTP, which is the operator’s mathematical advantage.

Fixed by: The game studio, and it is whatever RTP leaves over. Where you meet it: Rules on table games, and how the game types compare.

The misreading: One claim is that a house edge can be beaten with a system.

The Ways to win entry

Short for including Megaways. An alternative to paylines in which matching symbols that sit next to each other pay, wherever they land.

Fixed by: The studio behind the game, offered in place of fixed paylines. Where you meet it: Specification tables for cluster and scatter-pays slots.

The misreading: Players tend to treat a big way-count as a big edge.

Wagering requirement, in detail

Short for also called playthrough or turnover. The multiple applied to a bonus that must be wagered through first, with nothing withdrawable until that is done.

Fixed by: The operator’s bonus terms, which the studio does not control. Where you’ll run into it: Bonus terms and conditions.

The misreading: As commonly read, wagering means ‘deposit this much’.

Maximum bet rule in full

It also goes by the shorter name of max stake rule. A cap on how much you may stake on one spin or hand while a bonus is being wagered, and breaking it commonly voids the bonus and its winnings.

Fixed by: The operator, through its bonus terms. Where you meet it: Set out in the bonus terms and conditions, and at times applied automatically by the game client.

The misreading: Many people assume a maximum bet rule matters only to someone who is deliberately staking big.

Hit frequency, in detail

Short for also called hit rate. The share of spins that pay out anything at all, however small, whatever the total returned over time.

Fixed by: The studio that made the game, through the paytable and reel maths. Where you meet it: Info panels and spec sheets from the studio, which are published less often than RTP.

The misreading: Players tend to believe a high hit frequency signals a game that pays more, or one that is ‘looser’.

The Game weighting entry

Short for also called contribution rate. The percentage at which bets on a specific game go toward meeting a wagering requirement.

Fixed per promotion and per game category, by the operator. Where you meet it: In the bonus terms and conditions, commonly laid out as a table that lists game categories with their rates.

The misreading: Regardless of what it was wagered on, ₱100 staked does not always clear ₱100 of a wagering requirement, though it is easy to assume it does.

Wild symbol in full

A symbol that stands in for others so a winning combination can be completed.

Decided by: The game studio, via the paytable. You meet it on a game’s paytable and feature list.

The misreading: People often assume that wilds stand in for every symbol.

Check glossary details in the game itself

Nothing in these definitions relies on the standing of this site as an authority. Each of these can be tested on the game itself:

1. Open any slot’s own information screen. Look there for the paytable, the way-count and the feature rules; they are the primary source behind each mechanical term defined here.
2. Compare a way-count against the grid. In a 5x4 grid evaluated as 1,024 ways, the number is 4 to the power of 5 — it describes the grid’s geometry, not how generous the game is.
3. A summary of a bonus term is no substitute for the operator’s own conditions, which are what you should read. A wagering requirement is a multiplier, and the figure it is applied to — bonus only, or bonus plus deposit — shifts the answer by a factor of two.
4. Check, where a studio publishes no RTP, whether two sources that quote one tell the same story. On JILI titles the two differ by up to two points, which is enough to answer whether either can be called authoritative.

The thing most often got wrong here

Of all these terms, the one error that comes up most is the belief that the casino sets them. For the most part, no: RTP, volatility, paylines, wilds and scatters are decided by the studio at the point the game is built, and the site that offers the game has no power to alter them.

Only the wagering requirement is different, as an operator writes it into its own bonus terms. Which of the two it is gets stated in each entry; that difference determines the right recipient for a complaint, and one addressed to the wrong recipient gets nowhere.

Putting these glossary to work at PH22

1. Open any game at PH22 and find its info or help screen.
2. With the definitions above to hand, read the RTP, the volatility and the maximum win that it states.
3. Pick volatility with your budget in mind: a small balance goes further when volatility is lower.
4. Before your first spin, put a loss limit in place, then stop once you have reached it.