All Sports Betting Basics You Should Know

Basics of Odds

Odds are nothing but the calculations which tell you the amount you stand to make from your winning wagers. That’s the reason, they’re also commonly referred to as the ‘price’ paid for a wager or a bet. The price of a wager can be ‘odds on’ or ‘odds against’.

In case of odds on, the possible amount you stand to win is lesser than the amount wagered. And in case of odds against, the possible amount you stand to win is greater than the amount wagered.

You may book a profit from an odds on bet, and get your wagered amount back too, however, you’ll need to risk money higher than what you possibly stand to gain. In most cases it is the odds on bets that are favorites to win. When wagers are put on an event that’s most unlikely to happen, or is least favorite to win, it gets categorized as odds against.

Please note that odds can be even money bets too. A winning even money bet normally returns the amount wagered as the profit figure, apart from the original stake. So, essentially you end up doubling your money.

Different types of odds formats

Decimal format

This format is the one that’s most commonly employed by Europe or UK-targeted betting portals on the Internet. One of the reasons for its extensive usage is that it’s the easiest of all the formats.
Decimal odds are normally shown to 2 decimal places, depicting the extent to which a winning wager will deliver as returns on every unit stake.
For instance,
£ 100 stake at 1.50 odds may possibly return £ 150
£ 50 stake at 2.00 odds may possibly return £ 100
£ 200 stake at 3.50 odds may possibly return £ 700

The calculation for working out the possible returns in decimal format is pretty simple:

Odds x stake = possible returns

To find out your probable profit, you just need to subtract 1 from the odds:

(Odds – 1) x stake = possible profit

As evident, decimal format is extremely easy to use, and hence is rapidly becoming the standard in the online betting industry. Please note that anything greater than 2.00 is considered ‘odds against’, and lesser than that is ‘odds on’.

Fractional format

This type of odds format is extensively employed in the UK, where you can find retail bookmaking shops everywhere and bookmakers at all the racing tracks. However, this format is gradually getting replaced by the decimal format.

Following are some basic fractional odds examples depicting the ‘odds against’:
10/1 - 10 to 1
2/1 - 2 to 1
5/2 - 5 to 2
7/4 - 7 to 4

Here are some ‘odds on’ examples:
4/6 - 6 to 4 on
10/11 - 11 to 10 on
1/2 - 2 to 1 on

Figuring out the possible returns using the fractional odds is relatively more difficult than the decimal format. However, its basic principle is quite straightforward. Every fraction depicts the amount of profit you stand to book on a winning wager. Hence, you’re also required to add your stake for working out the total possible returns. You need to use the following calculation (‘a’ being the first number and ‘b’ being the second):

Stake x (a/b) = potential profit
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