Casino games, explained without the jargon
Every operator in our comparison offers some mix of slots, blackjack, roulette and baccarat, and the terms get thrown around as if everyone already knows them. Here's what each game actually involves, so the rest of our comparisons make more sense.
Slots
A slot is a game of spinning reels covered in symbols; you choose a stake, spin, and matching symbols along set "paylines" trigger a payout according to a fixed paytable. There's no skill in the spin itself — the outcome is decided by a random number generator the moment you press play, and every legitimate UK-licensed slot has that generator independently tested before it goes live.
What varies enormously between slots is theme, bonus features, and volatility — a rough measure of how often a slot pays out versus how large those payouts tend to be. A low-volatility slot pays smaller amounts more often; a high-volatility one pays out less frequently but can hit much bigger when it does. Neither is "better"; they just suit different preferences for pacing.
Blackjack
Blackjack is played against the dealer, not against other players, and the goal is simple: get your card total closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Number cards count at face value, face cards count as 10, and an ace counts as either 1 or 11, whichever helps your hand more. Basic strategy — knowing when to hit, stand, double or split based on your cards and the dealer's visible card — genuinely narrows the house edge, which is part of why blackjack has a reputation as one of the more skill-influenced table games available.
Roulette
Roulette is a spinning wheel with numbered pockets, and you're betting on where a ball will land once the wheel stops. European roulette has a single zero pocket; American roulette adds a second "00" pocket, which increases the house edge slightly. Bets range from a single number, which pays out at long odds, to broader bets like red/black or odd/even, which pay less but land far more often. Live roulette, streamed from a real studio with a human dealer, is one of the more popular live-casino formats precisely because the mechanics translate well to video.
Baccarat
Baccarat is a comparing card game between two hands — the "player" and the "banker" — where you bet on which hand will finish closer to a total of 9, with 10s and face cards counting as zero. You're not required to be dealt either hand yourself; you're simply backing an outcome. It has a reputation as a high-stakes game in film, but the rules are actually simpler than blackjack, since the drawing of extra cards follows a fixed set of rules rather than player decisions.
Live casino, in one paragraph
Live casino games run the same underlying rules as their digital versions — blackjack, roulette and baccarat mostly — but with a real dealer streamed from a studio, real cards and a real wheel, rather than a random number generator. It's a different feel more than a different game, and it's one of the areas where the studio behind an operator's live tables (commonly Evolution, though not exclusively) genuinely affects the experience.