Bookmakers and bettors have had their own “Lingo” or “Slang” for many years. Much of this slang came about as a means to hide their activities from law enforcement.
A bettor might call his bookie and once read the lines say, “Ok, give me a dime on the Jets -2 and a nickel on the Vikings +5”. Our bettor just wagered one thousand dollars on the Jets and five hundred dollars on the Vikings.
Or perhaps a player may introduce a new bettor to a bookie. He might say, “yeah, Joey is ok. He’s fat. He’s certainly no desperado”.
In English, he just told the bookie Joey has plenty of money and will be no problem paying up when he loses.
Below is our definitive list of betting lingo and slang words. Give them a read. Have a few laughs. Some of them may even entertain the old timers!
Betting Lingo and Bookmakers Slang – A Definitive List
Action – a bet
Agent– Person who solicits sports bets for a bookmaker
Backer-Someone who supplies a bookmaker with cash (behind the scenes)
Bad beat – a tough loss
Bail out-Trying to get back losses with one bet
Beard – someone who bets for someone else
Beef– Complaint against a book
Bet the limit – To bet the maximum amount allowed by the bookmker
Betting Ring – A syndicate of big money sports bettors who place large bets,wiseguys,etc.etc.
Big Dime – $10,000
Big Nickel – $5,000
Board – The complete agenda of Games on any given day
Bookmaker – Person that takes sports bets
Bottom line – Money owed to a bookmaker by a player
B.M. – A Bookmaker
B.R. – Bankroll
Buck – $100
Bundle – Large bankroll
Bust – Player goes broke
Chalk – favorite
Chalk eater – favorite bettor
Circle Game – limited action accpted due to injuries or weather
C-Note – $100
Clerk – Person who answers phones,deals lines for a bookmaker.Also known as a ticket writer
C.O.D. – Broke
Connected – Connected to organized crime
Cover – to win by more than the spread
Desperado – Gambler who bets big and can’t pay
Dime – $1000
Dollar – $100
Double Sawbuck – Twenty dollars
Dry – broke
Edge – to have an advantage
Fast Company – Smart gamblers
Fat – a person with plenty of money
Figure – amount owed to or by a bookmaker
Fish – A sucker
Getting Down – making a wager
G-Note – $1,000
Half a buck – $50
Handicapper – one who studies sports and predicts the outcome-he does his homework
Handle – total amount of money taken in bets
Hedging – betting the opposite side in order to reduce you original wager
Hook – half a point
Jerk – another word for a push,or tie
Juice – Vigorish
Linemaker – an oddsmaker or pricemaker
Live one – a player with money
Middle – to win both sides of a Game
Mush Artist – gambler who doesn’t pay
Nickel – $500
off the board – bookmakers term for refusing to accept action on a particular Game
Out – bookmaker
Overlay – when the odds of a proposition are in favor of the bettor,not the house
Parlay – a bet on two or more teams,in which the money won on the first Game is then placed on the 2nd and so on.All Games must win for the player to collect.
Past-post – to place a bet after the Game has started
Piece-meal – paying of bookmaker in installments
pigeon – sucker
Pipeline – any method of distributing information
Pipes – Telephone
Player – bettor
Popped – Arrested
Post-up – Having to put money up before being allowed to wager-(offshore accounts are post-up)
Press – to bet larger amounts than usual
Price – the odds or pointspread
Push – Tie,nobody wins,nobody loses
In the red – owing money
Roundball – basketball
Run down – line update
Runner – see beards
Sawbuck – $10
Scalper – one who attempts to profit from differences in odds from book to book.
Score– to win alot of money
Sharp – a wiseguy
Shortstop – a small player
Shylock – loanshark
Side – to win one side of a bet,and tie or push the other-“to catch a side”
Spot Player – a bettor who waits for what he thinks is an unusually favorable situation before making a play
Square – unsophisticated gambler
Steam – Heavy one way action
Take a price – to bet the dog
Tapped out – broke
Trap – a bad bet-looks good,but in reality,isn’t
Value – see overlay-to get the best of it
Welsher – person who doesn’t pay his gambling debts
Wiseguy – successful sports bettor who makes his living betting sports
Vigorish – Bookmakers commission