What does stiff mean in gambling?
The short answer
To not pay a gambling debt — in either direction. A player who loses and disappears is a stiff, and so is a book that won't pay a winner.
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In plain English
Credit betting settles after the fact, and a stiff is whoever never settles. Players who walk get blacklisted; books that don't pay winners are the scummiest operators in gambling — the first question about any book is always: do they pay?
What to remember about Stiff
The definition
To not pay a gambling debt — in either direction. A player who loses and disappears is a stiff, and so is a book that won't pay a winner.
In plain English
Credit betting settles after the fact, and a stiff is whoever never settles. Players who walk get blacklisted; books that don't pay winners are the scummiest operators in gambling — the first question about any book is always: do they pay?
Example in context
"Slow-Pay-or-No-Pay Donnie strikes again — stiffed him on a five-dime winner, stopped answering the phone the one week Joey finally hit."
Questions about Stiff
- What does stiff mean in gambling?
- To not pay a gambling debt — in either direction. A player who loses and disappears is a stiff, and so is a book that won't pay a winner.
- What does stiff mean in plain English?
- Credit betting settles after the fact, and a stiff is whoever never settles. Players who walk get blacklisted; books that don't pay winners are the scummiest operators in gambling — the first question about any book is always: do they pay?
- Can you give an example of stiff?
- "Slow-Pay-or-No-Pay Donnie strikes again — stiffed him on a five-dime winner, stopped answering the phone the one week Joey finally hit."
Check yourself
Term quiz
Check yourself: Stiff
1.To stiff someone in gambling means…
2.Why is stiffing described as the one thing you do not come back from?
3.Who else pays when a player stiffs?
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