Being a fan of sports is an exciting thing to be–you get to cheer for your favorite team or player, you get to feel the excitement and the thrill, of each game even though you are not playing with your favorite team, and you can even bet on the games played–and win real money along the way.
However, before you bet on sports, you have to understand the basics of it first, especially when it comes to online sports betting. One thing you can do is to read betting sites in India detailed reviews, among other things. Other than that, one of the most important things that you should know about is the odds–what is it, how the bookies use it, and how you should understand it.
What you should know about the odds
A lot of people think that the odds and the lines in sports betting show the probability of a certain team or player winning or showing which side of the game has a better chance of winning it. While that is technically what you would mean by odds, the odds given out by the bookmakers are not always like that.
Most of the time–no, in fact, ALL of the time–sportsbooks give out odds more as a way to balance out their income and turn the number of bets according to their favor. In sports betting, this is called controlling the “action.” At the end of the day, being a sports bookmaker is still a business and just like all businesses, they have to earn money, too. So, what they do is adjust the odds based on the current number of bets that they have on either side of the game, to push more people to bet on the other side. In this way, they ensure that they earn their money no matter how the game would turn out in the end.
Now that you understand how odds work, it’s time to get a better understanding of the different types of odds and how to read them.
The three types of betting odds
There are at least three types of odds in sports betting–American, UK, and European odds. Although they are written in different formats, they all show you the same thing: the probability of a team or player winning against the other (or at least the way the bookies want you to think, and the amount of profit you can make on the bet).
American odds
American odds are also called Moneyline odds. IN this type of odds, you would see two sides of the game–the favorite and the underdog. The favorites would be noted with a negative (-) sign, while the underdogs would have the positive (+) sign.
Reading American or Moneyline odds is simple: you simply take the absolute value of the odds (disregard the sign) and that would be the profit that you can make for every $100 wagered, should you win the bet.
European odds
This is also called decimal odds since it is presented in decimal format. Simply put, all you have to do is multiply your based bet by the odds and that is what you are to win for the bet. So, the odds of 2.5 would be $5 for $2 wagered.
UK odds
Also called the fractional odds, UK odds are–as its name implies–presented as a fraction. It is easy to read, too. The denominator shows the amount to bet while the numerator shows the profit you can make should you win the bet. Thus, odds of 5/1 means you get $5 for every $1 wagered.
