How To Read Odds In Sports Betting

By this I mean you need to determine the probability of a bet winning. The odds are presented in either a negative or positive format depending on the probability. The first thing that any punter needs to do is understand how the odds work and what they mean. However, they are presented, being able to convert your odds into a break-even percentage is a crucial part of understanding what is actually a good bet. If the odds are +200 that means the book is giving you the odds that the bet will come in one-third of the time. If you think the likelihood is higher than that, it is a good bet.

Let’s take you briefly through some common betting features of US sportsbooks. There are three odds types found at online sportsbooks. The standard odds display is US odds, but it’s good to grasp decimal odds and fractional odds too. The probability represented by betting odds is often referred to as the ‘implied probability’.

But read this betting odds explained guide to help to understand. The bookmaker has offered odds of +585 for Syracuse, which indicates that the bookmaker has placed a much lower probability (about 15%) on Syracuse winning the game. One needs to risk $100 on Syracuse to make a potential win of $585. If Syracuse can pull off the upset, one gets back their initial stake of $100, in addition to the $585 won, giving a total payout of $685. Have you ever wondered just exactly how betting odds work? If you’ve never bet on a sport before, looking up at an LED board full of lines and numbers next to your favorite teams will be intimidating.

The transition from fractional odds to decimals largely kicked off with the growing popularity of the betting exchanges such Betfair. Betting odds allow you to calculate how much money you will win if you make a bet. Let’s use the same examples as before, with the same replacement of numbers for letters, i.e. 4/1 becomes A/B.

For the underdogs, the odds are accompanied by a ‘+’ sign. This shows how much a better would win if they staked $100. As the name suggests, American odds are most popular in the United States. Working differently for favorites and underdogs, they’re also known as ‘moneyline’ odds. Most legal sportsbooks around the country won’t allow you to make bets with Venmo. If the score is exactly what the bookies set, then the bet is a push and everyone gets their money back.

If the Los Angeles Lakers are a +500 to win the NBA championship, a successful $100 bet would net $500. Even means that both teams are equal and that neither are favored in the point spread. This is also referred to as a pick ’em as it is a straight up, winner-take-all, wager.

How To Read And Calculate Sports Odds

“I was reading about the McGregor-Mayweather fight, so I wanted to understand all the talk surrounding the betting. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 859,236 times. So for -175 you pay $175 to get $100 (in addition of your initial bet $275 in total) and for +225 you get $225 when you bet $100 ($325 in total). Continuing the example above, say I placed $110 on Boston, and they win on a 4-point spread. Because they won by the spread, I would make $210 ($110 + $100).

For example, with 10/1 odds, you win $10 with a bet of $1, plus your stake returned. American odds are sometimes referred to as US odds, or moneyline odds. You will find prices in this format at all legal US sportsbooks. You have not found a value bet and should not place a bet on the Giants. You don’t need to be a math genius to succeed in betting on sports, but if you do not understand what betting odds reflect, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Check out the earlier parts of this guide to see the different formats of betting odds explained and learn how to estimate your potential winnings. Having knowledge about the raw math behind betting odds explained is useful, but of course you want to know about your potential payout too. Each different format for betting odds will have a different formula for calculating your winnings. Just like in all the betting odds explained in this guide, the higher your risk, the higher your potential payout.

They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Not every sport has a draw option, and definitely not when it comes to American sports. Having an NBA or NFL team finish with the exact score is an incredibly rare occurrence and will usually never be the case. To help you understand how you can calculate your winnings based on a bet amount, we will now cover the formula. If you are betting on the Miami Heat to win (+102) against Milwaukee Bucks (-121), you are essentially backing the underdog in the game.

Based on 34,000 data points from over 1,700 individual bets, we found the following sportsbooks offer the best odds on moneyline bets. Keep in mind for both spreads and totals that if the game ends in a draw for the bet , then you get your bet back but do not win or lose any additional money. Here’s what American odds look like for spread, moneyline, and total bets. In this matchup, there is a big difference between the two odds, indicating a much higher probability of Duke winning the game and advancing to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

In a specific match between two teams or individuals, one will be considered the favorite. The favorite is the team “expected” to win, and it will be identified with a minus (-) symbol. The underdog, the team “expected” to lose, will be labeled with a plus (+) symbol. It’s important to note that these expectations are the product of previous bets made on or against a given team or individual.