How Odds Work? Guide to Online Sports Betting Odds
I remember the very first time I opened a sports betting website. I saw all the numbers, and not being particularly mathematically inclined, I closed the site immediately. “Sports betting is not for me”, I concluded. Over time, through research and a friend’s guidance, I learned that reading online sports betting odds, and calculating my payout, is actually way easier than it appears.
In this guide, I will give you a simple explanation of what sport betting odds mean, how to read them, and how to calculate your potential winnings, so that you can make informed decisions and make the most of placing a bet on your favorite sports team.
What are Sports Betting Odds?
Bookmakers build sport betting odds to indicate what they believe is the chance of an outcome happening.
These odds are generally expressed as a fraction (3/1) mostly in the UK, or a decimal (2.3) throughout Europe. Another form is called moneyline, or American odds, in which a number is preceded by a plus or minus (+300) and clearly, used mainly in the US.
Online sports betting odds apply to every event on which bookies accept wagers, ranging from horse racing to football to TV specials and politics.
In sports betting, odds are used for two purposes:
- To calculate the amount for a winning bet. At the time of placing a bet, you are given odds that determine how much money you will get in case you won.
- To show the likelihood of an outcome happening. The lower the odds are, the more likely a result is. It means you should expect to win less when placing a bet on a likely result. Less risky, equals less winnings.
How to Read Sports Betting Odds?
American Odds Format
For this type of odds, mainly popular in the United States, you will see a three-digit negative or positive number. A negative number indicates how much you will need to stake in order to win $100, whereas a positive one shows you how much you will win if you place $100. Let’s see what it looks like with an example.
In general, a negative (-) symbol appears next to the odds for favorites or the team more likely to win, showing the minimum bet amount required to win $100. Underdogs, on the other hand, have a positive (+) symbol next to their odds, showing the amount won for every $100 wagered.
UK (Fractional) Odds Format
These types of odds are mostly used by British and Irish bookmakers but are used by some of the largest bookmakers, so they are more visible than other types. It’s written with a slash (/), or sometimes with a hyphen (-), 4/1 or 4-1 and read like “four-to-one”. A fractional odd of 4/1 (four-to-one) means that you will win $4 for every $1 you stake or gamble. The closer the numbers are to each other and the larger, it indicates that the team is more likely to win and so the payout is less.
European (Decimal) Odds Format
Decimal odds are my personal favorite. I often use them if the site allows me to change the way I see the odds. They are mostly used in continental Europe, Australian, Canada and New Zealand. You can quickly determine who the underdog and favorite are with this kind of odds since the lower number, indicates less payout and thus shows the favorite.
The decimal odds numbers show the amount you can win with every $1 wagered and it shows your total payout, meaning you don’t have to add back your amount wagered to calculate your payout. To see how much you could potentially win, you simply multiply your stake, by the decimal odd number.
How do Odds Translate Into Winnings?
Let’s now see how you can calculate your payout based on the types of odds, using a few examples, starting with American Odds.
Imagine an NFL game, where Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing against New England Patriots. The odds look something like this:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: +195
- New England Patriots: -250
What this shows is that if you think Tampa Bay will win, the +195 shows that for every $100 you bet, you will win $195 (your total payout would be $295 = $195+$100 stake of yours). If you want to place a bet on New England, with the negative number, you will need to stake $250 to win $100.
Of course, the amount you win will be proportionate to the amount you are staking. In the above example, if you put $50 on New England with the negative number, you would win (50/250) x 100 = 20.
As for a Fractional Odds type, let’s say you want to place a bet of $50 on a team with the odds of 11/8 or eleven-to-eight. If you win, you will get $68.75 (11 dollars for every 8 dollars staked). The amount returned to you will have your original stake included totaling $118.75 ($50+68.75).
And finally, an example of the Decimal Odds would be if you place a bet of $50 on a team winning, with the odds of 4.1, in case of the bet winning, you will receive $205 ($50x4.1).
Final Thoughts
Online sports betting odds may look intimidating, but once you learn the basics and get used to one of the main types mentioned in this article, you don’t have much to worry about. As part of your online gambling safety, it’s essential to understand how odds work, in order to properly understand sports betting. How much your payout will be, depends on the combination of the odds and your stake amount. Always remember to protect yourself when gambling online, learn about the odds, the sports or games of your choice and the security of the site you play in. As usual, you can take a look at my online betting guide for begi online betting guide for beginners nners, for more information.
About The Author: John Duncan is a web operation executive at CannonBet. Born and raised in the cybersecurity world. He authors guides on cybersecurity and safety and loves sharing the best practices. You can contact the author via email.