Sports betting has become more popular in recent years. It runs on sport betting odds, involving multiple insights, comparison, and calculated risk.
If you wish to begin betting on sports, then you must first understand how do odds work and how to read the sports betting odds.
What are odds, and how do they work?
In betting terms, odds define the probability of winning or losing a bet. A lower value of the odds reflects a higher likelihood of the given outcome. This means you will win less if it is clearly probable that a team will win or lose the game.
Furthermore, the odds are useful to calculate the payouts. The higher odds you bet on, the more will be your payouts. Higher odds indicate a lower chance of winning or losing.
Putting this into context, here is an example of how sports betting odds work.
Let’s say, team A is unlikely to win against team B in a game of cricket. So, the odds of team A winning will be higher since this result is less likely. You will win more if you bet on team A winning. On the contrary, betting on team B’s defeat will also fetch you higher payouts.
How to read betting odds?
There are different formats of sports betting odds. So before you drill right into it, you need to understand how do odds work in the format you are using for the bets.
American or Moneyline Odds
This format is popular in the US. You will find these odds in negative or positive signs. While a positive sign indicates how much money will fetch you $100, a negative bet indicates how much you need to stake to win $100.
For instance, a +$200 odds mean you will win $100 on top of your initial bet of $100. On the contrary, a -$200 odds indicate that you need to spend $200 to earn $100.
Decimal Odds
Countries in Europe, Canada, and Australia mainly use this format. It has now become the standard for online sports betting odds. This format expresses the odds in a decimal format, which indicates your returns for every dollar you stake.
Suppose, a winning bet of $2.5 will return $1.5 for every $1.0 you stake. So, if you bet $100, you will get returns worth $150 over the initial stake. A $2.0 winning odds is the perfect bet.
Fractional Odds
This is the UK’s traditional betting format. The odds are expressed in fractions and show the prospective returns from a bet.
To understand it better, a 10/11 odds will win you ten units for staking 11 units. Thus, you end up losing. On the other hand, in an 8/6 odds, you will get eight units in return for staking six units. When the numerator > denominator, it is called ‘odds against.’ Here, the prospective profit is higher than the amount betted.
To Sum Up
Sports betting requires a basic understanding of how to read betting odds and how they work. Besides, you need to take calculated risks for making the right bets. Understand every format in detail to pick the best bets on games.