A Beginners Guide to Esports Betting Terms

If you’re looking to start your esports betting journey, you’ll need to know certain terms that are commonly found across esports. Eventually, you’ll have to learn about the esports teams and countries as well, but for now – here’s the esports betting terms glossary.

Esports Glossary of Terms

A

Term Explanation
Auto Attack A term predominantly used in MOBAs that involves using the basic attack to deal damage (usually bound to the right mouse button)
AoE Stands for ‘Area of Effect’ attacks that cause damage on a large area
Aggro ‘Taking aggro’ means becoming targeted by enemy non-player characters or structures; can also be meant to describe a player who has purposely ‘taken aggro’ in order to tank the damage (so defensively weaker friendlies don’t take damage)

B

Term Explanation
BM Stands for ‘Bad Manners’, insulting other players
Ban A term used in the ‘banning’ process in games; players take turns banning heroes, characters, or maps so they cannot be picked and played in the match
Build Builds pertain to the usage of item or weapon loadouts that improve the character in offensive or defensive ways
Buff A permanent or temporary power increase given to characters in games

C

Term Explanation
Carry In MOBAs, the Carry is usually an extremely strong offensive character that is meant to deal the most damage to the enemy team. Generally in esports, it can also imply that a player has played so well, he ‘carried’ the team to victory
CC Short for ‘Crowd Control’; abilities or weapons that limit a character’s control (stunning them, silencing them, rooting them, etc.)
Casting Within the game, casting is the process of activating (casting) a spell. In esports, professional shoutcasters/commentators ‘cast’ the match
Cheese In Dota 2, Cheese is a special item dropped by Roshan. In general esports terms, cheese (or cheesing) revolves around a ‘cheap’ or ‘non-functional’ strategy that ends up working
CoD Short for ‘Call of Duty’, an FPS game
CSGO Short for ‘Counter Strike Global Offensive’; an FPS game
CWL Short for ‘Call of Duty World League’; the largest and most prestigious Call of Duty tournament
CDL Short for ‘Call of Duty League’; a type of Call of Duty tournament
Comp/Composition A team composition is the group of in-game characters that make up a team
CS Short for Creep Score, it is predominantly used in MOBAs and is a number made up of how many non-player characters (minions or creeps) the player has defeated

D

Term Explanation
Draft/Drafting The period before a game starts in which players ban and pick their preferred characters for that match
Dive/Diving Used in MOBAs, diving involves a process where you willingly attack an enemy character, drawing ‘aggro’ from the enemy turret and taking damage, in an effort to kill the opposing player
DQ Short for ‘disqualified’
DC/DC’d Short for ‘disconnected’
DPS Short for ‘Damage Per Second’

F

Term Explanation
F2P Short for ‘Free 2 (to) Play’
FPS Short for ‘First Person Shooter’
Farm/Farming The process of killing enemy or neutral non-player characters to earn in-game money
FF Short for Finish Fast; usually used to signal the enemy team you’ve given up and don’t think you can win; can also be understood as ‘Forfeit Fast’
Frag A term for getting a kill in-game
First Blood A term describing the first kill of the game
Fantasy Esports Fantasy esports are ‘games’ where you create a team and fill it with players of your choice. The success of your fantasy team depends on the real-life success of the chosen players

G

Term Explanation
GG Short for ‘Good Game’; usually written at the end of the match if the match was good
Gank/Ganking The process of surprising an enemy player and taking advantage of them
GL HF Short for ‘Good Luck, Have Fun’; usually written as the game starts
Glass Cannon Used to describe a player character who has a lot of damage but is fragile and easily killed

I

Term Explanation
Int/Inting An alternative way to say ‘intentionally’, it is used to describe a player that is purposely playing bad
IEM Short for ‘Intel Extreme Masters’

J

Term Explanation
Juke/Juking An in-game dodge where the player avoids damage by moving or evading enemy abilities or fire
Jungler An in-game character whose role is to focus on neutral camps – in the jungle. Predominantly used in MOBAs

K

Term Explanation
KDA Short for ‘Kills, Deaths, Assists’; used in virtually all esports games
KS Short for ‘Kill Steal’; it explains a situation where a player is just about to kill the enemy when all of a sudden, his teammate manages to land the last hit (either accidentally or intentionally)
Kiting The process of running away from a chasing enemy while, at the same time, drawing them into allied fire

L

Term Explanation
LoL Short for ‘League of Legends’; a MOBA game
Lane/Laning Lanes are relatively narrow ‘corridors’ in MOBA maps. Laning is the process of ‘going down’ said corridors and squaring up against enemy characters. Usually happens in the early and mid-game
Lag Lag is caused by a weak or slow internet connection; it is a situation where everything that’s happening in-game takes a while to happen (there’s a delay between it happening and you seeing it happen on screen)

M

Term Explanation
MMORPG Short for ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game’; a genre of video game
MOBA Short for ‘Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’; a genre of video game
Meta A term that describes the current most dominant strategies (ie. a Meta of submachine guns in CSGO would mean that submachine guns are currently the most powerful weapons in the game)
Mobs Alternative way to say ‘Creep’ or ‘Minion’

N

Term Explanation
Nerf A nerf happens when the developers purposely weaken a character, weapon, or ability
NPC Short for ‘Non-Player Character’
Noob Used to describe a beginner player who is new to the game (the term originated from the word Newbie)
Noob Champ Used to describe an in-game player-controlled character that is easy to learn and play and is usually overpowered

O

Term Explanation
OP Short for ‘Overpowered’; used to describe a mechanic, item, or character within the game that is very strong at the moment
OW Short for ‘Overwatch’; an FPS game
OWL Short for ‘Overwatch League’; the largest and most prestigious Overwatch tournament

P

Term Explanation
PUBG Short for ‘Player Unknown’s BattleGrounds’; a battle royale game
PvP Short for ‘Player Versus Player’; a game mode where you fight against other players online
PvE Short for ‘Player Versus Environment’; a game mode where you fight against coded enemies (online or offline)
Proc/Procking Stands for a situation where an item or weapon with an ability that has a random chance of activation activates
Peel/Peeling The action with which you draw enemy fire away from your teammate in an effort to save them

Q

Term Explanation
QQ Stands for ‘go cry’ or ‘go quit’; a slightly insulting gesture

R

Term Explanation
RTS Short for ‘Real-Time Strategy’; a video game genre
Rekt A modification of the word ‘Wrecked’; it pertains to defeating an enemy with ease
RPG Short for ‘Role Playing Game’; a video game genre
Recall A League of Legends-specific term, it explains the process of going back to your base via a free teleport
RNG Short for ‘Random Number Generator’; used for randomizing events, situations, and outcomes in video games
Rotation A specific team movement that follows a change of strategy

S

Term Explanation
Strat Shortened version of the word ‘Strategy’
Salty Used to explain someone who is agitated and annoyed at something
Shot caller Usually the captain of the team; the one that calls the shots
Skill shot An ability that follows a player-determined path once activated
Snowball The process of ‘Snowballing’ involves a team getting exponentially stronger as time goes by

T

Term Explanation
Term Explanation
Tank Used to describe a character that is meant to soak up damage for the team; usually doesn’t do a lot of damage
TI Short for ‘The International’; the largest and most prestigious Dota 2 tournament
Twitch The popular gaming streaming platform used to broadcast a wide variety of esports tournaments
Tilt/Tilted Used to describe a player that has become agitated due to certain negative events happening in the match

U

Term Explanation
Ultimate The most powerful character ability; usually on the longest cooldown
UAV Short for ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’, an ability that can be used in Call of Duty

V

Term Explanation
Vision A term describing how much area of the map is visible to the team

W

Term Explanation
WCS Short for ‘World Championship Series’; the largest and most prestigious Starcraft II tournament
Wards Items that are placed on the map to provide vision of the surrounding area
WoW Short for ‘World of Warcraft’; a MMORPG game

Z

Term Explanation
Zoning The process of using aggressive abilities and tactics to force an opponent to stay away from (or leave) an area

Esports Glossary of Betting Terms

A

Term Explanation
Accumulator Bet A bet with which you make multiple choices that all must be correct in order for you to win the bet

B

Term Explanation
Bad Beat A term used to describe a losing bet that should have been a winning one (ie. betting on the favourites that end up losing against a weak team)
Bo(1)(3)(5) Short for ‘Best Of’; it describes how many maximum matches are needed to decide the winner
Betting Bonus A term signifying a bonus or extra incentive for punters that bet on an operator’s website
Bookie An alternative word for betting operator. Stylized from the word Bookmaker
Bankroll The current amount of money that the punter can use for betting

C

Term Explanation
Correct Score A specific betting market where you must guess the correct score at the end of the match

D

Term Explanation
Double Bet A bet in which you choose two options, both of which must come true in order to win the bet

E

Term Explanation
Evens A bet whose odds provide winnings equal to the wager

F

Term Explanation
First Blood Bet A bet where you must guess which team (or player) will get the first kill of the game

H

Term Explanation
Handicap Betting A betting market where one team is given an imaginary advantage to make the odds more even

I

Term Explanation
In-Play Betting Betting on certain betting markets while the match is ongoing. The odds frequently change as well

L

Term Explanation
Live Stream A live broadcast of esports events on major streaming sites such as Twitch
Longshot A bet that has low chances of winning

M

Term Explanation
Map Winner Bet A betting market where you place a bet on the team you think will win on a specific map (predominantly used in FPS games)
Match Betting A betting market where you place a bet on the team you think will win the match
Minimum Wager A minimum amount you need to wager to place your bet

O

Term Explanation
Odds A crucial term in esports betting, odds are used to describe the probability of winning and to let punters know how large their winnings will be if they win. The lower the odds, the lower the winnings, and the higher the chances of winning that bet.
Outright Betting A betting market where you bet on a team you think will win the entire tournament
Over/Under Betting A betting market where you place a bet on whether the score (or time when the match will end) will be above or below a certain threshold (i.e. Will the match end sooner than 20 minutes or later)

P

Term Explanation
Punter A person who places bets

W

Term Explanation
Welcome Bonus A betting or deposit bonus that you receive once you register your account on a bookie website
Esports Betting Cover
FAQ

Esports Betting FAQs

Any of the major titles qualify – League of Legends, Dota 2, CSGO, VALORANT… Just make sure you take some time to research the specifics of the teams and current esports environment so you can place viable bets.

1xBet and Thunderpick are exceptional as they offer a wide range of esports games to bet on. You can also take a look at LOOT.BET; a predominantly esports-focused betting operator with excellent odds.

Getting better means gaining experience; the only way you can achieve that is by continuing to participate in betting. Keep in mind though that this doesn’t mean you should place your bets blindly. For starters, start with some teams that are the favourites to win a certain esports tournament and work your way up from there. Remember – knowledge is key. Additionally, you can take a look at our betting academy for some tips and pointers that’ll come in handy.

If you’re looking to have some fun while betting, then special bets are for you. These can differ wildly from bookie to bookie, and some are very interesting to bet on. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an easier experience, then simple match-winner bets will do nicely.

The truth is, any payment method that you like is usually accepted on the bookies’ websites. You should still take a look before deciding to register your account with them but overall, payment methods such as Bitcoin, Credit Cards, and PayPal are accepted everywhere.
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