50 1 Odds Explained
When dealing with American odds on 50/50 markets like total points or point spread the margin is quite simple to recognise. For example the market on an NBA game may be offering an over/under points total of +/-214.5 points. In this market, without any bookmaker edge. However, each single bet within a multiple must win in order for the bet as a whole to win. This Bet Calculator allows bettors to calculate the potential Payout for any single bet and has a simple ‘Add Odds’ function to calculate the Payout for a multiple bet. It might be one of the most basic calculations in betting but using the Bet. To convert decimal odds to fractional, subtract 1.00 and then find the nearest whole integers (so 3.75 - 1.00 becomes 2.75/1, or 11/4). To convert moneyline odds to decimal, if the moneyline is positive, divide by 100 and add 1. If it is negative, divide 100 by the moneyline amount (without the minus sign) and add 1.
Fixed-odds betting is a form of wagering against odds offered by a bookmaker or an individual or on a bet exchange. It involves betting on an event in which there is no fluctuation on the payout. In Australia, the practice is usually known as 'SP betting'.
Calculating fixed odds[edit]
It is customary with fixed-odds gambling to know the odds at the time of the placement of the wager (the 'live price'), but the category also includes wagers whose price is determined only when the race or game starts (the 'starting prices'). It is ideal for bookmakers to price/mark up a book such that the net outcome will always be in their favour: the sum of the probabilities quoted for all possible outcomes will be in excess of 100%. The excess over 100% (or overround) represents profit to the bookmaker in the event of a balanced/even book. In the more usual case of an imbalanced book, the bookmaker may have to pay out more winnings than what is staked or may earn more than mathematically expected. An imbalanced book may arise since there is no way for a bookmaker to know the true probabilities for the outcome of competitions left to human effort or to predict the bets that will be attracted from others by fixed odds compiled on the basis personal view and knowledge.
With the advent of Internet and bet exchange betting, the possibility of fixed-odds arbitrage actions and Dutch books against bookmakers and exchanges has expanded significantly. Betting exchanges in particular act like a stock exchange, allowing the odds to be set in the course of trading between individual bettors, usually leading to quoted odds that are reasonably close to the 'true odds.'
'The best of it'[edit]
In making a bet where the expected value is positive, one is said to be getting 'the best of it'. For example, if one were to bet $1 at 10 to 1 odds (one could win $10) on the outcome of a coin flip, one would be getting 'the best of it' and should always make the bet (assuming a rational and risk-neutral attitude with linear utility curves and have no preferences implying loss aversion or the like). However, if someone offered odds of 10 to 1 that a card chosen at random from a regular 52 card deck would be the ace of spades, one would be getting 'the worst of it' because the chance is only 1 in 52 that the ace will be chosen.
In an entry for L'Encyclopédie (the Enlightenment-era 'French Encyclopedia'), Denis Diderot cites a similar example in which two players, Player A and Player B, wager over a game of dice that involves rolling two six-sided dice. Player A wins if the dice add up to 12, of which there is only one possible case. Player B wins if the dice fall in any other combination, of which there are 35 possibilities.[1] It is mathematically disadvantageous to make a bet if one gets'the worst of it.' Accordingly, for the bet to be 'fair,' the amount each player could potentially lose or gain from the wager should be adjusted, depending on the odds of their success.
Laying odds[edit]
When making a bet in which one must put more at risk than one can win, one is laying the odds. Rational bettors will do so only if the actual chances of an adverse outcome are low enough that the expected outcome even after deduction of taxes and any transaction costs is favorable to the person placing the bet. For example, if one bets $1,000 that it will rain tomorrow and can win only $200 but can lose the entire $1,000, one is laying odds that will rain tomorrow. Laying odds is reflected in the colloquial expression '[I would] dollars to doughnuts' — with which the speaker is expressing a willingness to risk losing something of value in exchange for something worthless, because winning that bet is a certainty.[2]
Lay betting[edit]
'Lay betting' is a bet that something will not happen, so 'laying $50 on a horse' is betting the horse will not win. Bookmakers sell bets based on the odds of a specific outcome, but lay betting allows the bettor (in some English-speaking countries, the 'punter') to reverse roles with the bookmaker, using odds to sell the opposite outcome to the bookmaker. In this context, 'lay' is used in the sense of 'layman', i.e., a bet sold by someone who does not sell bets professionally.
Types of odds offered[edit]
There are three widely used means of quoting odds:
Fractional odds[edit]
Favoured by bookmakers in the United Kingdom and Ireland and common in horse racing, fractional odds quote the net total that will be paid out to the winning bettor relative to the stake. The term 'fractional odds' is something of a misnomer, especially when visually reinforced by using a slash (as opposed to, e.g., a colon or the word 'to' or 'on') to separate a potential gain from the amount that a bettor must wager in order to receive it upon a win, because the 'fraction' in question represents not the odds of winning or even the reciprocal of the odds of winning but rather the fraction (for any odds longer than 'even money' or chances of winning less than 50%, an improper fraction) of the amount at stake that the upside outcome represents. This fraction may be derived by subtracting 1 from the reciprocal of the chances of winning; for any odds longer than 'even money,' this fraction will be an improper one.[3][4] Odds of 4:1 ('four-to-one' or less commonly 'four-to-one against') would imply that the bettor stands to make a £400 profit on a £100 stake. If the odds are 1:4 (read 'one-to-four', or alternatively 'four-to-one on' or 'four-to-one in favor'), the bettor stands to make £25 on a £100 stake. In either case, against or on, should he win, the bettor always receives his original stake back, so if the odds are 4:1 the bettor receives a total of £500 (£400 plus the original £100). Odds of 1/1 are known as evens or even money.
Not all fractional odds are traditionally read using the lowest common denominator. Perhaps most unusual is that odds of 10:3 are read as 'one-hundred-to-thirty'.
Fractional odds are also known as British odds,UK odds,[5] or, in that country, traditional odds.
Decimal odds[edit]
50/1 Odds Explained
Favoured in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, decimal odds differ from fractional odds by taking into account that the bettor must first part with their stake to make a bet; the figure quoted, therefore, is the winning amount that would be paid out to the bettor.[4][6] Therefore, the decimal odds of an outcome are equivalent to one plus the decimal value of the fractional odds; in the absence of built-in house advantage to cover overhead, profit margins, or (for an illegal enterprise) compensation for the fact that both chances of prosecution and penalties in the event of conviction tend to be higher for bookmakers than for clients, the decimal odds associated with a given outcome would be the decimal expression of the reciprocal of what the offering party assesses to be the outcome's chance of occurring.[7] Thus, even odds 1/1 are quoted in decimal odds as 2. The 4/1 fractional odds discussed above are quoted as 5, while the 1/4 odds are quoted as 1.25. It is considered to be ideal for parlay betting because the odds to be paid out are simply the product of the odds for each outcome wagered on.
Decimal odds are also known as European odds, digital odds or continental odds and tend to be favoured by betting exchanges because they are the easiest to work with for trading, in this case the purchase and sale of upside and downside risk.[5]
Moneyline odds[edit]
Moneyline odds are favoured by United States bookmakers and as such are sometimes called American Odds.[4] There are two possibilities: the figure quote can be either positive or negative. Moneyline refers to odds on the straight-up outcome of a game with no consideration to a point spread.
- Positive figures
- If the figure quoted is positive, the odds are quoting how much money will be won on a $100 wager (done if the odds are better than even). Fractional odds of 4/1 would be quoted as +400 while fractional odds of 1/4 cannot be quoted as a positive figure.
- Negative figures
- If the figure quoted is negative, the moneyline odds are quoting how much money must be wagered to win $100 (this is done if the odds are worse than even). Fractional odds of 1/4 would be quoted as −400 while fractional odds of 4/1 cannot be quoted as a negative figure.
- Even odds
- Even odds are quoted as +100 or −100. Some but not all bookmakers display the positive symbol.
Odds conversion[edit]
To convert fractional odds to decimal, take the fractional number, convert it to decimal by doing the division, and then add 1. For example, the 4-to-1 fractional odds shown above is the same as 5 in decimal odds, while 1-to-4 would be quoted as 1.25.
The method for converting moneyline to decimal odds depends on whether the moneyline value is positive or negative. If the moneyline is positive, it is divided by 100 and add 1. Thus, +400 moneyline is the same as 5.0 in decimal odds. If the moneyline is negative, 100 is divided by the absolute moneyline amount (the minus signed is removed), and then 1 is added. For example, −400 moneyline is 100/400 + 1, or 1.25, in decimal odds.
| Decimal | Fractional | Moneyline | Win% (to break even) | Return (minus stake) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.01 | 1/100 | −10,000 | 99.01% | 1.00% |
| 1.11 | 1/9 | −900 | 90.00% | 11.11% |
| 1.33 | 1/3 | −300 | 75.00% | 33.33% |
| 1.50 | 1/2 | −200 | 66.67% | 50.00% |
| 2.00 | 1/1 | ±100 | 50.00% | 100.00% |
| 3.00 | 2/1 | +200 | 33.33% | 200.00% |
| 4.00 | 3/1 | +300 | 25.00% | 300.00% |
| 10.00 | 9/1 | +900 | 10.00% | 900.00% |
| 101.00 | 100/1 | +10,000 | 0.99% | 10,000.00% |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Wager'. University of Michigan Library. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
- ^Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1982).
- ^'Betting School: Understanding Fractional & Decimal Betting Odds'. Goal. 10 January 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ^ abcCortis, Dominic (2015). Expected Values and variance in bookmaker payouts: A Theoretical Approach towards setting limits on odds. Journal of Prediction Markets. 1. 9.
- ^ ab'Betting Odds Format'. World Bet Exchange. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ^D., Chris. 'What is Fixed odds betting and Due Column betting?'. TBR. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ^'Fractional Odds'. betstarter.com/. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
External links[edit]
Welcome to the Sports Betting Odds section of The Sports Geek. If you are new to sports betting and don’t understand how to read betting odds (+150, -110, +2200, etc) we will lay it all out for you and help you learn how the betting odds work.
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Sports Betting Odds Explained
Many people don’t know how to read or calculate sports betting odds, so below we have done our best on explaining how betting odds work. The most common type of sports betting odds used in North America are the American style odds which we explain below.
Is 9 1 Odds Good
American Style Sports Betting Odds
Most online sportsbooks will list their odds in what is called “American Odds”. There are a couple different versions of sports betting odds, but these American Odds are the most common odds used. Reading and understanding sports betting odds can bet a little confusing to beginners, so we have provided an example below using two NFL football teams:
American Odds
- Matchup Odds
- New England Patriots +120
- Pittsburgh Steelers -140
The number shown in the bracket represents the odds. The American Odds have two components to them, the first being the positive or negative sign, and the second being the number that follows the sign.
The sign in front of the number indicates whether placing a wager on that outcome will pay out more money then you have wagered or less money then you have wagered. If the odd is negative (-) it means that outcome is more likely to happen and placing a bet on that outcome would payout less than the amount you wagered, while a positive (+) odd shows that the outcome is less likely to happen and it would pay out more than the amount you wagered.
The next step is figuring out exactly how much the bet pays out, which is where the numbers in the odds come into play.
A listed odd with a – sign in front of it, such as the -140 in our example above, shows us how much money you would need to wager in order to win $100. So using the -140, this would show us that you would need to bet $140 in order to win $100 in profits. You can easily substitute the $100 bet for a $10 bet by moving the decimal place over one spot, showing us that you would need to wager $14 in order to win $10 in profits.
Examples:
A listed odd with a + sign in front of it, such as the +120 in our example above, shows us how much money you would win on a $100 bet. Using the +120 odds, it shows us that a $100 bet on that outcome would pay out $120 in profits. Again this can easily be converted into smaller or larger size bets. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits.
Examples:
Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site.
50 1 Odds Explained Odds
In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet pays $100).
The great thing about betting online is that the online sportsbooks will do the calculations for you before you place your bet. You can click on the outcome or team you would like to bet on, and then input the amount you wish to wager and it will show you your potential pay out before you confirm your bet.
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Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds
Decimal style odds are used mostly in Europe, and are pretty easy to understand. To calculate the decimal style odds all you will need to do is simply multiply the amount you wish to wager by the decimal odds shown and you will get your payout. For example it may look something like this:
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on the USA at 2.40 you would simply need to multiply your $10 wager by the 2.40 odds (10 x 2.40) to find out that the payout is $24. It is important to realize that with decimal style odds it includes the amount you wagered, so to find out profits you would need to subtract your wager ($24 – $10) to find out your potential payout is $14 in profits.
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on Brazil you would again just multiply $10 x 1.55 to find out that you would win $15.50 total or $5.50 in profits.
Decimal style betting odds are very simple to understand, but you won’t see them displayed in many North American sportsbooks. With that said, most online betting sites will allow you to chose the style of betting odds you want displayed, with American odds set as the default.