Football is the most popular sport in the world. It is no surprise then it is also the sport on which the most number of people like to bet. India may be a cricket-first nation but football is also very popular. If you love football and want to bet real money on it, you must know how football betting odds work.
How do football betting odds work?
Odds are nothing but a way of representing probability. A bookmaker will offer you better odds on a team less likely to win. The favorite will get worse odds since the probability of you winning the bet is more.
Odds continue to change depending on the event. People looking to find things to bet on football will be amazed at the variety available. Winner, loser, most goals, time-related events, yellow cards, red cards, offsides, and even potential manager replacements all are available for you to bet on.
Understanding betting odds
Football betting odds are represented as decimals or fractions. They both mean exactly the same, just the manner of representation is different.
Let us take an example to understand:
Manchester United vs Arsenal
Winner:
Manchester United: 1.50
Arsenal: 2.50
This means that Manchester United is the favorite for this game. You can make 1.5 times your betting amount by betting on Manchester United. On the other hand, a bet on Arsenal will get you 2.5 times your betting amount in return.
These same odds can also be represented as:
Manchester United: 1.5/1
Arsenal: 2.5/1
Every Rs.1 bet on Manchester United will get Rs.1.5 in return and 2.5 for a bet on Arsenal.
Once you know how football betting odds work, you can find the best odds to bet on at different sportsbooks. Most importantly, you can also find any betting opportunities where the sportsbook has made an error in calculating the probability.
