Glossary

LoL betting terms, defined without filler.

If you read an article on this site and hit a word you do not recognize, it is here. We linked the first mention of each term to this page.

Vig (or juice): The house edge built into the price. A line of -110/-110 has about 4.55 percent vig. You need to pick above 52.4 percent to break even at those prices.
Hold: The theoretical profit an operator keeps across all outcomes. Low hold means sharper lines. Reduced-juice books run around 2 percent on LoL majors, recreational books closer to 7 percent.
Closing line value (CLV): The difference between your bet price and the closing line. Positive CLV over many bets predicts long-term profit better than win rate does.
Draft phase: The pick-ban sequence before a match. In LoL, draft is often worth 3 to 6 percent of the matchup advantage before a single minion spawns. Teams with strong drafting can out-pick opponents into uneven games.
Side (blue/red): Blue-side historically wins more than red. As of the current patch, blue is at roughly 52 to 54 percent. Some maps and patches push it higher. Specific team blue/red splits matter too.
Gold diff at 15: Net team gold at the 15-minute mark. Best single early-game stat for predicting win rate. A team with +1500 gold at 15 wins about 70 percent of the time from that state.
Objective bounty: Temporary bonus gold on neutral objectives when one team is far behind. Smart bettors price the catch-up potential before betting on snowball teams to 20-minute win.
First blood: The first champion kill of the game. A fun market, but highly variance-driven. Early invade aggressiveness matters more than team strength on this market.
First tower: The first tower destroyed. Better indicator of lane state and jungle pressure than first blood. Books often miss pricing this correctly for teams with heavy top-lane priority.
Baron and Dragon: Neutral objectives. Dragon spawns at 5 minutes, Baron at 20. Soul (4 dragons) gives permanent map-wide buffs. Elder Dragon at 35+ minutes executes low-HP enemies.
BO1, BO3, BO5: Match formats. Regular-season LCK and LEC are BO3. LPL is BO3. LCS is BO1 then BO3 playoffs. MSI and Worlds are BO3 swiss into BO5 knockouts. BO1 is the noisiest format for betting.
BO1 variance: Single-game variance in LoL is enormous. A 65 percent favorite is maybe 55 percent in a single BO1 because one throw can flip a game. Adjust expectations accordingly.
Patch: Riot updates the game every 2 weeks. Patches shift meta, sometimes drastically. Pre-patch form is not always predictive of post-patch form. Treat first-week-of-patch results as noisy.
Meta: The current best champions and strategies. A patch can shift the meta overnight. Teams that adapt fast (Gen.G in LCK, T1 sometimes, JDG) gain short-term edge after patches drop.
Regions: LCK (Korea), LPL (China), LEC (EMEA), LCS (North America), VCS (Vietnam), PCS (Asia Pacific), CBLOL (Brazil), LLA (Latin America), LJL (Japan). Internationally LCK and LPL rank top.
Academy: A team's developmental roster. Players move between main and academy regularly. An academy call-up usually means the org has lost confidence in the starter.
Parlay: A bet combining multiple legs. Breaks even at roughly 4 percent CLV per leg, which is rare. Straight bets remain the higher-EV choice for almost everyone.
Kelly criterion: A staking formula based on your edge. Full Kelly maximizes growth but also maximizes volatility. Most bettors should use quarter Kelly or flat staking instead.
Sharps and squares: Sharps bet based on CLV and model output. Squares bet on vibes and home region. Not a moral distinction. Sharps just keep better records.