The word ‘odds' refers to the numerical likelihood of an event occurring. Let us take the example of rolling a six with a dice. The odds of you getting a six are 1 out of 6 possibilities. In betting terms, this would be represented as odds of 5 to 1 against you and so you would get a 5x return on your bet. You need to know what are odds in betting before you can start putting your money on the line.
Why are odds in betting important?
Every event that you want to bet on will have odds next to it. The betting companies arrive at these odds by trying to figure out the probability of something happening and then adding some margin to try and get a profit but as someone looking to make money from betting, you need to know how to read odds to try and find the best opportunities.
How to read odds while betting?
Odds can be written in three different ways. Most websites allow the users to read the odds in their desired format, however, there is no harm in knowing all three.
Fractional Odds
These odds are pretty straightforward to understand and the very commonly used in the UK.
For example:
India: 2/1
England: 1.5/1
In this example, you can get a two times return on your bet if you pick India or 1.5 times by betting on England.
Decimal odds
This is the most common representation of odds around the world.
For example:
India: 2.00
England: 1.50
Any money bet on India will return two-fold while any money bet on England will return 1.5 times.
American odds
The odds here are represented as numbers with a plus or minus sign around them.
Example:
India : – 150
Pakistan: +75
The numbers represent the amount of money needed to win Rs. 100. In the above example, India is the favorite and so you need to bet Rs. 150 to win Rs.100. Pakistan is the underdog and so you need to bet Rs.75 to win Rs.100.
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