how to bet odds

How to Bet on Odds

So, you’ve decided to join the millions who bet on sports each year. Great! You have countless options to legally bet in the United States. But first, you should understand how to bet on sports. Just like with any financial investment, you’ll want to know how it works before throwing your money into it.

Understanding Odds

The most elementary, but also the most crucial premise to learn⁚ odds.

Every successful sports bettor masters the concept of odds before embarking on their betting journey. Odds inform bettors how much inherent risk and potential reward lie within a bet, how much money they should gamble, and the implied probability of winning.

Odds are featured in American, decimal, or fractional formats, and serve two basic functions⁚

To indicate the likelihood of a particular outcome⁚ Lower odds suggest the outcome is more likely to occur, while higher odds indicate a lower probability of the event happening.
To show the potential payout for a winning bet⁚ Odds help bettors understand how much money they can win relative to their initial wager (stake).

Odds do not always represent probability. Sometimes, odds shift when sportsbooks try to lure more action onto one side or the other. Various factors have been known to influence odds, so shifts should not always be viewed as hints toward the inevitable outcome of the event.

When sportsbooks alter odds drastically, bettors often find themselves enticed into thinking an edge or advantage may exist. In actuality, it could just be that the books want more bets flowing in on the other side of a potential outcome so they can bring in more profits off their cut of the placed bets.

Books always charge a cut for each placed bet, much like the rake in a game of poker or Black Jack. These small charges or commissions are known as the cut, the juice, or the vig.

Types of Odds

American betting odds always feature a /- with a specific number. So, what do these positive and negative symbols mean?

The and on a sports betting line represent the favorite and the underdog, respectively. They also indicate your prospective payout if you bet the line.

A negative number before a betting line means the involved player or team is the perceived favorite. The negative number signifies how much you would need to bet to win 100.

A positive number before a betting line means the involved player or team is the perceived underdog. The number indicates the amount of money you would win if you bet 100.

In many cases, especially in good matchups, point spreads, and over/unders, both sides of a bet will be listed with negative odds. When betting on a player, team, prop, spread, or over/under with negative odds, you usually risk more than you will profit.

Decimal odds (aka European odds, digital odds, or continental odds) are more commonly used in continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Once you learn how they are calculated, decimal odds are actually quite easy to read. Just like with /- in the U.S., favorites and underdogs can be easily determined through the decimal numbers.

Unlike with American odds, the decimal odds number equals the amount a bettor wins for every 1 wagered. For decimal odds, the number signifies the total payout, rather than the profit. Basically, your wager (or stake) is already included in the decimal number (no need to add back your wager), which makes it much easier to calculate your total payout.

American Odds

American betting odds always feature a /- with a specific number. So, what do these positive and negative symbols mean?

The and on a sports betting line represent the favorite and the underdog, respectively. They also indicate your prospective payout if you bet the line.

A negative number before a betting line means the involved player or team is the perceived favorite. The negative number signifies how much you would need to bet to win 100.

For example, imagine the Kansas City Chiefs are listed at -150 against the spread versus the Las Vegas Raiders (+130). This means you would need to bet 150 on Kansas City to win 100, whereas a 100 bet on Las Vegas would net 130 if the Raiders covered the spread.

A positive number before a betting line means the involved player or team is the perceived underdog. The number indicates the amount of money you would win if you bet 100.

Lets use that same Chiefs-Raiders matchup as an example. A 100 bet on the Raiders (+130) would profit 130, while the same wager on the favored Chiefs (-150) would net 66.67.

Decimal Odds

Heres how to calculate the total (potential) return on a wager using decimal odds⁚

Total Payout = Wager x Decimal Odd Number

For example, imagine you have two teams pitted against each other. One has a listed decimal number of 4.0 and the other has a specified number of 1.3. For this example, well choose the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics⁚ 4.00 Golden State Warriors⁚ 1.3

These numbers represent the amount you could win against each 1 you put at stake. So٫ if you bet 100 on the Boston Celtics to win٫ you could receive a total payout of 400 (100 x 4.00). This amount includes the initial wager of 100٫ resulting in a total net profit of 300.

Similarly, you could receive a total payout of 130 (100 x 1.3) if you successfully bet 100 on the Golden State Warriors. Deducting 100 from this return gives you the 30 net profit earned.

The higher the total payout (i.e. the higher the decimal odd), the less probable (and riskier) it is for the listed team to win.

Fractional Odds

Fractional odds (aka British odds, U.K. odds, or traditional odds) are commonly used by British and Irish sportsbooks and bookies. Thus, we often see golf, soccer, rugby, and cricket odds listed as fractions. Fractional odds are typically featured with a slash (/) or hyphen (-), and are utilized by some of the largest international bookmakers.

A fractional listing of 10/1 (ten-to-one) odds would mean that you win 10 against every one dollar you wager, in addition to receiving your dollar back (i.e. the amount you wagered). In other words, this is the ratio of the amount (profit) won to the initial bet, which means that you will receive your stake (1) in addition to the profit (10), resulting in a total payout of 11. If you bet 100 at 10/1 odds, you would profit 1,000 and net a total of 1,100.

Heres how to calculate the total (potential) return on a wager using fractional odds⁚

(Numerator x Bet amount) / Denominator + Bet Amount = Potential Winnings

Lets use the 2023 NBA Championship futures odds as an example.

Boston Celtics⁚ 159/50 Golden State Warriors⁚ 220/50 Milwaukee Bucks⁚ 229/50

We can immediately establish that the Celtics are the favorites, while the odds for Golden State and Milwaukee to win are longer. You would win 159 against every 50 you wager on Boston to win the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, you would win 220 against each 50 you put at stake for Golden State to win. For Milwaukee, youd win 229 against each 50 bet.

Now lets look at an example in golf, where you will more commonly find fractional odds.

Rory McIlroy 8/1 Scottie Scheffler 10/1 Cameron Smith 12/1

In the above example, if you bet 100 on McIlroy to win, you could make 800 profit (100 x (8/1)) and get back your initial stake of 100, resulting in a total payout of 900. If you wager 100 on Scheffler to win, you could receive a profit of 1,000 (100 x (10/1)) in addition to the 100 initial stake, leading to a total payout of 1,100. The potential profit for a Cam Smith win would be even higher because you could make a profit of 1,200 (100 x (12/1)). With the initial stake of 100 returned, it would result in a total payout of 1,300.

Too confusing? We get it betting on sports shouldnt require an advanced degree in mathematics. Betting and betting conversion calculators can be found all over the web, and sites like Sports Interaction allow you to see odds boards with all three forms of odds.