Understanding the world of online betting can be a daunting task for the sports betting novice. You’re met with a wall of numbers, dots and dashes before you even get started. The key to enjoyable betting is in knowing how to read the odds. We’ll break it all down into manageable chunks, covering the different bets and odds, and how to read. Let’s take a look at sports betting basics: How Odds Work. Odds are just basic math used to make sure that both sides of a bet are fair or equal. The odds and how odds apply to betting may vary slightly from sport-to-sport. At the same time, there are some principles that apply to all aspects of sports betting. Let’s break it down by sport and give you the lowdown on how betting odds work for all the different major sports. Sports betting odds are created by bookmakers to show what the outcome of a game or event is likely to be. They also dictate how much profit a player can make when.

Reading sports betting odds requires understanding the peculiar language used by the house in different areas. The visual difference in American, decimal (European), and fractional odds (British) make it seem as if the odds are different in each area. In reality, they represent different ways of expressing the amount of potential profit gained from money wagered. This article will explain how to read odds in each system to allow you the best chance of profiting from your bet.

The sports betting odds express how much money you can win for each dollar gambled. Odds typically track the likelihood of an event happening, although they also reflect the possibility of the house receiving a large amount of money on a bet. When an event is more likely to happen --- Tiger Woods winning the Masters or Alabama winning a football national championship --- the odds are lower, reducing the payout, and managing the risk to the house. When an event is less likely to happen, such as a small college winning the national championship or a marginal pro winning one of golf's major championships, the odds increase, allowing for a higher payout. However, the small chance of the event occurring reduces the risk to the house that would flow from higher payouts.

Betting Odds Explained Sports Ncaa Football

Understanding betting odds could keep you from losing money within your bets, so keep in mind the variances at play, and try to protect your money at all times.

American odds are written as and are called money-line bets or “moneyline” odds. Your profit potential in American odds is written as a total sum that you win or the amount you need to bet based on a common-$100 range. The profits that you win from American odds are given to you alongside your initial principal.

Example: Bookies express odds with a plus or minus, with the '-' indicating the favorite, while the '+' represents the underdog. For example, to win $100 on -150 odds you must wager $150. Odds of +180 mean that you win $180 with a successful $100 bet. Note that the sum of the odds does not have to equal zero. The favorite could be -120, while the underdog is +210. Larger numbers represent a stronger favorite/underdog. A participant with -500 sports betting odds rates as a much larger favorite than one with -120 odds.

Decimal odds are also called European odds.This type of sports betting odds is typically associated with players in Canada and Europe. The numerals in decimal odds identify how much you gain for every dollar or euro you spend. However, the higher that the number is, which is specifically for numerals “.10” and above, the less likely the outcome is though a higher payout is listed.

Example:Houses place a number, such a 3.0 or 2.5, to express decimal odds. A professional soccer team may receive odds of 3.0 to win its next match. The 3.0 odds means that a winning bet of $1 pays $3. To determine your payout, multiply the amount of your wager by the odds. Winning a $10 bet on 50.0 odds results in a payout of $500. The larger the number, the less likely the event will occur. Odds of 2.0 have far higher chances of occurring than odds of 100.0.

A simple slash (/) is used in fractional odds, and these are pronounced as “a 20-to-1 chance” or “20/1.” The first digit in fractional odds tells you what the profit amount is while the second digit tells you how much you must wager in order to gain the listed-profit mark.

Example:These are the odds you see in sports pundits predictions for events (although not the exact odds as those given by the house). Houses set the odds using fractions, such as 20/1 or 1/5. The number on the left indicates how much you win if you bet the number on the right. In our examples, a bet of $1.00 wins $20.00 for the 20/1 odds, while a wager of $5.00 wins $1.00 in the 1/5 odds. The smaller the discrepancy in the numbers, the more likely an event will occur. If the number on the right is smaller than the number on the left the chances of the event occurring rise. A team with 1/5 odds possesses a much higher chance of prevailing than a team with 20/1 odds. Make sure you focus on the discrepancy and not the numbers themselves. A golfer with odds of 6/4 is favored to win over a golfer with odds of 5/2.

The various ways of displaying odds help punters to obtain different perspectives on probability, profit, cost and risk. The variance in how you can write odds helps you to strategically gather data. For example, American odds tell you about the amount you need to spend, fractional odds can determine how much you win per-amount wagered and decimal odds track what your overall risks are per-dollar spent.

Modern bookies give you the option of changing sports betting odds to the formats you prefer.

American Odds Example

Decimal Odds Example

Fractional Odds Example

Frequently Asked Questions for Sports Betting Odds

Who Sets Your Sports Betting Odds?

Betting exchanges and bookmakers employ professional compilers to calculate the odds that bets are displayed as. A bookie’s own financing, ingenuity and statistical data are factors behind the specific odds shown on their exchange. The global activity in sports gambling also plays a role in which odds a bookie offers.

What Does Plus & Minus mean in betting?

A plus designation indicates an underdog. A minus designation identifies the favorite. The plus indicates the potential payoff of a $100 bet while the minus shows the amount needed to realize a $100 payoff. -350 odds means that a winning $350 bet results in a $100 profit (plus the return of the $350 stake).

Are lower odds better?

Low odds generally indicate the potential for something. The higher odds mean that something is unlikely. A lot of people get the two confused. They assume it should be the other way around. However, in the sports betting world, you want something to have a low betting odd. That means there is more potential for the player.

Why would you bet on negative odds?

Gamblers like “low odds” because these odds are in their favor. There are no guarantees, but you can lower your risk via high-probability bets that have lower profits, being called low-odds bets.

What Does +100 mean in betting?

Odds of +100 represent an even money bet. A winning +100 wager pays $100. A +100 line will occur when the odds of winning or losing are relatively evenly balanced. It also represents a much riskier bet than a -200 and a less profitable wager than a +200.

What Does -100 Mean In Betting?

Sports betting odds of -100 represent an even money bet. Houses may issue even money odds as -100 or +100, depending on their preference.

Knowing how to read odds allows you to understand how much you might profit from your wager. The type of sports betting odds provided by the house reflects not different odds of success for the same event but historical preferences for each system. Now that you know how to calculate your potential payout, you will know whether the proposed wager makes sense.

Welcome to the Sports Betting Odds section of The Sports Geek. If you are new to sports betting and don’t understand how to read betting odds (+150, -110, +2200, etc) we will lay it all out for you and help you learn how the betting odds work.

Sports Betting Odds Explained

Many people don’t know how to read or calculate sports betting odds, so below we have done our best on explaining how betting odds work. The most common type of sports betting odds used in North America are the American style odds which we explain below.

American Style Sports Betting Odds

Betting Odds Explained Sportsbook

Most online sportsbooks will list their odds in what is called “American Odds”. There are a couple different versions of sports betting odds, but these American Odds are the most common odds used. Reading and understanding sports betting odds can bet a little confusing to beginners, so we have provided an example below using two NFL football teams:

American Odds

• Matchup Odds
• New England Patriots +120
• Pittsburgh Steelers -140

The number shown in the bracket represents the odds. The American Odds have two components to them, the first being the positive or negative sign, and the second being the number that follows the sign.

The sign in front of the number indicates whether placing a wager on that outcome will pay out more money then you have wagered or less money then you have wagered. If the odd is negative (-) it means that outcome is more likely to happen and placing a bet on that outcome would payout less than the amount you wagered, while a positive (+) odd shows that the outcome is less likely to happen and it would pay out more than the amount you wagered.

The next step is figuring out exactly how much the bet pays out, which is where the numbers in the odds come into play.

A listed odd with a – sign in front of it, such as the -140 in our example above, shows us how much money you would need to wager in order to win $100. So using the -140, this would show us that you would need to bet $140 in order to win $100 in profits. You can easily substitute the $100 bet for a $10 bet by moving the decimal place over one spot, showing us that you would need to wager $14 in order to win $10 in profits.

Examples:

A listed odd with a + sign in front of it, such as the +120 in our example above, shows us how much money you would win on a $100 bet. Using the +120 odds, it shows us that a $100 bet on that outcome would pay out $120 in profits. Again this can easily be converted into smaller or larger size bets. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits.

Examples:

Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site.

In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet pays $100).

The great thing about betting online is that the online sportsbooks will do the calculations for you before you place your bet. You can click on the outcome or team you would like to bet on, and then input the amount you wish to wager and it will show you your potential pay out before you confirm your bet.

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Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds

Decimal style odds are used mostly in Europe, and are pretty easy to understand. To calculate the decimal style odds all you will need to do is simply multiply the amount you wish to wager by the decimal odds shown and you will get your payout. For example it may look something like this:

If you wanted to place a $10 wager on the USA at 2.40 you would simply need to multiply your $10 wager by the 2.40 odds (10 x 2.40) to find out that the payout is $24. It is important to realize that with decimal style odds it includes the amount you wagered, so to find out profits you would need to subtract your wager ($24 – $10) to find out your potential payout is $14 in profits.

If you wanted to place a $10 wager on Brazil you would again just multiply $10 x 1.55 to find out that you would win $15.50 total or $5.50 in profits.

Sports Betting Odds Explained

Decimal style betting odds are very simple to understand, but you won’t see them displayed in many North American sportsbooks. With that said, most online betting sites will allow you to chose the style of betting odds you want displayed, with American odds set as the default.