Your sportsbook may manipulate the odds to incentivize bets on a certain side, and the sum of the probabilities for a single event will always surpass 100 percent because the sportsbook takes a cut that is baked directly into the odds. Odds also reveal how much the book is charging to take your bet. In Summary Betting odds represent the probability of an event to happen and therefore enable you to work out how much money you will win if your bet wins. As an example, with odds of 4/1, for every £1 you bet, you will win £4. There is a 20% chance of this happening, calculated by 1 / (4 + 1) = 0.20. Sports betting lines on FanDuel Sportsbook are presented in what is called the 'American.
Betting odds explained by sportsfreebets.ukIf you want to start betting on sports or perhaps try out online sports betting, you should learn how to read and interpret the odds on sports events and use them to your advantage. With that in mind, here is a guide to everything you need to know about sports betting odds and how you can have them work to help you win big on your wagers.
A New Look at Sports’ Betting
Sports’ betting is one of the most popular pastimes around the world. It involves placing money on sports’ events involving personalities, teams, horses and more, with the aim of winning money in the best available odds.
Sports’ betting involves predicting who the winner could be and placing sums of money on your choice for a win. If your predictions come true you stand to earn money from the wager you placed with the booking agent, aka bookmaker or bookie.
So an understanding what betting odds are, their purpose and the types of betting odds is important. The following serves as an overall summary of sports betting explained...
What are betting odds? Types of odds
Odds calculate how much the amount bettors' payments or stakes will increase by if their bet wins. Betting odds are calculated by bookies with whom bettors have taken a bet or wager and once your bet has been settled they become fixated. This means you will receive your payout based on the odds at the time of buy-in. E.g. If at the time of placing your bet you were to buy-in at 1.5 odds and as the event approaches they decrease to 1.4, you would still receive your payout based on odds of 1.5.
The higher the odds the more bettors will win and the reverse is also true, the lower the odds the lower the pay-out. The height of the odds is determined by the likelihood of the event or win taking place.
We can take horse racing for a simple example. The top-rated and fastest horse is more likely to have huge amounts of bets and cash on it, and so the pay-out or winning amounts for the bettors of the top horse will be far lower; whereas the least popular or normally slowest horse, aka ‘donkey’, is less likely to win so the stakes or money paid out will be far higher if the donkey romps home first. Sports lovers also like to take a gamble on betting on a least liked horse in the hope of winning a lot of money.
Types of betting odds
There are three different types of betting odds depending on which country one is in. They are fractional, decimal and Moneyline/US odds.
The three types of odds are different ways betting but do not affect the amounts punters win from betting. How to choose? The UK betting form of fractional odds betting is the most popular, particularly for horse racing. However, some punters say that decimal odds’ betting is far easier.
* Fractional Betting
One of the oldest forms of betting is fractional betting, which is practised in the UK and many of its commonwealth countries. In these countries traditionally, on Friday nights particularly, betting on a favourite and a drink at the pub go hand in hand.
In fractional betting there are two sets of numbers separated by a forward slash, such as 5/1, pronounced as 'five-to-one'. This odd means that for every £1 you bet, if you’re your bet wins, you win an additional £5, plus the £1 you initially paid in, making it a £6 win. If the odds are 10/1 ('10-to-one'), you win £10, plus your initial £1, so your winnings are £11.
According to mybettingsites.co.uk, bettors can calculate the likelihood of their bets winning and know how much they can win. It suggests replacing numbers with letters for example, 4/1 becomes A/B. Here is the calculation:
Probability (%) = B / (A+B).
9/1 is figured as 1 / (9 + 1) = 0.10 – so there is a 10% likelihood of the desired outcome.
4/1 is figured as 1 / (4 + 1) = 0.20 – so there is a 20% likelihood of the desired outcome.
1/1 can be figured as 1 / (1 + 1) = 0.50 – so there is a 50% likelihood of the desired outcome.
1/4 is figured as 4 / (4 + 1) = 0.80 – so there is an 80% likelihood of the desired outcome.
* Decimal Odds Betting
Decimal odds are used in European countries so are known as European, continental or digital odds. But these odds are also practised in Canada and New Zealand.
Decimal odds are so called because they use a decimal point to separate the total pay-out and the original money betted, or stake.
The number shows how much the total pay-out will be, including the amount or stake the bettor originally paid to the bookie. So a winning bet at £2.5 will give the bettor £2.50 for every £2 paid. Even number bets are written as £2.00. Decimal bets therefore show the total return of wining money, not the profit.
According to investopedia.com, the total (potential) return on a stake can be calculated as: Total Return = Stake x Decimal Odd Number, such as reflected on renowned betting sites for the US 2020 Presidential election. These were the odds on 21 March 2020, (odds subject to change as the election approaches) for the top three candidates considered mostly likely to win:
Donald Trump: 3.00
Bernie Sanders: 11.00
Elizabeth Warren: 13.00
LaVar Ball US media personality and sports; businessman: 251.00
The above shows, obviously, that the bookmaker, predicts Donald Trump as the winner of the election. Investopedia says the higher the total pay-out/decimal odd, the less likely or less probable (and riskier for the bettor) it is for that candidate to win the US election.
* American (US) or Moneyline Odds
The American odds are used mostly in the US. The odds of top bets show a minus (-) sign. This shows the amount you need to pay to the bookie to win $100. The odds for the least popular show a plus sign (+). This shows the amount won (including the initial wager) for every $100 staked.
Odds of $ +150, show the bettor he can win $150 for every $100 he pays to the bookie, plus the initial stake of $100. Odds of -150 means the bettor needs to pay $150 to return $100 in winnings, plus the initial stake of $150. Even money odds means you win an amount the same as your initial payment and is written as +100.
Some online sites like onlinegambling.com offer the ability to calculate sports betting odds in different formats and compare them against each other, plus improve one's gambling ability with a sports’ odds calculator.
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Understanding how betting odds work is crucial for success in gambling, whether you want to win at slots or place bets on sporting events. By knowing the odds of potential bets you can calculate your expected winnings and build an entire strategy for a successful session. Let’s see where betting odds come into action and how to read them.
Betting odds on sports events
Knowing what bet to place on any type of sports events all comes down to the odds. These events can come with different odds based on the bookmaker you place a bet at, so you want to find the ones which offer the best odds for your bet.
However, you should make sure you understand the odds properly as different bookmakers use various formats of odds for their events. This is so mainly because of geographical differences. In general, there are 3 types of odds you can come across; Fractional, Decimal and American. Let’s see how each one works and how to easily read them.
How To Read Vegas Lines
1. Fractional Odds
Fractional odds are usually found at British or Irish bookmakers. They are also referred to as traditional odds since they were used early on, originally on horse races. These odds are usually shown with a hyphen or a slash, for example, 5/1 or 5-1. This odd is read as five to one. So what does this mean exactly?
A fraction odd of 5/1 means that you stand to win £5 in profit for every £1 you wager. So the total payout from a £1 wager to a 5/1 odd is £6. The same formula is used for bigger wagers and bigger odds. For example, a wager of £100 on an 8/1 odd comes with a total payout of £900. So that’s 8 times what you bet, so it’s 100 x 8 = £800 which is your profit, plus your initial £100 back, given you the total winnings of £900.
This type of odds is still heavily used today, but as we mentioned earlier it’s mostly focused on the UK.
2. Decimal Odds
Decimal odds are also called European odds and they are mostly used in Europe. They are based on the decimal system and are very easy to understand and to work with. With decimal odds, all you need is a calculator and you can easily calculate your profit. This comes especially in handy if you place a single wager and divide it over several events.
What Do Betting Odds Mean
The main reason why decimal odds are easy to calculate is that they give you the total expected return. In fractional odds, you need to calculate the profit first and then add your initial wager. With decimal odds, the entire amount is calculated at one go.
For example, you bet $/£100 on a sports event which has decimal odds of 1.60. In order to calculate how much you can win in total all you need to do is multiply your stake with the decimal odds. In this case, it’s 100 x 1.6 which gives us a total of $/£160. As you can see the profit from betting on an event with this odd is $/£60. Just like in fractional odds the higher the odd, the higher the overall payout will be.
3. American Odds
American odds are used pretty much only in the USA and are also known as Moneyline odds. For a person coming from Europe, they can be very confusing, but in fact, they are very simple to read. They are based on placing a $100 bet, so you can easily calculate the end profit based on that bet. The odds for the favourite on an event come with a minus sign, while the odds for the underdog come with a plus sign.
For example, an event can come with +400 for the underdog and -200 for the favourite. So if you bet $100 on the underdog you would make a profit of $400 plus the initial $100 you stake, giving you a total of $500. On the other hand, for the bet on the favourite, you would need to bet $200 in order to win $100, giving you a total of $300.
As you can see the American odds are actually quite easy to read if you’re betting $100. Problems can arise when you want to bet with smaller or bigger amounts and you will need to do some maths in order to calculate the correct odds.
Betting odds on casino games
When we talk about betting odds the first thing that springs to mind is the odds on sporting events. But betting odds are just as important on casino games, especially on table games like blackjack and roulette. In fact, on these games, the odds and payouts are one of the first things you need to learn.
The simplest odd pairing on roulette, for example, is betting on red or black, odd or even. This bet comes with a payout of 1:1 or simply if you bet $/£10 and win you will win $/£20 in total. However, the odds of this bet differ depending on whether you are playing European or American roulette. The European version has a house edge of 2.7%, while the American version comes with a house edge of 5.26%. This means that the odds are more in your favour on the European version because of the smaller house edge.
For a more detailed explanation of how betting odds work for Roulette visit our online Roulette page, and for Blackjack visit our guide to playing blackjack.
How Do Sports Odds Work
Other Betting odds to consider
As you can see odds are pretty easy to read once you know what you’re looking for. It’s imperative to know how to read all types of odds before you embark into the world of betting. You never know which types of odds you can come across at different bookmakers.
Knowing how betting odds work will also come in handy when you want to bet on multiple matches or even on multiple features from a single event. Many bookmakers offer multiple bets on single events so things can start to get a little more complicated when you move away from simply making 1 bet.
Luckily there are ways to reduce the complication because at the end of the day it’s just a calculation. Bookmakers and casinos will often give you a summary of the total you can win, and there are also betting calculators (a good example can be found here https://bookies.com/betting-tools/odds-calculator) which allow you to enter your bets and out comes a total. This is useful as often gamblers will place multiple bets to cover loses, you can’t win them all but you can at least minimise your loss to fight another day.