Nickel

In gambling lingo and especially in the sports betting world, a nickel is a $500 wager. This means that a nickel player would be someone that bets in the $500 range. Please note that the term nickel line has a different meaning and refers to a 5 cent line. This type of line pays even better than the dime line or the traditional 20 cent line.

Keep in mind that not every sports book offers nickel lines – in fact, most sites prefer to rely on the twenty cent lines, as inexperienced punters tend to disregard the impact lower juice would have on their long-term profits.

Usage Example

“Jacob is a borderline high roller; he usually bets at least a nickel on the games of his favorite basketball team. It’s quite interesting though that he never wagers more than a dime though.”

Trivia

Gambler parlance tends to reduce substantial amounts of money to smaller, metaphorical units – the “nickel” is just one of many terms that follow this trend. Other prevalent examples include a dime ($1,000), big nickel ($5,000) and big dime ($10,000). In the United States, home gambling games are often referred to as nickel-dime betting, but please note that in this case the meaning is not metaphorical and the word “nickel” refers to a 5 cent coin.