Sportsbetting - Making Sense of the Numbers
by The Sports Girl
One of the most confusing things when you look at
different sportsbooks is the different formats the odds are shown in.
There is Decimal odds, Fraction odds and American odds. I'll explain
each of them to you and you can then decide which one you like and want
to use. Below, the odds for the same game are shown in each of the
different formats.
Decimal Odds (European)
Decimal odds are the most widely used and the easiest
to understand. To figure out what the payout is just multiply your wager
by the number given. Therefore if you bet $100 on Detroit you would
$100x2.7, which is $270 ($170 profit). If you bet $100 on Pittsburgh you
would get $150 if you won ($50 profit).
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example - |
Detroit |
2.7 |
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|
Pittsburgh |
1.5 |
Fraction Odds (British)
Fraction odds are also quite simple and easy to use.
The odds for a team winning are expressed as a fraction. The first
number is the amount you win and the second is the amount you wager. In
this case, if you bet on Detroit you would win $1 for every $2 bid. Once
again you would get $50 in profit on a $100 bet.
| |
example - |
Detroit |
17/10 |
| |
|
Pittsburgh |
1/2 |
American Odds
American odds can be a little confusing but they
aren't as bad as they might look. With American odds, one team will be
given a positive number and the other a negative number. The positive
number is the amount you'll will on a $100 wager. This means you'll
receive $170 in profit if you bet a hundred on Detroit. The minus number
is different. It is the amount you have to bet to win $100. So here you
need to bet $200 to win $100. If you get the two confused just remember
that positive is good (better odds) and negative is worse.
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example - |
Detroit |
+170 |
| |
|
Pittsburgh |
-200 |
If you're still confused and would like to see more examples, a good
place to go is
bet365 because they give you a choice of which format to display
the odds in. Just pick a sport and choose game lines. You can then
view the page in any of the three formats. Basically, they all say the
same thing in a slightly different way. The best thing to do is to
pick the one you like and use it all the time. Not every sportsbook
will offer all three formats but make sure your next sportsbook has
the one you like.
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