Reading and understanding sports betting odds is essential for any aspiring sports bettor. It takes some time to get into the swing of things, but this is a step every newcomer must take. Once you know how to interpret sports betting odds nothing will stand in the way of your success.
Sports betting odds describe various factors and topics in the world of online gambling. These odds describe, among other things, bet sizes, payout sizes, and the value held in a betting line. These are all important things that you must understand before placing any substantial bets.
Sports betting is a skill that can be trained. This article will break down and explain to new bettors how to read and interpret all of the most important betting odds. Let’s jump in.
Do Sports Bookies Offer Different Types of Odds?
When new bettors enter the sports betting arena they are often confronted with many pluses, minuses, and numbers. None of these will make any sense to anyone who has no background knowledge. It may just look like a big, jumbled mess to newcomers.
It’s a pretty basic concept to understand and master, once you do a bit of research, however. All of these symbols and numbers mean the same thing – they tell you how much you’ll win if your bet hits.
In other words, these odds refer to the percentage of chance you may have to win. Experts in the sports betting industry call this implied probability. Let’s look at an example.
Say you come across an odds equation that stands at 600/100. Adding the numbers from either side of the division symbol will give you the house or bookies’ edge. This represents the chance that the bookies will win the bet. The higher this percentage is, the more you stand to win should your bet be accurate.
So, when making bets, you can either play it safe by going for a bet with a lower implied probability scale. However, if you want to take an underdog bet, and perhaps make some bigger winnings, then you should go for the reverse type of gamble.
Are there Variations Across Countries?
It’s important to remember that the odds always look different depending on where the bookies are situated. In a way, this is similar to how you’ll find different currency options available at online casinos. For example, when you play online NZ casino games, you’ll wager in NZ$, but when you play in Canada, your bet will be in CA$. A similar principle applies in sports betting. In Britain, bookies use odds called fractional odds. These look something like the odd presented above. They typically use a dash or a hyphen to separate chance.
The American betting system uses what experts refer to as money line odds. Plus and minus symbols represent American money line odds. The minus indicates the amount you must stake to claim a win. The plus represents how much you stand to win should you come out successful.
The European betting system uses decimal points. Continental odds are what they’re called in European countries. According to experts, the decimal point betting system is the simplest of the bunch. The decimal point in the odds presentation represents every $1 wagered. If you know how these variations work, you can convert them and wager on your chosen sport with ease.