Betting Odds Explained How to Read Betting Odds in the US November 2025_3

How To Read Betting Odds: A Step By Step Guide

Though the format they’re shown in and the calculations that determine your winnings change, betting odds are always a measure of how likely a sportsbook finds an outcome. Just like in all the betting odds explained in this guide, the higher your risk, the higher your potential payout. Use parlays to string together several bets and, with a little luck, you could be in for a big payday. With these betting odds, you are wagering on whether the favored team in a matchup will not only win, but win by more than the number of points that the provider is estimating. But if you’re new to sports betting, all the information may seem a bit overwhelming.

Calculating Losses/Winnings from Odds

A comprehensive understanding can help you identify the best value provided by sportsbooks, now head over to our odds comparison tool for the best NFL odds and much more. As you can see, I get a much better return if I put my money on the Jets. Sorry Jets fans, but that’s because this particular sportsbook has determined that they’re much less likely to win. The bigger a positive number in moneyline odds, the longer the odds and the less likely it is that the team will win (according to the sportsbook, anyway).

Read our full and comprehensive Sportsbook reviews to find the best sportsbook for you or check out thebest free bet bonuses being offered. For instance, if New York is favored by 10 points, you can lower the spread down to three points and so on with other games that you chose. The drawback with teasers, though, is that the bettors will typically wager a lot more than they’ll win.

The number after a + sign tells you the amount you would win on a $100 bet. So, if you put $100 on at +100 you would get $100 in profit plus your $100 back, giving you a total return of $200. Do you have to be a math genius to understand sports betting odds?

Before making a bet, a bettor may want to take into account the profit and their wager to work out the percentage return if they win. Here you will learn everything there is to know about betting odds, how to read different configurations, the best ways to utilise your preferred format, and how to convert betting odds. Decimal odds are a little less common and get used when we begin to deal with much larger numbers as they can be much easier to read than traditional fractions. A good rule of thumb is that the favorites will be given odds between 1 and 2.

What is the difference between the moneyline and the spread?

When Las Vegas sportsbooks set odds, and this is what is referred to as Vegas odds. It doesn’t depend on the final score of the game, but rather on little things like how many goals or points a player will score, corners taken by a team, and so on. Let’s break this down again with a smaller, $5 wager to show the simplicity of decimal odds. The Packers narrowly edge out the Lions due to a tie, but this game will significantly impact divisional rankings. Coaches Dan Campbell and Matt LaFleur know the importance of winning the division for a playoff bye, making this a high-stakes game.

This is negative value that is a losing proposition in the long run. With fractional odds, it’s all about how much you need to bet to earn back a return. But if the fractions are confusing, many US sportsbooks allow you to switch odds formats in your account settings.

However, in a “teaser” bet, the point-spreads and totals are adjusted to lower the bettor’s risk. A parlay bet combines two or more individual wagers and is dependent on each bet winning together. As a result, a parlay bet pays out higher because the chances of winning dependent on more than one outcome. To determine the implied probability of positive odds, you‘ll divide 100 by the original odds, plus 100. The equation would be 100 divided by 450 (the sum of online casino license curacao +350 + 100) to get the implied probability of 22.2%.

  • This is one of the most straightforward ways of determining how much you will win from a bet and is a quick and simple way to understand the probability of an event happening.
  • Fractional odds might be 7/2, meaning you could win $7 for every $2 wagered.
  • Dak Prescott leads the hopeful Cowboys, yet the team’s weak defense remains a concern.
  • Underdogs, on the other hand, are expected to lose and have higher odds.

The Pirates are the underdogs and are +1.5 on the run line, but the odds are still “+” at +120. With a $100 wager, you’d win $120 if the Pirates win outright or lose by one run. College football betting odds are almost the same as those in the NBA and NFL, but I’ll use Penn State to provide some examples. The two most popular markets are the moneyline and total rounds. Here, you’ll need to wager $110 to win $100, and the goal of the wager is for the 76ers to not only win the game but to do so by more than three points.

The UK Bookmaker Awards analysed masses of data to conclude that SBK offer the best football odds around, with bet365 given the equivalent accolade for horse racing. AK Bets are another that are well-known for their aggressive pricing stratey, so all three should be top of your list when shopping around for the best odds. Below, you’ll find some other examples of how to read betting odds, in what will become a simpler process as you gain more experience in betting.

Newbie bettors usually have issues understanding what betting odds represent in this format, but it’s easy once you figure out what the numbers stand for. Its already know that Bovada is one of the better online sportsbooks for players to sign up for. The fact that there are so many betting options on this sportsbook makes it known to be a better site as well.

While these odds are more or less the same across the sports, I want to use some examples below so you’ll have no questions regarding how betting odds are explained and displayed. You’ll find betting odds across all sports, including the NBA, NFL, UFC, MLB, and more, no matter which Pennsylvania sportsbooks you play at. If you have ever bet on sports, or have listened to pundits or sharps talk about sports betting, you must be familiar with betting odds. Often they’re around –110 on both sides, meaning you risk $110 to win $100 whether you choose the over or the under.

The traditional format for betting odds in the UK is fractional. At first glance, fractional betting odds can look very confusing, but they’re reasonably straightforward once you know your way around them. Although there’s no ‘correct’ betting odds format, some are certainly more confusing than others to the layperson. When considering betting odds, keep in mind that they don’t directly represent the true chances of something happening. Learn how to read odds, including Vegas correctly and you will be able to calculate what your exact return will be if your bet is correct.