1. How To Read Betting Odds: Guide To Understanding Odds ...
2. Understanding Gambling Sports Odds
3. How Do Odds Work In Betting? - Investopedia
4. How To Read Gambling Odds
5. Understanding Gambling Odds
6. Bet Calculator

Welcome to Odds Shark 101: your one-stop shop for expert sports betting advice. While you may have heard of terms such as “fade,” “juice” and “ATS trends,” you may not understand what they mean and how they can help you win your bet. Here, we’ll cover all the basics and even give you a few more advanced strategies so you will have an advantage on game day. American Style Sports Betting Odds 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.

• Betting odds tell you how likely an event is to happen
• They also tell you how much money you will win
• However, at first, they may seem confusing and complex
• Our comprehensive guide takes you step-by-step to explain them

If you’re new to betting, one of the first things you should do is learn how betting odds work. It’s critically important because it allows you to understand how likely an event is to happen, and what your potential winnings will be. At first, it may appear confusing, however, read our guide and let us explain it to you.

In gambling, odds represent the ratio between the amounts staked by parties to a wager or bet. Thus, odds of 3 to 1 mean the first party (the bookmaker) stakes three times the amount staked by the second party (the bettor).

What is Probability?

The most basic level, betting provides you with the ability to predict the outcome of a certain event, and if your prediction is correct, you will win money. For any given event, there are a certain number of outcomes. Take rolling a dice for instance. If someone rolls a dice, there are six possible outcomes. Therefore, if you bet that the person rolls a ‘one’, there is a 16.67% chance that will happen. What betting odds merely do is present how likely the event is to happen. Bookies most frequently in the UK do this as a fraction, i.e. 4/7, whilst the vast majority also offer the ability to view them as decimals. Again, let us talk you through them. All will become clear.

Using Betting Odds to Calculate Probability

Whenever you see two numbers separated by a trailing slash, i.e. 10/1, this is known as fractional odds. From this, you can calculate how likely a given event is to happen with a calculation. For ease of explanation, let’s replace the numbers with letters i.e. 4/1 becomes A/B. Here is the calculation: Probability (%) = B / (A+B).

• 9/1 can be calculated as 1 / (9 + 1) = 0.10– There is a 10% chance that the event will happen.
• 4/1 can be calculated as 1 / (4 + 1) = 0.20 – There is a 20% chance that the event will happen.
• 1/1 can be calculated as 1 / (1 + 1) = 0.50 – There is a 50% chance that the event will happen.
• 1/4 can be calculated as 4 / (4 + 1) = 0.80 – There is a 80% chance that the event will happen.

Hooray! We’re making progress. Given a fraction, we can now tell how likely (the probability) what we’re going to bet on will happen. Now let’s figure out how much money can be won using betting odds.

Using Betting Odds to Calculate Winnings

Betting odds allow you to calculate how much money you will win if you make a bet. Let’s use the same examples as before, with the same replacement of numbers for letters, i.e. 4/1 becomes A/B. Quite simply, for every value of B that you bet, you will win A, plus the return of your stake.

• 9/1 for every £1 you bet, you will win £9.
• 4/1 for every £1 you bet, you will win £4.
• 1/1 for every £1 you bet, you will win £1.
• 1/4 for every £4 you bet, you will win £1.

What About Decimals?

Decimals are far more common on exchanges, such as Betfair, but all leading betting sites do give you the option to view betting odds in this format. They are an alternative to seeing betting odds in the fraction format, and in our opinion, are easier to work out. Here is the calculation: winnings = (odds * stake) – stake. Let’s illustrate it with some examples

• 9.0 can be calculated as (9.0 * £10 stake) – £10 stake = £80 winnings.
• 4.0 can be calculated as (4.0 * £10 stake) – £10 stake = £30 winnings.
• 2.5 can be calculated as (2.5 * £10 stake) – £10 stake = £15 winnings.
• 1.25 can be calculated as (1.25 * £10 stake) – £10 stake =£2.50 winnings.

You can use our bet calculator to help you calculate winnings.
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Decimal Odds Versus Fractional Odds

In truth, one isn’t better than the other but there is certainly a trend emerging towards decimal odds. Historically fractional odds were used in the UK, especially on racetracks and on the high street. There are two key differences. Generally, decimal odds are easier to understand. Based on this, there has a movement to attract more people to horse racing by making it more accessible to the average punter. Ten years ago, if you were going to Cheltenham, all the odds would be displayed as fractional odds. Now, they’re largely all in decimals. Don’t hesitate to check out our exclusive Premier League Betting Offers !

The second difference between the formats is that fractional odds only represent winnings, and do not include the returned stake compared to decimals which do include the stake. The transition from fractional odds to decimals largely kicked off with the growing popularity of the betting exchanges such Betfair. For odds to change slightly, it’s really difficult to marginally increase or decrease the probability without creating large fractions which are hard to compute for the punter.

Use Our Tool to Convert Betting Odds Into Your Favourite Format

Our odds converter toolwill allow you see odds in whatever format you like . Not only that, but it’ll tell you how likely the selection is to win!

In Summary

Betting odds represent the probability of an event to happen and therefore enable you to work out how much money you will win if your bet wins. As an example, with odds of 4/1, for every £1 you bet, you will win £4. There is a 20% chance of this happening, calculated by 1 / (4 + 1) = 0.20.

Next steps

That’s it! Hopefully, that clears up betting odds. You should now have the knowledge to read betting odds, understand how likely it is to happen, and how much you stand to win.

• Found this article useful? We have loads more similar ones in our learning section. Here are some popular ones;
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What are the odds of winning?

In most conventional games there is a winner and a loser. When you play a regular game of chance among friends the losses and wins are divided between the players.

However when you gamble through a business the odds are stacked against you, and it is always set up so that the ‘house’ wins, the goal of gambling operators is to make money. Read more about the house edge.

Getting to know the odds of winning, can really help put your chances into perspective:

A handy tip: There is a better chance of being struck by lightning than winning the jackpot on a poker machine.

Improving the odds

It may seem like playing on the same machine or game will increase your likelihood of winning but this isn’t the case:

Pokies

You can't increase the chances of winning. No outside factors, such as the time of day, how long you play or how lucky you feel will have any influence on the outcome. To read more about how pokies work.

Roulette and other games of chance

No matter what occurred on previous rolls or spins the outcome of the next roll or spin is totally independent. Each spin is a separate event.

You cannot improve the odds of winning a game of chance such as roulette.

'Skill based' gaming

Sports betting or card playing may be affected by skill level in the short term.

However, so many random events, such as gaming margins and your emotional involvement all play a part.

There is no way that you will be able to consider all factors which could influence the race such as weather, other horses' form, the jockey having an argument with his girlfriend beforehand and so forth. You cannot control the odds of winning skill-based gaming.

Remember wishful thinking and gambling are a bad mix.

Most people overestimate the chances of winning and forget that they are much more likely to lose.

Watch what you spend. Avoid the tendency to write off losses to entertainment, losing is losing.

Test your odds

If you have doubts about the way odds work you can test the theory.

If you feel compelled to gamble try the following:

• Before each bet, make a note about what you think will happen
• Write down what actually happened
• Do this at least 10 times to test if your predictions were accurate.

How To Read Betting Odds: Guide To Understanding Odds ...

The chances of developing a problem with regular gambling are probably much better than your chances of having a big win.

Understanding Gambling Sports Odds

The more often a person gambles, the greater the risk of developing a gambling problem.

The reasons why you gamble and the type of gambling you engage in also influences the probability of problematic gambling.

How Do Odds Work In Betting? - Investopedia

These are the odds:

If you don't gamble … no chance at all

How To Read Gambling Odds

If you only gamble occasionally … 1 in 50

Understanding Gambling Odds

If you gamble once or more a week on non-lottery types of gambling … 1 in 7

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