Sports betting is a common hobby for many gambling or sports enthusiasts. It provides an outlet for your expansive sports knowledge, but is also potentially profitable! You’re probably new to sports betting if you’re reading this guide, so we’ll be sure to get you on the right track. The most important aspect of being a successful sports bettor is understanding how sports betting odds work. They are an integral part of any sports wager, and they are used to determine whether a wager is worth making or not. The potential payout of any wager you place is calculated using a combination of the relevant odds and your stake.
Without that fundamental knowledge, you are kind of shooting in the dark!
But no need to fret if all the odds talk is confusing; we’ve all had sports betting odds explained to us before. On this page, we explain about odds in some detail. We define exactly what they are and the role they play. We also look at the three different formats in which they can be expressed, and explain why odds on the same outcome can vary with different bookmakers.
You can read our beginner’s guide, you’ll walk away understanding sports betting odds!
WHAT ARE THE ODDS? SPORTS BETTING ODDS EXPLAINED!
Sports betting odds involve two things.
First, sports betting odds outline a particular game or event outcome’s theoretical likelihood. Oddsmakers will set the lines according to the implied probability of either outcome happening. The sum of the probabilities exceeds 100%, as sportsbooks take a small cut on both sides of a line.
Second, sports betting odds dictate how much money a bettor needs to wager to make a certain profit.
Odds are displayed in one of three ways: American, decimal or fractional fashion. However, sports betting odds reflect just one part of the betting process.
SPORTS BETTING ODDS FORMAT !
As you can see, the fundamental principle behind odds is really quite straightforward. Things are slightly complicated by the fact that there are three different formats of odds as follows:
- Moneyline/American Odds
- Decimal Odds
- Fractional Odds
Chances are, at some point, you’ll encounter each of these formats. For this reason, it pays to be familiar with each one. They all work in essentially the same way–basically just different ways of expressing the actual odds for any particular wager.
AMERICAN ODDS / MONEYLINE:
Moneyline odds are also known as American odds, and this is the format most commonly used in the United States.
When you see -150, +230, or any other three-digit number with a +/- in front of it, you’re dealing with American betting odds.
What Do the + and – Mean in Sports Betting?
The – and + on a sports betting line indicates both your prospective payout and whether you’re betting on the favourite or the underdog.
Negative numbers signify the favourite on the betting line. The negative number indicates how much you’d need to bet to win $100.
If the number is positive, you’re looking at the underdog, and the number refers to the amount of money you’ll win if you bet $100.
FOR EXAMPLE:
| AMERICAN ODDS | MONEYLINE | |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | -130 | Favourite |
| Ottawa Sentators | +110 | Underdog |
Many popular wagers, including most point spread bets, will see both sides with negative odds. Because the point spread serves to level the playing field between two sides, you’ll often need to risk more than you profit when betting on the spread.
Calculating Winnings with American Odds
In order to win $100 on the Penguins (favourites), you’ll need to wager $130. If you wagered $100 on the Senators (underdogs), you’d be set to win $110.
You can use the formula below to calculate the potential winnings for any value you wish to wager.
If you bet $40 on Pittsburgh (-130), your equation would look like this:
130 40
—— = ——
100 X
- Cross-multiply to get 130x = 4000, and then solve for “x”
- x= 4000/130
- x = 30.77
Therefore, if you wager $40 on Pittsburgh, you will win $30.77, and your payout would be $70.77 (your original wager plus your winnings).
If you bet $40 on Ottawa (+110), your equation would look like this:
100 40
—— = ——
110 X
- Cross-multiply to get 100x = 4,400, and then solve for “x”.
- x = 4400/100
- x = 44.00
Therefore, if you wager $40 on Ottawa, you will win $44.00, and your total payout would be $84.00.
DECIMAL ODDS:
Decimal odds are shown as one number, which is the amount a winning bet would collect on a $1 bet. If the odds are listed as 6, a winning bet would receive $5 profit and the original $1 bet. Anything between 1 and 2 is a favourite bet and 2 is an even money bet.
These are more commonly used outside the US when the fractions used in fractional odds get a bit ugly. For example, it’s fairly common to see American odds of -115, but that converts to 20-23 in fractional odds.
Quick, do the maths of the return on a $10 bet with 20-23 odds. Ew. The decimal odds would be listed at 1.87, which would make for much easier maths on this $10 bet. Multiply the odds by the bet and you get the return that would include the original bet.
Much easier, right? The return would be $18.70. This is a case where decimal odds can be better.
FRACTIONAL ODDS:
Decimal and fractional odds are more common outside the United States, but can be found in some American sportsbooks as well. Both have similar principles.
Fractional odds are, as the name indicates, displayed as fractions, like 3-1 or 7-4. Multiplying a bet amount by the fraction, will show the profit. Betting $10 with 3-1 odds will give you a $30 profit plus your $10 back.
Betting $10 with 7-4 odds would net $17.50 plus the original $10. Multiply the $10 by the numerator, which in this case is seven, then divide by the denominator, which is four. That gives you 70 divided by four, or 17.50.
Favourite bets will have a denominator larger than the numerator such as 1-2 or 2-5. Underdog bets will have the numerator bigger than the denominator, as in the examples above.
In America, fractional odds are most commonly used in futures betting where almost all the odds have a denominator of 1, making them easier to understand.
WHY DO SPORTS BETTING ODDS VARY ON THE SAME OUTCOME?
For a lot of wagers on sporting events, you’ll see that different bookmakers offer different odds. For example, one might have a football team at +130 to win a match, while another might have the same team to win the same match at +120.
The idea that different sportsbooks have the ability to create their own numbers is key to understanding how sports betting odds work. To explain this, we expand on a statement made earlier.
When we said that odds reflect the likelihood of a particular outcome happening, it would have been more accurate to say that they reflect how likely a particular outcome will happen in the view of the bookmaker. Predicting how likely any outcome is in a sporting event isn’t an exact science, and it essentially comes down to a matter of opinion.
This is why the odds in sports betting are variable, because not all bookmakers will have exactly the same view on how likely a particular outcome is. Odds can also be affected by other factors, such as the amount of money a bookmaker has taken in a particular market.
What this means is that the odds that a bookmaker sets for a wager aren’t always an accurate reflection of the true likelihood of the relevant outcome happening.
Therefore, it’s possible to put the odds in your favour when betting on sports. If you’re able to correctly predict the outcome of sporting events often enough, you can consistently turn a profit. It’s not easy, but if you can combine your sports knowledge with an understanding of certain key aspects of betting, it can definitely be done.
Odds are one of those key aspects, and you hopefully now understand how they work and why they vary.