sports betting

Sports fans often seem quite odd to non-fans, and for good reason. You see those people passionately cheering the wins and mourning the losses of teams and players they will probably never meet. It’s hard to understand the source of all that love unless you slowly dive into that world. Only then will you begin to see it for yourself. There’s just something captivating about sports, and watching them is as exciting as anything could ever get.

This is why sports betting provides the ultimate entertainment. You get not only the rush of watching your favorite games, but also the thrill of betting on them. Unfortunately, getting into sports betting isn’t as easy as it sounds, and that’s mostly because the odds can be hard to understand. Here’s what you need to know to be able to read and understand how they work: 

Fractional Odds

This is the most popular type of odds in the UK, and it is one of the oldest, too. It has been and is still used in horse racing, but it is used with other sports as well. Fractional odds are the ones written like this: 1/2 or 8/5. You’ve probably seen them quite a few times but didn’t know how to read or even pronounce them –– it’s 1 to 2 or 8 to 5, by the way. Odds, in general, are predicting the possibility of a certain outcome happening, and this is exactly what those fractional odds signify.

To understand what fractional odds mean, you need to know that the number on the left indicates the number of times this event is expected to fail or not happen, while the right one is the number of times the event is expected to succeed. So, if you are talking about a football match between Arsenal and Manchester City, the odds are 2/9 for the City. These odds mean that if the teams played 11 times, Manchester city would lose 2 and win 9 times. So, how can you calculate your profits using similar odds?

The odds also signify the amount of money you can make per dollar wagered. So, using odds like 1/2, your profits are half of a dollar for each dollar spent. To make things easier, you can multiply your wager by the odds. So, if you want to bet $10, you need to multiply it by the odds to figure out your possible profits: $10 x 1/2 = $5, which is what you stand to earn. This is basically how you calculate your profit using fractional odds.

American Odds

American odds are a bit different from other types, but they are used across the country with various sports. They are typically three digits with a plus or minus sign before the number, written like this: +150 or -240. If you’re betting on college basketball, for instance, you need to understand those numbers for picks because you will find them written like that in expert predictions. The same goes for any other sports in the United States. If there is a negative sign before the odds, this means you are betting on the favorites. Negative numbers also indicate the amount of money that you need to wager to win $100. So, if the odds are -120 for a basketball team, you need to bet $120 to win $100.

Positive odds, on the other hand, mean you are betting on the underdog. The number itself is how much you’ll win if you wager $100. So, odds like +130 mean that you will win $130 if you bet $100 on the team.

Decimal Odds

Decimal odds are also pretty common, mostly because they are very easy to understand and work with. If you want to calculate the possibility of a team winning, just divide 1 by the decimal odds. So, if the Lakers have 2.5 odds, they have a 40% chance to win the game –– 1/2.4 = 0.4 x 100 = 40%. Calculating the profits is also pretty easy here. You just need to multiply your bet by the odds of the team you want to bet on. So, if you wager 100$ on the Lakers, your profits will be $100 x 2.5 = $250, and that’s what you get if the team wins.

While they might seem too complicated, sports odds are actually pretty easy to figure out once you understand how they work. Needless to say, you must understand these logistics if you want to get into sports betting, or else you don’t stand a chance. Even if you get lucky once or twice, it won’t always work out. Figuring out how the odds work and how to calculate them will allow you to make informed decisions and bet wisely depending on each match.