Sports Betting Odds Explained: A New Bettors Guide

With a point spread, both teams can be wagered on at -110 and that is a common line set by reputable sportsbooks. So, if you bet on either team, a $110 ticket brings $100 in profit. As you can see in the above chart, a bettor betting the favorite has to lay the odds to win $100, while the bettor betting the underdog will win the odds when betting $100. The greater the favorite, the more money you risk for a smaller return.

Reading and understanding odds is the first step in becoming a savvy sports bettor. Throughout this article, we’ll break down the different odds formats (American, decimal, and fractional) and show how they translate to probability and potential profits. We’ll also cover examples of point spreads, moneylines, and totals (over/under) bets. You’d also know that the bookmaker who set the odds ranks the team’s chances of winning as one in every three times the game is played. Baseball betting odds are also commonly displayed in decimal, fractional or moneyline formats.

American odds

Because of its global reach and reasonable pricing in the basketball and soccer markets, bet365 frequently leads in terms of value. A parlay is when multiple bets are combined into one bet slip. All of the bets have to be successful for the parlay to pay out.

How do plus or minus odds work?

Each page is crafted specifically for an individual sport making it easier for bettors to learn the ins and outs of betting on whichever sport they choose. As we said before, 4/7 odds are less than 1 so in this case, the bettor must risk $7 to win $4 from the wager. Then, 3/2 are more than 1 so when risking $2, the bettor will win $3 off the wager. As you can see, the payouts are in the fractional odds, you just need to know which way they go based on if they represent a value greater than or less than one.

The amount of money you can win, the likelihood of a certain outcome, and the amount of risk you’re taking are all displayed by betting odds aka the price. A key reason why is the lack of a good understanding of betting odds. So, an NFL team carrying odds of +130 will be deemed the underdog, and if you return a successful bet, you would make $130 in profit off a $100 bet. The favorite may have odds of -120, so you would need to bet $120 to return a $100 profit.

So if you’re betting on the Yankees at -130, you need to risk $130 and will win stake casino $100 if New York wins the game (plus your original $130 back). If you win a bet, you’ll receive the payout, plus your original wager back. So a $100 bet at +150 would return $150 in profit plus your $100 stake back to your account, resulting in a total payout of $250. Any odds with a minus sign (like -110) indicate that you must risk more than you’ll win — a $110 bet at -110 would win $100. Any betting odds with a plus sign (like +150) means you’ll win more than you risked — a $100 bet at +150 wins $150.

Odds represent the probability of an event occurring and dictate the potential payout from a sports bet. They can be presented in numerous formats including fractions, decimal and moneyline odds. Every bettor will have their individual preference of how odds are shown, while different formats are used in different parts of the world. Negative odds in moneyline betting represent the amount you need to wager to potentially win $100.

This allows bettors to wager not only on the winner but over or under the bookmaker’s predicted point spread. If you’re new to sports betting, understanding how odds work is crucial. Whether you’re betting in a casino, on sports, or on any other event, knowing how to read and interpret different types of odds is key to placing smart bets. Online sports bettingisn’t easy – if it was, everyone would be swimming in money.

Conversely, the odds for a slight underdog will be a small positive number, and the odds for a huge underdog will be a large positive number. Moneyline bets with odds of “pick ‘em” (meaning that both teams are given an equal chance of winning) are also priced at -110 to cover a 10% vig. The odds shown below are for an NBA playoff game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks. Note that while the Clippers were the home team in this matchup, the oddsmakers installed the Mavericks as the favorite on the moneyline. Regardless of the odds, the payout on a winning bet includes both the amount of profit from the bet and the bet itself.

Different betting sites may present odds in different formats, so being familiar with each type is valuable to bettors. Reading sports betting odds depends on which odds you are reading. For fractional odds, 2/1 means that 1 is your stake and 2 is your winnings. Football betting odds are typically displayed in decimal, fractional or moneyline formats. In decimal odds, you might see odds like 2.50 on a football game, indicating that for every $1 wagered, you could win $2.50, including your original stake.

Fractional odds are self-explanatory in that they display odds as a fraction. In terms of projected winnings, it is fairly simple to read odds – simply put, the number on the right of the fraction is what you’d need to stake in order to win the number on the left. If you want to convert fractional odds to decimal odds, just divide the figure before the slash by the one after it and add one. Therefore, fractional odds of 5/2 are equal to decimal odds of 3.5.

How to Read Sports Odds: A Look at Moneyline Odds

• In some states, it may be essential to learn sports betting laws before you try to sign up for an account.
• Generally, the NFL draws in the most significant betting handle, with the Super Bowl being the largest betting event of the year.
• For instance, if New York is favored by 10 points, you can lower the spread down to three points and so on with other games that you chose.

The reason for this is that some sports have betting odds available that others do not. Some sports betting odds can be broken down into a half or quarters while others are just for the entire duration of a match or game. For instance, you cannot really compare the NASCAR or PGA odds with NFL, and vice versa.

Players will flock towards Bovada and one main reason for that is because of the betting odds that are offered to players. In American sports betting, odds are typically expressed with a plus (+) or minus (–) symbol followed by a number. For example, +200 signifies the amount a bettor could win if wagering $100. If the bet works out, the player would receive a total payout of $300 ($200 profit + $100 initial stake).

A comprehensive understanding can help you identify the best value provided by sportsbooks, now head over to our odds comparison tool for the best NFL odds and much more. Do you have to be a math genius to understand sports betting odds? You don’t need to crunch numbers in a calculator or scrawl Einstein-style formulae across a giant whiteboard to get to the bottom of betting odds. They’re easy to read when you know how they work, and our guide on betting odds explained is here to explain exactly that, so let’s get started.