Also called theo. It is average bet multiplied by hours, by decisions per hour, by the house edge of the game played. A $50 average bet across four hours of blackjack at 80 hands an hour and a 0.5% edge is a theo of $80.
The same $50 average bet on a 5.26% American roulette wheel produces a theo more than ten times larger, which is why the comp offers differ so sharply between games that involve identical amounts of money.
Theo is also why casinos are indifferent to whether you won. Your rating reflects exposure, and exposure is a decision you made before the cards came out.
Where the numbers come from
Related terms in casino floor
- Commission — A percentage charged on winning bets that would otherwise favour the player.
- Push — A tie in which the bet neither wins nor loses and the stake is returned.
- Natural — A hand that wins immediately on the first cards dealt.
- Shoe — The box holding several shuffled decks from which cards are dealt.
- Cut card — A coloured plastic card placed in the shoe to mark where dealing stops.
- Penetration — The proportion of a shoe dealt before the reshuffle.
Where an entry quotes a number, that figure comes from the computed sections of this site rather than from another glossary, so the definition and the derivation cannot drift apart. Each entry links to the page where the number is worked out.