If you are planning to start sports betting–be it to make money or just to have a new hobby–one of the first things that you need to educate yourself about is the odds.
You probably have heard of the term “odds” or read about it, but you may not have an idea what it is. To help you better understand tomorrow’s match prediction, here is everything you need to know about the types of odds and how each one works.
How many types of odds are used in cricket betting?
There are three most common types of odds used both in traditional sports betting as well as online sports betting. They are decimal odds, Moneyline odds, and fractional odds. They all represent the probability of winning, but just in different ways.
Decimal or European odds
Decimal odds are also called as European odds. However, this format of odds is also widely used in other countries and regions such as Australia, Canada, and as well as New Zealand.
Decimal odds are actually pretty simple. It indicates the amount your base bet will be multiplied should you win on the bet. Take for example, an odds of 2.50 for a team. If you placed a $1 bet on it and it won, you would get your bet back plus the base amount multiplied by 2.50–making it a total of $3.50.
Moneyline or American Odds
Moneyline odds are used only within the United States. In this type of odds, there are two main categories that you should know about: the favorites and the underdogs. The team or player that is on the favorites is distinguished by the negative or minus sign preceding their odds number. For example, -200. On the other hand, the underdog is distinguished by a positive or plus sign preceding the odds number (+).
No matter the category, the absolute value of the odds number indicates the amount of money a player would make a profit for every $100 bet that they make. For example, if a favorite team has an odds of -200, this means you have to bet $100 in order to get a total payout of $300, should your bet win.
Fractional or UK odds
As the name implies, this type of odds is presented in the form of a fraction. It is usually written with a slash symbol separating the two numbers. Sometimes though, the hyphen symbol is used (similar to a dash “-”).
Fractional odds show how much profit you can make for a winning bet per unit of bet that you make. As such, and odds of 6/1 means that if you win on this bet, you will get 6 units per 1 unit that you have wagered.
As an example, think of this situation. If you bet $1 on an odds of 6/1 and you won, you will receive a payout of $78. How did that happen? It’s simple: you get back the $1 that you have wagered, plus you get 6 times the value of it and thus making your total payout to $7. If you wagered $10, the total payout would be $70.
Final thoughts
If you are looking to dive deep into the world of online sports betting, knowing all the types of odds and how each one works is a necessary skill. However, knowing them is not a guaranteed pass to winning.
Whether you will win big or not stool depends on your strategy and, of course, your luck. Regardless, sports betting is meant not only for earning money through bets but, most of all, having fun!