Explaining The Odds
Each book has the right to declare their own rules regarding a push, but typically, all bets are refunded. Betting on the over under requires that wagers be made on whether or not the final point total will be above or below the line. Bets placed on Miami’s point spread of +7.5 requires the Hurricanes to lose by 7 or less. After all these complex calculations, it’s common to wonder how do odds work anyway? The truth is each individual provider sets their own odds, with the advice of expert statisticians and their data. If you side with Golovkin, the “favorite,” you’ll need to risk more to get the same winnings.
Many states allow for online horse racing betting and you can see odds at most of the big horse racing tracks around the world. American odds are presented as either positive or negative odds. The following is an example of American odds for an NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls.
There is more on that subject in the following section where we have implied probability and betting odds explained. The handicapping and odds information found on SportsBettingDime.com is strictly for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, the unique odds we produce in select news articles are also for amusement, and are not available to be wagered on. Please check the online gambling regulations in your jurisdiction before placing any wagers with the betting sites advertised on SportsBettingDime.com, as they do vary. SportsBettingDime.com does not target any individuals under the age of 21. Using any of the information found at SportsBettingDime.com to violate any law or statute is prohibited.
Let’s say the New York Giants are facing the Washington Redskins in a regular season NFL game. The Giants are at odds of -110 to cover the betting line of -3.5 points. You’ve done your research and have determined the Giants are a 60% chance to cover the -3.5 betting line. As 60% is greater than 52.4%, you have found what is commonly referred to as a ‘value bet’.
The bookmaker will offer more attractive odds on other horses in an effort to get people to back those instead. Sometimes this actually works in favour of the punter as with The Grand National, only a few favourites have ever won. This is the horse most likely to win, which is reflected in having the shortest price displayed with betting operators. You will see an F alongside the horse’s odds when they are the favourite. If more than one horse has the same odds of winning according to the betting market, this will be displayed as JF, meaning joint-favourite. When looking at the odds of a horse, the two formats used are decimals and fractions.
Written as a number with either a plus or minus sign in front of it, these are the trickiest to understand. If the number on top is larger than the number on the bottom, that means you are risking less than you would win. For example, if a horse has 5-to-1 odds to win, you would be risking 1 unit to win 5 units of profit. In a traditional sport with a favorite and an underdog, this situation would represent the underdog. An example of this would be Medina Spirit having 15-to-1 odds to win the 2021 Kentucky Derby.