How does a point spread bet work? A point spread bet is also referred to as betting the spread or handicap betting. Point spread betting is a sports betting market in which a team either has to win by a specific number of points or goals, or not lose by a specific number of points or goals. The betting odds are probably one of the most popular parts of gambling, so much so, that 'odds' have become a household term. Have you ever wanted to truly understand how odds work, though?That's right, despite the fact that the term 'odds' is being used vastly in our daily lives, the majority of people really don't know how the betting odds work.
Odds are the numbers used by online bookmakers to show how likely something is to happen. They give you a quick indication of how much you could expect to win if your bet wins. This guide will introduce you to the world of odds, the different ways they can be used and what they mean to you and your matched betting journey.
With so many numbers appearing in different formats, betting websites can be overwhelming for the beginner. But as long as you can get to grips with a few simple mathematical ideas, it'll all become a lot easier. This guide will show you how betting odds work.
- Odds expressed in terms of money, with $100 being the standard. If the odds are minus (–), then that amount of money must be wagered to win $100. –150 means you must bet $150 to win $100.).
- Odds are used by betting sites to determine what they think the probability is that something is going to happen relating to a specific event or outcome. Betting on odds is the most common form of betting on sports in the world. In our Betting Odds Explained guide you'll find out how odds work and how to calculate your chances of success.
What are betting odds?
Odds are numbers that express how likely events are to happen. To illustrate this idea, here are the three possible outcomes of a football match for any team:
1. Win
2. Lose
3. Draw
All of these have different possibilities, probabilities, chances – or odds – of happening.
How betting odds work
Betting odds are usually expressed either as fractions (e.g. ‘3/1') or as decimals (e.g. 4.0). Fractions were traditionally used to bet on horse racing and were most popular in high street betting shops in the UK, before the advent of internet gambling.
How Does Odds Work
As the web has become more popular as a place to bet, European decimal odds have become more commonplace. Moneyline, or American, odds are favoured by US bookmakers and punters, and are often expressed as positive and negative values (e.g. +250, -400).
While the differences may seem confusing at first glance, they're simply different ways of expressing the same thing.
How to read betting odds
Once you understand betting odds and the differences between them, reading them becomes easy.
If a bookmaker offers odds of 3/1 for an event to occur, you stand to win £3 for every £1 you bet. If you bet on an event at odds of 7/2, then you stand to win £7 for every £2 you wager (winnings plus your stake).
You may also see odds expressed with the lowest number first e.g. 1/2 or 2/7. These are known as ‘odds-on selections' and are normally used when the likelihood of something happening is higher than not. Of course, this also means that your winnings will be less than your stake. At 2/7 you win £2 for every £7 you bet.
When the numbers on either side of the slash are the same (e.g. 1/1), we refer to them as ‘evens'.
If you'd like a bit more guidance, we have a full guide on how fractional odds work in betting.
In many ways, decimal odds are easier to understand. This is because all you have to do to calculate your potential winnings is multiply your stake by the odds. For example, if you make a £10 bet at odds of 4.5, you could potentially win £45 (including your stake).
By contrast, fractional odds can become confusing. For example, which odds give the best return – 16/5 or 3/1? You can work it out, but a glance at their decimal equivalents (4.2 and 4.0 respectively) quickly tells you which odds are most favourable. This is why we recommend that all beginners start betting using decimal odds.
You should bear in mind that decimal odds include your stake. So, if you bet £10 at odds of 2.5, you can expect to win £25 (£15 on top of your £10 stake). You should also know that 2.0 is the evens line, so numbers lower than this return a profit that is lower than your stake.
Moneyline odds aren't generally used in either the UK or Europe. But you might see them in American media and sites, especially those that cover boxing or mixed martial arts.
Moneyline odds use $100 as the evens line, with either positive or negative outcomes. So, if you have odds above the line, this tells you how much you profit you stand to make from a $100 bet. For example, if you put your money down at odds of +175, you can expect to make $175 profit from a winning bet.
If you the odds have a negative value, this tells you how much money you need to wager to win $100. So, if you want to bet on an event at odds of -175, you must bet $175 to win $100.
Explain How Betting Odds Work
Converting decimal odds to fractions (and vice versa)
To convert decimals to fractions, subtract 1 from the decimal and find the nearest whole integer. So, if you have odds of 4.5, this becomes 3.5/1, which you can turn into 7/2 by multiplying both sides by 2. To convert fractional odds into decimals, divide the first number by the second and add one, e.g. 7/2 +1 = 4.5.
Using odds to find value
Now that you can convert odds into the perceived value, it means that you can work out whether you think the bookmakers' implied probability of an event occurring differs from your own.
For example, if you notice that Chelsea has scored a first half goal in 75% of their home games this season but the bookmaker has the market priced at 2.0 (50% implied probability) then you've just found some value.
The problem with this method though, is that you need to be better than the bookmaker at calculating probability. This is a difficult task considering the huge teams of mathematicians that they employ.
What is probability?
How Do Online Betting Odds Work
In betting terms, probability is odds expressed as a percentage. To help you understand probability, think of a coin toss: in this case, there are only two outcomes (usually heads or tails), each with exactly the same chance of landing. You calculate the probability with the following equation:
For every coin toss, heads has one out of two chances of landing. One divided by two is 0.5. Multiply by this by 100 to get the percentage, and you have 50%.
So let's take our example of a moneyline odds offer of -120. Multiplied then by 100, we get the implied probability percentage of 54.5%. Now the calculation for 'plus' moneyline odds, we make the following calculation: 100 divided by (plus moneyline odds + 100). How to convert moneyline betting odds Moneylines can come in ‘plus' (favourites) and ‘minus' (underdogs) formats, so there are two different formulas to convert moneylines into percentages. For ‘plus' moneylines, the formula is: 100 / (Moneyline + 100). Convert American, Decimal and Fraction odds while also getting implied probability and calculating moneyline payouts with our betting tool. Odds of 1/3 will pay only 33.33 percent of the. Convert moneyline to percentage. Once we do that, we can act accordingly. First thing's first-let's see what the money lines represent in terms of percentage and then take it from there. Moneyline to Percentages Conversion Chart. Favorites +/-100 = 50%-110 = 52.4%-120 = 54.5%-130 = 56.5%-140 = 58.3%-150 = 60%-160 = 61.5%-170 = 63%-180 = 64.3%-190 = 65.5%-200 = 66.7%.
In the case of a deck of cards, there are four aces among 52 cards. Therefore, the probability of drawing an ace is 4/52, or 7.69%.
Because of the many factors involved, it is impossible to calculate exact probability in sports betting. All your bookmaker can do is set a probability based on the likely outcome (adjusted slightly for profit); this is known as ‘implied probability'.
Implied probability is important because it helps you decide whether it is worth betting on a certain event. You can work it out by dividing one by the decimal odds. Let's say the bookies give Stoke City odds of 2.5 (3/2) for winning a match against Huddersfield Town. Divide one by 2.5 to get the probability, which is 0.4 or 40%.
If you put £10 down on Stoke to win, you stand to gain £25 including your £10 stake. You can then work out the ‘expected value' of the bet using another equation:
In the case of Stoke versus Huddersfield above, the equation works out like so:
In the above example, you can expect to break even (neither win, nor lose money over time). If the expected value is less than zero, then the bet is of low quality; but the higher the expected value is above zero, the more money you stand to make from the wager over time.
The issue with betting odds is that they're always tipped in the bookmakers' favour to allow them to make a profit. So while the odds that bookies offer do tend to reflect the likely outcome, savvy punters can find the real value in the bet.
Here's how:
Let's say you believe the probability of Stoke City winning against Huddersfield Town to be 45% – slightly higher than the bookmakers' odds suggest. With your £10 stake at odds of 2.5, the equation we used previously gives you the following expected value:
In this case, the bet represents good value. The issue with this kind of betting is that it is all a matter of opinion. The fact that bookmakers have large teams of maths experts working out odds means that beating them at their own game can be very difficult.
The key thing when it comes to finding value is to look for the best odds on your chosen selection.
It's quite surprising how much odds can change from bookmaker to bookmaker. This is why it makes sense to shop around. Plus, that gives you the opportunity to take advantage of the bookmakers' bonuses and earn free cash.
At OddsMonkey we have a tool to help you find the best odds. OddsMatcher finds and analyses odds and then compares bookie against betting exchange. By backing and laying the same selection, you can extract value from bookmakers' free bets and turn them into real money!
That's called matched betting, which is what we specialise in helping you with. If you're interested in learning more, we have a free introduction to matched betting you can download that will explain it all.
Understanding how betting odds work is crucial for success in gambling, whether you want to win at slots or place bets on sporting events. By knowing the odds of potential bets you can calculate your expected winnings and build an entire strategy for a successful session. Let's see where betting odds come into action and how to read them.
Betting odds on sports events
Odds are the numbers used by online bookmakers to show how likely something is to happen. They give you a quick indication of how much you could expect to win if your bet wins. This guide will introduce you to the world of odds, the different ways they can be used and what they mean to you and your matched betting journey.
With so many numbers appearing in different formats, betting websites can be overwhelming for the beginner. But as long as you can get to grips with a few simple mathematical ideas, it'll all become a lot easier. This guide will show you how betting odds work.
- Odds expressed in terms of money, with $100 being the standard. If the odds are minus (–), then that amount of money must be wagered to win $100. –150 means you must bet $150 to win $100.).
- Odds are used by betting sites to determine what they think the probability is that something is going to happen relating to a specific event or outcome. Betting on odds is the most common form of betting on sports in the world. In our Betting Odds Explained guide you'll find out how odds work and how to calculate your chances of success.
What are betting odds?
Odds are numbers that express how likely events are to happen. To illustrate this idea, here are the three possible outcomes of a football match for any team:
1. Win
2. Lose
3. Draw
All of these have different possibilities, probabilities, chances – or odds – of happening.
How betting odds work
Betting odds are usually expressed either as fractions (e.g. ‘3/1') or as decimals (e.g. 4.0). Fractions were traditionally used to bet on horse racing and were most popular in high street betting shops in the UK, before the advent of internet gambling.
How Does Odds Work
As the web has become more popular as a place to bet, European decimal odds have become more commonplace. Moneyline, or American, odds are favoured by US bookmakers and punters, and are often expressed as positive and negative values (e.g. +250, -400).
While the differences may seem confusing at first glance, they're simply different ways of expressing the same thing.
How to read betting odds
Once you understand betting odds and the differences between them, reading them becomes easy.
If a bookmaker offers odds of 3/1 for an event to occur, you stand to win £3 for every £1 you bet. If you bet on an event at odds of 7/2, then you stand to win £7 for every £2 you wager (winnings plus your stake).
You may also see odds expressed with the lowest number first e.g. 1/2 or 2/7. These are known as ‘odds-on selections' and are normally used when the likelihood of something happening is higher than not. Of course, this also means that your winnings will be less than your stake. At 2/7 you win £2 for every £7 you bet.
When the numbers on either side of the slash are the same (e.g. 1/1), we refer to them as ‘evens'.
If you'd like a bit more guidance, we have a full guide on how fractional odds work in betting.
In many ways, decimal odds are easier to understand. This is because all you have to do to calculate your potential winnings is multiply your stake by the odds. For example, if you make a £10 bet at odds of 4.5, you could potentially win £45 (including your stake).
By contrast, fractional odds can become confusing. For example, which odds give the best return – 16/5 or 3/1? You can work it out, but a glance at their decimal equivalents (4.2 and 4.0 respectively) quickly tells you which odds are most favourable. This is why we recommend that all beginners start betting using decimal odds.
You should bear in mind that decimal odds include your stake. So, if you bet £10 at odds of 2.5, you can expect to win £25 (£15 on top of your £10 stake). You should also know that 2.0 is the evens line, so numbers lower than this return a profit that is lower than your stake.
Moneyline odds aren't generally used in either the UK or Europe. But you might see them in American media and sites, especially those that cover boxing or mixed martial arts.
Moneyline odds use $100 as the evens line, with either positive or negative outcomes. So, if you have odds above the line, this tells you how much you profit you stand to make from a $100 bet. For example, if you put your money down at odds of +175, you can expect to make $175 profit from a winning bet.
If you the odds have a negative value, this tells you how much money you need to wager to win $100. So, if you want to bet on an event at odds of -175, you must bet $175 to win $100.
Explain How Betting Odds Work
Converting decimal odds to fractions (and vice versa)
To convert decimals to fractions, subtract 1 from the decimal and find the nearest whole integer. So, if you have odds of 4.5, this becomes 3.5/1, which you can turn into 7/2 by multiplying both sides by 2. To convert fractional odds into decimals, divide the first number by the second and add one, e.g. 7/2 +1 = 4.5.
Using odds to find value
Now that you can convert odds into the perceived value, it means that you can work out whether you think the bookmakers' implied probability of an event occurring differs from your own.
For example, if you notice that Chelsea has scored a first half goal in 75% of their home games this season but the bookmaker has the market priced at 2.0 (50% implied probability) then you've just found some value.
The problem with this method though, is that you need to be better than the bookmaker at calculating probability. This is a difficult task considering the huge teams of mathematicians that they employ.
What is probability?
How Do Online Betting Odds Work
In betting terms, probability is odds expressed as a percentage. To help you understand probability, think of a coin toss: in this case, there are only two outcomes (usually heads or tails), each with exactly the same chance of landing. You calculate the probability with the following equation:
For every coin toss, heads has one out of two chances of landing. One divided by two is 0.5. Multiply by this by 100 to get the percentage, and you have 50%.
So let's take our example of a moneyline odds offer of -120. Multiplied then by 100, we get the implied probability percentage of 54.5%. Now the calculation for 'plus' moneyline odds, we make the following calculation: 100 divided by (plus moneyline odds + 100). How to convert moneyline betting odds Moneylines can come in ‘plus' (favourites) and ‘minus' (underdogs) formats, so there are two different formulas to convert moneylines into percentages. For ‘plus' moneylines, the formula is: 100 / (Moneyline + 100). Convert American, Decimal and Fraction odds while also getting implied probability and calculating moneyline payouts with our betting tool. Odds of 1/3 will pay only 33.33 percent of the. Convert moneyline to percentage. Once we do that, we can act accordingly. First thing's first-let's see what the money lines represent in terms of percentage and then take it from there. Moneyline to Percentages Conversion Chart. Favorites +/-100 = 50%-110 = 52.4%-120 = 54.5%-130 = 56.5%-140 = 58.3%-150 = 60%-160 = 61.5%-170 = 63%-180 = 64.3%-190 = 65.5%-200 = 66.7%.
In the case of a deck of cards, there are four aces among 52 cards. Therefore, the probability of drawing an ace is 4/52, or 7.69%.
Because of the many factors involved, it is impossible to calculate exact probability in sports betting. All your bookmaker can do is set a probability based on the likely outcome (adjusted slightly for profit); this is known as ‘implied probability'.
Implied probability is important because it helps you decide whether it is worth betting on a certain event. You can work it out by dividing one by the decimal odds. Let's say the bookies give Stoke City odds of 2.5 (3/2) for winning a match against Huddersfield Town. Divide one by 2.5 to get the probability, which is 0.4 or 40%.
If you put £10 down on Stoke to win, you stand to gain £25 including your £10 stake. You can then work out the ‘expected value' of the bet using another equation:
In the case of Stoke versus Huddersfield above, the equation works out like so:
In the above example, you can expect to break even (neither win, nor lose money over time). If the expected value is less than zero, then the bet is of low quality; but the higher the expected value is above zero, the more money you stand to make from the wager over time.
The issue with betting odds is that they're always tipped in the bookmakers' favour to allow them to make a profit. So while the odds that bookies offer do tend to reflect the likely outcome, savvy punters can find the real value in the bet.
Here's how:
Let's say you believe the probability of Stoke City winning against Huddersfield Town to be 45% – slightly higher than the bookmakers' odds suggest. With your £10 stake at odds of 2.5, the equation we used previously gives you the following expected value:
In this case, the bet represents good value. The issue with this kind of betting is that it is all a matter of opinion. The fact that bookmakers have large teams of maths experts working out odds means that beating them at their own game can be very difficult.
The key thing when it comes to finding value is to look for the best odds on your chosen selection.
It's quite surprising how much odds can change from bookmaker to bookmaker. This is why it makes sense to shop around. Plus, that gives you the opportunity to take advantage of the bookmakers' bonuses and earn free cash.
At OddsMonkey we have a tool to help you find the best odds. OddsMatcher finds and analyses odds and then compares bookie against betting exchange. By backing and laying the same selection, you can extract value from bookmakers' free bets and turn them into real money!
That's called matched betting, which is what we specialise in helping you with. If you're interested in learning more, we have a free introduction to matched betting you can download that will explain it all.
Understanding how betting odds work is crucial for success in gambling, whether you want to win at slots or place bets on sporting events. By knowing the odds of potential bets you can calculate your expected winnings and build an entire strategy for a successful session. Let's see where betting odds come into action and how to read them.
Betting odds on sports events
Knowing what bet to place on any type of sports events all comes down to the odds. These events can come with different odds based on the bookmaker you place a bet at, so you want to find the ones which offer the best odds for your bet.
However, you should make sure you understand the odds properly as different bookmakers use various formats of odds for their events. This is so mainly because of geographical differences. In general, there are 3 types of odds you can come across; Fractional, Decimal and American. Let's see how each one works and how to easily read them.
1. Fractional Odds
Fractional odds are usually found at British or Irish bookmakers. They are also referred to as traditional odds since they were used early on, originally on horse races. These odds are usually shown with a hyphen or a slash, for example, 5/1 or 5-1. This odd is read as five to one. So what does this mean exactly?
A fraction odd of 5/1 means that you stand to win £5 in profit for every £1 you wager. So the total payout from a £1 wager to a 5/1 odd is £6. The same formula is used for bigger wagers and bigger odds. For example, a wager of £100 on an 8/1 odd comes with a total payout of £900. So that's 8 times what you bet, so it's 100 x 8 = £800 which is your profit, plus your initial £100 back, given you the total winnings of £900.
This type of odds is still heavily used today, but as we mentioned earlier it's mostly focused on the UK.
2. Decimal Odds
Decimal odds are also called European odds and they are mostly used in Europe. They are based on the decimal system and are very easy to understand and to work with. With decimal odds, all you need is a calculator and you can easily calculate your profit. This comes especially in handy if you place a single wager and divide it over several events.
The main reason why decimal odds are easy to calculate is that they give you the total expected return. In fractional odds, you need to calculate the profit first and then add your initial wager. With decimal odds, the entire amount is calculated at one go.
For example, you bet $/£100 on a sports event which has decimal odds of 1.60. In order to calculate how much you can win in total all you need to do is multiply your stake with the decimal odds. In this case, it's 100 x 1.6 which gives us a total of $/£160. As you can see the profit from betting on an event with this odd is $/£60. Just like in fractional odds the higher the odd, the higher the overall payout will be.
3. American Odds
American odds are used pretty much only in the USA and are also known as Moneyline odds. For a person coming from Europe, they can be very confusing, but in fact, they are very simple to read. They are based on placing a $100 bet, so you can easily calculate the end profit based on that bet. The odds for the favourite on an event come with a minus sign, while the odds for the underdog come with a plus sign.
For example, an event can come with +400 for the underdog and -200 for the favourite. So if you bet $100 on the underdog you would make a profit of $400 plus the initial $100 you stake, giving you a total of $500. On the other hand, for the bet on the favourite, you would need to bet $200 in order to win $100, giving you a total of $300.
As you can see the American odds are actually quite easy to read if you're betting $100. Problems can arise when you want to bet with smaller or bigger amounts and you will need to do some maths in order to calculate the correct odds.
Betting odds on casino games
Online Betting Odds For President
When we talk about betting odds the first thing that springs to mind is the odds on sporting events. But betting odds are just as important on casino games, especially on table games like blackjack and roulette. In fact, on these games, the odds and payouts are one of the first things you need to learn.
The simplest odd pairing on roulette, for example, is betting on red or black, odd or even. This bet comes with a payout of 1:1 or simply if you bet $/£10 and win you will win $/£20 in total. However, the odds of this bet differ depending on whether you are playing European or American roulette. The European version has a house edge of 2.7%, while the American version comes with a house edge of 5.26%. This means that the odds are more in your favour on the European version because of the smaller house edge.
For a more detailed explanation of how betting odds work for Roulette visit our online Roulette page, and for Blackjack visit our guide to playing blackjack.
Other Betting odds to consider
As you can see odds are pretty easy to read once you know what you're looking for. It's imperative to know how to read all types of odds before you embark into the world of betting. You never know which types of odds you can come across at different bookmakers.
Knowing how betting odds work will also come in handy when you want to bet on multiple matches or even on multiple features from a single event. Many bookmakers offer multiple bets on single events so things can start to get a little more complicated when you move away from simply making 1 bet.
How Do Online Bets Work
Luckily there are ways to reduce the complication because at the end of the day it's just a calculation. Bookmakers and casinos will often give you a summary of the total you can win, and there are also betting calculators (a good example can be found here https://bookies.com/betting-tools/odds-calculator) which allow you to enter your bets and out comes a total. This is useful as often gamblers will place multiple bets to cover loses, you can't win them all but you can at least minimise your loss to fight another day.
