Betting Odds: Why and What to Pay Attention to

Odds are a part of betting and mean nothing more than the pay-off. The higher the odds, the lower the return – every time!

The ‘odds’ have to do with three things:

1. In sports betting they refer to how likely it is that a victory will come from a certain team.
2. They help to calculate the betting pay-off.
3. The odds are always calculated by the bookmaker, which means that they have a mathematical advantage – after all, it also has to be about making money – and this is where many players go wrong.

Bookmakers play with their advantages consciously and even deceive customers. Of course, they would be out of business if they did not. This is why it is important to know some odds basics and some tricks.

The ‘odds’, so-called because in money sports betting, the higher the payout for a successful bet, the worse the odds are. In most cases they are expressed as a ratio: 5/1 means that a winning bet on a certain result will bring in five times as much as the money placed.

In sports betting, there are many different types of odds:

•     American/commission-free – this type of odds is offered by bookies that have no legal require­ments or commissions to follow. This means that only the ‘house odds’ are offered.
•     Fractional – this type of odds is very common outside the USA and they are most often used for betting on football games. If someone wants to bet that their team will win, then they can find out how much money they would get if they won by looking at the first number in the fraction. For example, 1/1 means that in order to win one Euro, you need to bet one Euro (or dollar in the USA).
•     Decimal – these odds are most common when betting on football games in Europe and they can be used for all types of sports. They are also called European-style odds. If someone wants to bet that their team will win then they look at the number on the right of the decimal point. If it is 5, then they can bet five euros for every Euro they want to win. With 1/1 they would get one Euro for every Euro they bet.

There are also odds with an initial ‘minus’. For example, if someone bets on their team to lose, then this is expressed with odds that are higher than 100%. This means that they have to bet more money than the amount of the winnings in order for their bet to be successful.

A relatively new form of betting is so-called ‘Asian handicap’ odds. Here the bookie calculates a goal difference for each team and takes it as a basis. The difference is then subtracted from the winning number, which means that even if you bet on the weaker side you still have a chance of winning – but there is usually also a higher payout involved.

For example: If we take Borussia Dortmund for the home game against FC Liverpool and compare the odds of a win, a draw, and a loss for the English side, you can see how different they are:

Win – 1.57 Draw – 3.40 Loss – 9.00

If we say that Dortmund has a ‘minus’ goal difference (-0.25) then their odds would be as follows:

Win – 1.33 Draw – 3.15 Loss – 7.50

It is important to know the basics in order to make a good bet because you can see that betting on a victory for Borussia Dortmund would mean a better payout than if you were to bet on a victory for Liverpool. This also means that Dortmund has a greater chance of winning and that the odds are in their favor.

The above example is just one of many possibilities that bookmakers use in order to trick uneducated players. However, if you know what you’re doing these tricks can be overcome quite easily and you would have made a good bet. Each casino has a different set of odds, for instance, N1 Bet best odds. So by understanding their differences, you’re armed. Good luck!