What Are Betting Odds?

how do odds work in betting

Sports betting is completely dependent on betting odds. If you know what odds mean, you can interpret any market to your benefit. This is the post where we’re going to learn what is betting odds, how odds are calculated, and how to read betting odds. Let’s go.

What Does Odds Mean in Betting?

“Odds” is perhaps the most used term in the gambling industry. It goes equally for both online and offline gambling establishments. Odds meaning in betting can go 2 different ways. One of the ways is where odds project the likelihood of an event.

Sports betting as a whole is nothing but a prediction game. You predict the outcome of events in advance. If your prediction comes true, you win. You can tell how likely an event is by simply looking at the odds.

As for how odds are calculated, it’s a job taken care of by professionals. All online betting sites have analysts whose job is to evaluate the teams, players, weather conditions, previous match results, venue, and lots of other variables. This is one of the main reasons you don’t see exactly the same odds across multiple online betting sites.

The other role betting odds play is the winning projection. You can tell how much you’re going to win from a bet against the odds. It’s true for all the odds formats you can think of.

How Do Odds Work in Different Countries?

If you want to know what odds mean, you need to learn how to read betting odds. Let us go over the 3 most commonly found formats for betting odds.

British/Fractional Odds

As the name suggests, this format is mostly used by English countries. England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, etc. countries use this format. British odds are also known as fractional odds because it’s represented as a fraction. It’s nothing but a ratio between your profit and stake.

Let’s consider cricket rates to understand how do betting odds work in India. In a match between India and Australia, India gets the odds of 5/2 and Australia gets the odds of 11/2. India is the heavy favourite in this match considering it’s happening within the country. If you bet ₹200 on India and win, you’ll get a ₹500 profit. For Australia, you can win ₹1100 for the same ₹200 stake.

What is betting odds

European/Decimal Odds

The most commonly used format for betting odds. This is also the simplest to understand. All you have to do is multiply the odds by your stake to get the total payout. If we convert the 5/2 odds to decimal, it becomes 3.50. If you wager ₹200 on 3.50 decimal odds and win, you’ll receive a ₹700 payout.

American/Moneyline Odds

Again, the name of the odds indicates that it’s commonly used in North American countries like the USA and Canada. This format uses (+) and (-) signs to separate the underdog and the favourite in the match. If India is the favourite, its odds will have a (-).

(-150) American odds mean you need to wager ₹150 to make a ₹100 profit. And (+150) odds mean you can win ₹150 profit from a ₹100 wager. As usual, you get less money when betting on the favourite team.

Overall

As you can see, it’s not very hard to explain betting odds. By now, you should know how to read cricket bet price in India. While different formats of betting odds are used in different areas of the world, most modern online betting sites let you choose. You can change the format from the website settings anytime you want!

Author
Jarin Ahmed
Like many aspiring writers, Jarin focuses on bringing life to the text for her readers. She is an avid sports lover, growing up in a family obsessed with bookies. She is an expert in the iGaming niche and has secondary obsessions with Gardening and cooking.
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FAQ. Frequently asked questions

  • It’s nothing but a fancy of referring to an over/under market that uses American odds. You get to bet either over or under the prediction projected by the betting site.

  • Betting odds are mathematical projections for the probability of a sports event as well as how much you can win from it.

  • 5 to 1 odds (5/1) mean out of 6 outcomes, 5 will be the same, and 1 will be different. If an outcome gets 5/1 odds, it means there are 5 out of 6 chances it’ll happen.

  • It depends on the teams and what the indicators are. For the most part, minus odds are better for new punters as favourites tend to win in most cases.

  • By comparing the odds at multiple betting sites. Then again, we’ve already done it for you. Instead of looking all over the internet, you can compare the sites we recommend.

  • Different bookmakers have different professionals formulating the odds. Even if they’re using the same variables, the end results aren’t going to be the same.

  • There are but we highly discourage them. Underage gambling is an offence no matter where you are in the world, including India.

  • Primarily, the license and other security features. Then, the usability of the app on your intended device. Finally, you can move on to the sports library, odds, payment methods, and so on.