"Whale" → high-spending customer / customer experiencing heavy losses

Stigma-preferred language

Definition

Industry term for the small number of customers who supply an outsized share of revenue. It describes a person being harmed as a prize to be landed.

Preferred phrasing

"a customer the operator identified as high-value," or say plainly what happened: losses, hosting, offers.

Source

Primary source for this whole section: https://www.recoveryanswers.org/addiction-ary/ Supporting: https://pttcnetwork.org/non-stigmatizing-language/ · https://www.recoveryanswers.org/research-post/person-first-language-heroin-use-disorder/

Cite this

Betttr. ""Whale" → high-spending customer / customer experiencing heavy losses." The Gambling Recovery Glossary. https://betttr.net/glossary/whale/ (accessed 2026-09-20).

Last updated: 2026-09-20.

Corrections: support@betttr.net