Before betting on football, you must learn various commonly used betting terms. Among the things you must understand are football betting odds. Exploring the newest betting sites is one of the best ways to get up-to-date information about football odds.
Learning about the odds will help you make informed football bets and manage your outcome expectations.
So, what are they, what do they do, and how do they work? Let’s explore.
What Are Football Betting Odds?
Betting odds in football refer to the ratio between the stake and the potential winnings in a match. If you decide to wager on that outcome, you’ll use these odds to determine the potential winnings and how much bettors must risk winning a specific amount.
On top of that, betting odds also show the chances of an outcome occurring. So, if they’re lower, the chances of that outcome are high, and vice versa. A less probable outcome will have higher odds.
Football odds are expressed in three main formats:
- Fractions: Also known as British odds, traditional odds, or UK odds, fractional odds are popular among British and Irish betting sites. They represent the profit to be made on a wager relative to the wagered amount. For example, odds of 3/1 mean that for every $1 bet, the gain would be $3.
- Decimals: Decimal odds (European, continental, or digital odds) are the total payout, including the original bet. For example, odds of 2.5 mean that a $1 bet would return a total of $2.50.
- American: Also known as Moneyline odds, these types represent the amount you must bet to win $100. American odds have either a plus or minus sign before the digit.
What Does a Negative or Positive Sign on a Betting Odd Mean?
Odds with a negative sign before them indicate the betting favourite. The number that follows the minus sign reveals how much to wager for every $100 you want to win. For instance, if the team you’re betting on has -115 odds, you must wager $115 to win $100. Same thing: if your team has -130 odds, you must risk $130 to earn $100.
So, if you wish to win $300 and the odds for your team are -150, you must wager $150 x 3 = $450.
Odds with a positive symbol before the digit signify the underdog. This type of odds shows how much you’ll take home for every $100 you wager on the underdog. For example, if a team has odds of +120, the payout will be $120 for every $100 you bet. Same case with a team with +250, which means you’ll take home $250 for every $100.
However, in some cases, you’ll see identical odds on both sides, like this:
Team A (-150) vs Team B (-150)
No favourite, no underdog; this means pick ’em.
So, what does pick ’em mean?
What Does Pick ’em Mean?
Pick ’em is a term in football betting when both sides of a match are equal, and no point spread is listed.
You can see pick ’em games in two ways on the odd board:
- The Moneyline odds are equal for both sides and are listed at +100, equivalent to the betting term “even.”
- In pick ’em point spreads, the usual digits shown on the betting board, like -2 or +4.5, are replaced by “PK.”
Implied Probability
Implied probability, or percentage odds, is another term you’ll encounter even in the newest betting sites when evaluating betting odds.
For serious bettors who want to access the potential value of their wagers, converting your odds to implied probabilities is among the top football betting tricks you must learn. If the chances of a specific team winning are 60%, but its implied probability of winning is 40%, you theoretically have the edge over the bookmaker.
Here’s how to convert betting odds to implied probability.
For favourites: Odds/(Odds + 100) * 100 = Implied Probability
For underdogs: 100/(Odds + 100) * 100 = Implied Probability
If the odds of Team A and B are -125 and +130, respectively, the implied probability for Team A would be 55.55%, while that of Team B will be 43.47%.
Explore Football Betting Odds Today
As explained above, football betting odds are crucial in determining which team is likely to win, and what you bet on and your potential payout.
Now that you know different betting odds formats and how they work, visit your favourite bookmaker, explore the odds, and place a potential winning bet.
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