For punters, the betting odds are as important as the wheel is for drivers or the ball for footballers. Every decision they make revolves around these crucial numbers. Since they come in different forms or formats, depending on the source, even experienced bettors need help understanding them. This is why, in this article, we will help you know how to read odds.
To make it easier to comprehend, we will focus more on football odds since these are the most popular. If we dive into other sports, the only thing that will change is the betting markets.
Football Odds Explained: Advice to Understand the Math Behind Them
So, how to understand betting odds? Firstly, one should know that they are a numeric expression of the chances for a specific event to happen. To be more precise, let’s take Liverpool’s debut in the 2024/25 Premier League season against Ipswich as an example.
Currently, according to the football odds on BetBrain, the Reds’ victory has a price of 2/5 (1.40 in decimal odds or -250 in American odds). To make it simpler to understand, this means that the bookmakers see Liverpool victorious in approximately 70% of the cases.
A draw is priced at almost 5/1 (6.00 in decimal and +500 in American odds), meaning that the chance for this to happen is around 20%. Ipswich victory has odds of 7/1 (8.00 in decimal and +700 in American odds), meaning that the probability is a bit over 10%, but this can provide a huge profit.
The cold numbers on paper might translate differently onto the field. But now that we’ve seen the relation between scores and odds, we have an idea of how to make sense of those prices.
Converting the Odds: Expert Tips About How to Read the Odds?
As you’ve already seen, there are at least three different ways to write the odds: fractional, which is used mainly in British territories; Decimal, which is used in mainland Europe; and American, which is used, of course, in the United States of America.
Their meaning is the same, but their presentation is quite different. So, let’s take each one one by one and give some thorough descriptions for each.
Fractional Odds – Focusing on the Profit
As the names point out, Fractional Odds, aka British odds, UK odds or traditional odds, are used in the British territories and Ireland. They point out the fraction of profit you’ll make based on the stake in case of a winning bet.
So, for a £100 investment in the Liverpool victory against Ipswich, which is priced at 2/5, the profit will be the result of the stake multiplied by the odds: £40.
Decimal Odds – Return-Orientated Prices
The Decimal Odds are the most popular among punters because we encounter them in mainland Europe, Africa, and some parts of Asia.
They follow the same principle as the fractional odds, but they also include the stake in their return. So, for instance, if you multiply the stake of £100 with the odds of 1.40 for Liverpool’s victory, the result will be £140, which includes the profit and the stake.
American Odds – The Focus Shifts Towards the Stake
Americans make their calculation around the 100$ mark. So, for favourites, you will always get the price with a hyphen (-) in front of it. For instance, Liverpool’s victory against Ipswich has a -250 price for the mentioned football betting lines. That means you need to bet 250$ to win 100$.
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