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 |
