Everything You Need to Know About Reading and Calculating Sports Odds
By Space Coast Daily // April 20, 2020
Sports betting is a form of entertainment that has been around for decades. It has been inculcated into the culture of many nations.
It was revolutionized alongside the advancements in modern technology and soon sports betting was also offered on various online platforms. This paved the way for the accessibility of sports betting for a wider range of audiences.
There are gambling platforms that specialize in a certain type of sport, catering to a specific market. Some offer more variety of sports and games to bet on, including casino and slot games.
Joker Gaming, or also known as Joker123, conforms to the latter, which offers over a couple of hundred slot games alongside football betting games.
These licensed online casino operators guarantee players and bettors that their data and sensitive information are protected and that their winnings are paid out promptly.
Reading odds
A vast number of bettors have been successful in sports betting because aside from luck, they exerted the extra effort to understand sports odds or betting odds.
Understanding these odds is the key to figuring out which of the bets are worth making because for sure, you would not place a bet on the wrong odds.
These odds can be represented in various formats, but overall, they merely represent the probability of a specific outcome or the profit that you can gain if your bet wins.
In reading the odds, treat them as the likelihood that a team, an athlete, or a horse can win. Betting agencies often rely on the historical data of the past performances of the team, the athlete, or the horse to be able to make a prediction on who is most likely to win. In general, lower odds return a higher profit.
Nevertheless, if you intend to be one of these successful bettors, below is everything you need to know about reading and calculating sports odds.
Fractional odds
Fractional odds allow a bettor to calculate their winnings relative to the wagers they place. It can be quite complex to understand fractional odds, but these are common in Europe, particularly in horse racing.
Fractional odds are usually represented by a numerator and a denominator wherein the former is the possible profit and the latter is the bet.
To illustrate this, a fractional odds of 5/2 simply indicates that with each $2 bet, a profit of $5 is possible. To calculate for the profit relative to your bet, just multiply your overall stake with the fractional odds.
Profit = Stake x Fractional Odds = $50 x 5/2 = $125
Decimal odds
Decimal odds are widely used with a variety of sportsbooks perhaps because it consists of the simplest formula to calculate for the profit. Contrary to fractional odds, decimal odds allow a bettor to calculate their winnings based on a unit of the wager. As its name implies, decimal odds are represented by a decimal number.
For instance, a decimal odds of 2.0 implies that for every dollar that is placed as a wager, a bettor has a chance of gaining $2 in profit.
The formula to calculate for the profit based on decimal odds is multiplying your overall stake with the odds, and subtracting your overall stake from the product.
Profit = (Stake x Odds) – Stake = ($50 x 2.0) – $50 = $50
American odds
Another type of betting odds is the American odds or the Moneyline odds, which are widely used in American sportsbooks. American odds can be represented as either positive or negative odds. Positive odds represent the profit that a bettor can gain if they make a hundred dollar bet.
On the other hand, negative odds represent the wager they need to place in order to make a hundred dollar profit. An important thing to note is that when you are betting with positive odds, you are likely placing a wager on the underdog. Betting with negative odds means that you are placing a wager on the more favored team.
Positive Odds (+150)
Profit = (Stake / $100) x Positive Odds = ($50 / $100) x 150 = $75
Negative Odds (-150)
Profit = (Stake / Negative Odds) x $100 = ($50 / 150) x $100 = $33.33
Implied probability
In parallel with the positive and negative odds, you need to have a good understanding of implied probability. Implied probability is simply determining your chances of winning in a bet.
For positive odds, the implied probability can be calculated by adding 100 to the odds and using the sum as the denominator of 100.
On the other hand, the implied probability for negative odds can be calculated by adding 100 to the odds and using the sum as the denominator of the negative odds.
Implied Probability for Positive Odds = 100 / (Positive Odds + 100) = 100 / (150 + 100) = 0.4
Implied Probability for Negative Odds = 150 / (Negative Odds + 100) = 150 / (150 + 100) = 0.6
In the example above, rooting for the underdog means that you have a 40% chance of winning while betting on the team favorite will give you a 60% chance of winning.
With a keen insight on the implied probability of your odds, you will be able to make better bets.
Push
Apart from the odds that you need to consider in betting, you also need to understand the concept of a push. A push can directly affect your payout but simply put, a push happens when there is a tie.
Some games allow the final result to be a tie and in these sports, you can bet on a tie as the outcome.
However, pushes are not often seen as you are betting on the money line. Rather, when a tie happens, you will be simply refunded of your money.
Sports betting is a unique form of paid entertainment that you can be successful with. But in order to do so, try to familiarize yourself with betting odds and the different kinds of it.
Doing so will allow you to have an insight on your chances of winning based on the more informed bets that you place. As a result, you will have a better chance of gaining from the bet you have placed.
Use calculators for betting odds available in the sportsbooks, if you have to, in order to make sure that you have calculated for it accurately.
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