Types of sports betting odds explained

Increase betting profits. Sports betting odds explained. Get an easy to understand description of moneyline, point spread, goal spread, over/under and more.

There are three formats to betting odds. This includes the American Betting Odds, the Fractional Odds, and the use of Fractional Odds.

Fractional Odds Explained

The easiest betting odd to understand is the Fractional odds. The Fractional odds is widely used within the United Kingdom and most bookmakers make fractional odds available to bettors. It may be confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it just takes a little time to understand how the odds apply to the real world. More detail is provided within the example, below.

Team A: 2/4
Team B: 6/3

In this example, the first thing you need to determine is the favourite and the underdog. You will need to compare the odds to the ratio of 1. If the fraction is equivalent to less than 1, then that is the favourite team. The fraction that is more than 1 is the underdog.

The risk and profit calculation with the fractional odd is more straightforward. For Team A, you will need to risk £4 to win £2 profit. Your bet is greater than the amount that you can win. For Team B, you will need to wager £3 to win £6 profit.

Mathematically speaking, the numerator (top number of the fraction) represents the profit and the denominator (bottom number of the fraction) is the amount that you need to wager. Looking at our example, the numerators are 2 and 6 for Teams A and B, respectively. And the denominators are 4 and 3 for Teams A and B, respectively.

Fractional odds and decimal odds are important, but can be straightforward to understand, which can make for fun and profitable betting. However, expert betting requires you to explore other types of betting odds to become an all round successful sports gambler.

Decimal Odds Explained

Some bettors may find decimals odds to be rather confusing. The Decimal odds are commonly used in Europe. It is not as straightforward as the American odds and the Fractional odds. Review the following example to give yourself a greater understanding of decimal odds.

Team A: 1.75
Team B: 2.25

Looking at the odds above, what you first need to determine is the favourite and the underdog. As with the fractional and moneyline odd formats, the lesser number is the favourite and the larger number is the underdog.

To begin with, what you can do is to convert these odds to monetary values. Therefore, for Team A, the odd is 1.75. Its monetary value is equivalent to £1.75. This value includes the amount that you wager. This means that you have to wager £1 to win £0.75 profit, which gives you a total of £1.75. For Team B, your £1 wager will earn you £1.25 profit.
The American-style Moneyline Betting Odds, the Point Spread Betting Odds, and the Over/Under Betting Odds are the main types of betting odds that you need to focus on if you are to excel as a sports bettor.

Moneyline Betting Odds Explained

The Moneyline Betting Odds is a straight wager where you simply bet on who will win the game. There is no need to consider how the team won, the score difference between the two teams or the number of goals scored within the match. With a moneyline wager, you will see positive (+) and negative (-) signs. The (+) sign represents the underdog and the (-) sign represents the favourite team.

As opposed to the Point Spread Betting Odds, moneyline does not consider the point margin between the two teams. All you need to worry about is betting on the winning team. This is very straightforward, but you need to know that the wager is different from the other types of betting odds.

With the moneyline wager, there is no point spread and there is a different pay out. The reason that the point spread odds exist is that bookmakers would like to make the playing field more even to the underdog team. Bookmakers are giving the bettors of the underdog team some leeway and making the risk more even for both teams.

To put it simply, the moneyline wager makes you risk more money if you bet on the favourite team. On the other hand, betting on the underdog will return a higher potential profit if they win. Due to the higher probability of the underdog winning on a moneyline wager.

Let us take for example Teams A and B, where Team A is the favourite and Team B is the underdog. A bookmaker may put a -200 wager for Team A and +200 wager for Team B.

Team A: -200 and Team B: +200

This means that for every £2 bet on Team A (favourite), you may win a £1 profit in return. On the other hand, for every £1 bet on Team B (underdog) will give you a £2 profit in return.

With the moneyline wager, there is a huge temptation on betting on the underdog. You only need to invest a small amount of money for a huge return. However, there is little possibility of the underdog winning the fixture, match or event.Point Spread Betting Odds ExplainedPoint spread betting odds is the most common type of wager in many sports where many points are scored within a single match. This type of wager allows bettors to wager on the margin of the scores between the playing teams. This betting odd allows both teams to stand on equal footing through the points handicap. There is no sense in paying the same amount of wager for both teams when clearly; one team is superior to the opposition.

When it comes to betting, the favourite team can win the game but lose the bet if they are not able to win the set number of points that has been wagered on. In the same manner, the underdog can lose the game but win the bet if they lose less than the points that was wagered on.

If for example, you bet on the spread of 5 and chose the favourite team to win, your chosen team will have to win by 5 points to push (return your stake money) or by 6 points for you to win the wager. To push means that by winning at exactly the number wagered on, you will get your money back. In this example, if the favourite team wins by exactly 5 points, you will get the money that you wagered. For you to win the bet, your team should get 6 points or above. You lose the bet if the lead is below 5 points.

As opposed to the moneyline wager, the profit on betting on a point spread is higher when the favourite team wins. This is because with a moneyline wager, you simply choose who will win and there are no points given. Although, pay outs using the point spread may not always be the same, they do not vary as much as the moneyline wager.

Goal Spread or Asian-Handicap Betting Odds Explained

Goal spread betting odds or Asian handicap betting odds is similar to the point spread. However, within football (soccer), score lines are generally lower than many other sports. This means that the possible goals spread is usually smaller.

As with the point spread betting odds, the Asian handicap reduces the perceived difference between the favourite and the underdog.

This type of wager allows bettors to wager on the margin of the scores between the playing teams. These betting odds allow both teams to stand on equal footing through the handicap. There is no sense in paying the same amount of wager for both teams when clearly; one team is better than the other team.

When it comes to betting, the favourite team can win the game but lose the bet if they are not able to win by the set number of points or goals required within the bet. In the same manner, the underdog can lose the game but win the bet if they lose by less than the points or goals within the wager.

If for example, you bet on a basketball match and the spread of 5 points and chose the favourite team to win, your chosen team will have to win by 5 points to push (return your stake money) or by 6 points for you to win the wager. To push means that by winning at exactly the number wagered on, you will get your money back. In this example, if the favourite team wins by exactly 5 points, the bookmaker will return your wager. For you to win the bet, your team should get 6 points or above. You lose the bet if the lead is below 5 points.

As opposed to the moneyline wager, the profit on betting on a point spread is higher when the favourite team wins. This is because with a moneyline wager, you simply choose who will win without any consideration to the points or goals difference between the teams. Although the pay outs using the point spread may not always be the same, they do not vary as much as the moneyline wager.

Over/Under Betting Odds Explained

The Over/Under Betting Odds is probably the most favoured betting odds by wagers around the world. This is because bettors do not necessarily need to favour a team; they just need to predict if the scores are over or under the number that the bookmaker has set. This focuses the game on the attacking and defending ability of the players within each side. The over/under wager lies along the lines of the moneyline and the point spread wagers.

With the over/under wager, the bookmaker researches on the teams before the match and look at the teams’ history and other factors that may affect their performance. After doing all their research, they will announce the predicted combined scores of the two teams. The combined scores is the basis of the under/over wager. The bettor may then choose whether to bet on the score “under” or “over” the bookmaker’s predicted combined score. All you need to do is to pick the winning side for you to win the prize.

For example, bookmakers set 3.5 goals as the over/under total combined goals scored within a football (soccer) match between two playing teams. As a bettor, you can bet two ways. You can either go “over” or “under” the set score total. For the over wager to win, you will need at least 4 goals scored within the match. For the under wager to win, the combined total number of goals must be 3 or less.

A number of different statistics use the over/under bet. You can bet on the total goals within each half, the number of goals scored within a certain period, the total shots on goal by a specific team or goals scored by a certain player.

With this, bettors have several chances to bet on a single game, depending on the betting opportunities that bookmakers offer their bettors before the start of the game. However, as soon as the game starts, the bookmaker can offer increments of different over/under wagers throughout the game. Let us take basketball as an example. One basketball game may consist of four quarters. For each quarter, the bookmaker can put an over/under wager. Bettors can then choose to bet in any one of the quarters, as opposed to betting on the entire game. This gives the bettors several bets that they can put their money on.

The concept of live betting may come into play with the over/under wager. A live bettor can place his bet while the game is in progress, given that the pay out is also adjusted. This gives the bettor more freedom to reform their bet and analyse whether they are betting in line with the flow of the match.

Most bookmakers set the odds with half points. This is to prevent a “push”, wherein bettors can take their money back in case the game turns out to be exactly as the odds. For example, the bookmaker sets the over/under wager at 3 goals and the game ends with a 2-1 score line. In this scenario, the bettors will only get their money back. Essentially, nobody won or lost the wager.

Bookmakers do not like a push as they are not able to generate profit from them. Bookmakers make money out of the winners and losers. For the winners, the bookmakers get a percentage from their winnings. As for the losers, well, they lose their money to the bookmaker.

Other Exotic Betting Odds

Other bettors enjoy the thrill of beating the odds and winning wagers. Bookmakers have accommodated this thrill for betting action by creating a vast number of betting products. The different betting products and methods to bet allows everyone to experience exotic betting styles and products, which to respond to our ever-changing needs. A number of the betting odds work very differently from the ordinary straight bets mentioned above. However, all of them usually revolve around the Point Spread or goal spread betting odds previously mentioned.

Accumulator, Acca or Parlay

The idea behind an Acca is that you have to combine two or more bets to create one bet. One such bet is waging on three teams to win their respective games. In general, an Acca is a long shot as they require several teams to win before you can get a return on your money. However, an Acca will also offer some of the highest profits. You can mix moneyline, point spread, and over/under odds in a single Accca, depending which betting odds you want for each game.

Pleasers

Pleasers are one of the highest paying betting odds there is today. This is because Pleasers use the point or goal spread odds and then deduct the points or goals, which makes it even harder to win. In addition, you will have to combine that with another bet of the same kind to win. You can win huge profits but it is very unlikely that you will come out as a winner, unless you are immensely lucky or you have some information as to how the game will likely go.

Teaser Bets

Teaser Bets work in exactly the opposite way as with Pleasers. With teaser Bets, you can adjust the point or goal spread to make it more favourable for you. The only downside is that as you adjust the spread, you will get lower profits from your wager. However, you are more in control of how you bet and it makes betting more exciting, especially using many of the in play betting features provided by modern bookmakers.

If-Bets

The If-Bets is a combination of two bets, with the first bet activating the second. This means that you will need to win the first bet before the second bet comes into action. If you do not win the first bet, then the second bet will not take effect. This is one good way to increase your bankroll as you can use your winnings from the first wager to bet on the second.

Now that you have the knowledge on the betting fundamentals for beginners, you should have more confidence in engaging in this hobby. Many people have been successful in the betting world. You need to have the discipline to be a responsible bettor and acquire the knowledge you need to be successful. After all, what every bettor hopes to achieve is to win.

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