Popular Gambling Sayings and Phrases

A lot of catchy gambling sayings have entered our everyday vocabulary, and they have both literal and metaphorical meanings.

The gambling phrases we present to you today have disputed etymology, with some coined by popular Hollywood flicks, while others have been passed down over the years, with no exact source of their origin.

Either way, these are the phrases you may hear around Las Vegas casinos and beyond.

1. The house always wins

The house always wins is the most common gambling phrase you will hear. It is meant to address one simple truth - casinos do not need to cheat you to win. In fact, they are statistically likely to win because of the way the games pay out - often below the dollar for every dollar you gamble.

In this sense, you can expect to average a return of 94% on your dollar, with some variance, depending on what you play. The core principle, however, that the house always wins remains unchanged.

However, some gamblers have managed to defeat those odds, with one enigmatic Croatian gambler by the name ofNiko Tosa successfully defeating roulette at casinos by somehow being able to guess where the ball would land.

So, no, the house does not necessarily always win, if you ask Niko Tosa that is.

2. All bets are off

Speaking of roulette, the phrase all bets are off is widely used across gambling and life. The meaning of the phrase can be intuited to mean many things, but mostly that a situation has changed for the worse.

In roulette, all bets are off could mean an issue with the way the ball was dropped or a mechanical error in the wheel, which could potentially impact the odds.

The gambling meaning of the phrase is simply that no bets will be honored, and they are repaid to players as a result of some extenuating circumstance.

3. Luck of the draw

Luck of the draw is a familiar gambling phrase that captures the idea that some outcomes come down to pure chance.

Whether you win or lose a hand, the phrase is a way of acknowledging that the outcome wasn't decided by skill or strategy: the cards simply fell that way. It applies just as much to poker or blackjack as it does to everyday situations where chance plays the deciding role.

The phrase’s etymology is not clearly defined, but it may be tied to the time the first saloon card games, such as poker and blackjack, appeared around the 19th century, with players reflecting over the cards not turning the way they had desired them, and remarking that it was all part of the "luck of the draw."

4. No dice

No dice is another gambling-inspired phrase that has taken on a meaning in everyday life. While the etymology of the saying is not immediately clear, it is thought to have been linked to invalidated rolls in dice games or as a sort of code for people saying that there won’t be a gambling game hosted at a given time or place due to activity by authorities.

No dice has, of course, taken a broader meaning, and when a person says that they tried something but the outcome was "no dice," they meant to say that they didn’t secure the desired outcome or something didn’t work out. It’s a fun little phrase that people use today, and yes, it’s most likely rooted in gambling culture.

5. Play your cards right

If you asked Mikki Mase, casinos can be beaten if you play your cards right, which is the next gambling phrase on this list. Mase is infamous among casinos, but the exact reasons are shrouded in mystery, which makes him an enigmatic and fun source of casino gossip.

Mase claims to have been banned from every casino in the world, and to have beaten all the casinos.

While this claim is broadly disputed and is more likely false than anything else, the phrase has come to signify that if you plan right, your efforts will be rewarded. This goes well beyond blackjack and poker, and the metaphor is widely used in every walk of life.

Of course, gambling often boils down to pure chance, and there is hardly anything you could do to influence this.

6. Sweeten the pot

If you sweeten the pot, you are making something more attractive or desirable. Etymologically, the word is tied to the rise of poker as a popular pastime, a competitive card game where people tend to make money off outplaying their opponents.

To sweeten the pot was tied to players adding more money to be played for, either to keep others in the hand or to draw new players into the game and motivate people to participate. These days, the phrase has pretty much the same meaning, just applied more broadly.

You may make something more desirable, whether it is a job offer or something else, and have people offer you something extra before you accept it.

7. Feeling lucky

Feeling lucky is another phrase that has taken root in both gambling circles and everyday life. The meaning of the phrase is quite simple, and it is associated with the premonition that something good is going to happen to you.

Gamblers often cite it unprompted, by saying things such as "I had a feeling" and "I felt like." It’s the universal phrase used to indicate that a person is somehow, beyond all reason, confident that they would get a good outcome out of a situation.

Even Google has it inscribed into its search engine, turning it into a sort of catchphrase, which, if we are being honest, often confuses many people. Why would we feel lucky doing an internet search?

8. Call someone’s bluff

This is another gambling saying that is traced back to the game of poker, and most likely appeared in the 19th century, when the game was beginning to shape up as a popular pastime.

To call someone’s bluff means to risk in a situation where someone claims to have an advantage over you. In poker, a player may call and raise a bet, but this does not automatically mean they have better cards than you.

This is where player skill comes in. Although most players can stay composed and not betray when they are trying to present themselves in a more favorable position than they are in, the ability to call someone’s bluff is important.

Calling someone’s bluff is more than just a poker saying - it’s a way to do business, interact in social environments, and be able to read certain little signs to your advantage.

9. Hit me

You may be lingering at a hotel bar or a lounge, and ask for an extra drink. Often, the phrase you would go to is "hit me," but as it turns out, the phrase is rooted in gambling as well!

The phrase "hit me" refers to a player asking a blackjack dealer to give them another card in a bid to secure a hand as close to 21 without surpassing this number, and thus defeat the house. Over the years, thephrase has become a common everyday saying that is now embedded in modern use of language.

10. All in

This list would not feel incomplete had we not added "all in," a phrase that is a part of everyday English as much as it is of high-stakes poker. The phrase "I am all in" is habitually dangled as the turning point of a movie plot with large sums of money put on a single outcome in a bid to overcome great odds, or improve a person’s situation.

And while anyone who has been around gambling would advise you against going all in, the story of FedEx’s founder who placed a $5,000 bet on blackjack and won to save his company from bankruptcy is definitely one that best illustrates the phrase.

In life, going all in simply means that you are placing all your hopes, expectations, or even finances on a single event.

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