Footall betting odds explained
For anyone looking to get into betting, it is crucial to know what your chances to win are and how much you will get paid out. In this text, you will see football betting odds explained.
When you are betting on football, for each odd you bet on, there will be a potential outcome if you win. This potential outcome can be shown in 3 ways: decimal odds, fractional odds and the Amercian format.
Betting formats
Decimal format explained
The decimal format is the most widely used format in the world. It is very simple to understand. Odds are displayed by using 2 decimal places. So, and example would be if we have a 3.0 odd. In that case, we can potentially get a total return of triple what we staked. It is important to keep in mind that your profit isn't triple the amount you staked, but rather double in this case. In order to get the profit from these kinds of odds you need to substract 1 from the odd and then multiply that by the stake. The formula for the profit would be (odd-1)*stake. Sharp Odds Maker displays odds in this format.
In order to get probabilities for this format you need to divide 1 by the odd. For example, if the odd was 3.0, the chance for you to win would be 1/3 = 0.33. You would need to multiply this value by 100 in order to get your chance to win. In this case it would be 33%. You will most likely be getting odds from a bookmaker. Bookmakers always lower the odd by an amount to make sure they profit on average, so you need to keep that in mind when calculating your chance to win. With Sharp Odds Maker, you can see how much every major bookmaker profits on bets for all upcoming matches.
Betting formats
Fractional format explained
The fractional format is most commonly used in football betting odds in the UK. The most important thing to keep in mind when using this format is that it represents the potential profit you might enjoy. The odds are shown in fractions, e.g. 4/1. This means that the odds are 4 to 1. In this case, the punter would get a profit of 4 units for every unit they choose to stake. If the odd was 1/5, that would mean that you would need to take 5 units in order to win 1.
Betting formats
American (moneyline) format explained
The American format, a.k.a. moneyline is mostly used in the US. This odds format has a positive and a negative value. The positive format represents the profit you can make if you bet $100. So, if the odd is +300, that means that you will make a profit of $300 if you stake $100. As for the negative format, it displays the amount of money you need to stake in order to make a profit of $100. If the odd was -150, that would mean that you would need to stake $150 in order to potentially make a profit of $100.
