You can’t bet without the knowledge of how the odds work. You need to know the working and especially in football odds. This will be beneficial to you in so many ways.
Understanding the odds helps you understand two critical things in the football betting course. First, you know the probability of an event happening. Still, you can see the amount of money you are likely to pocket after an event. In this article with smartbettingguide.com experts help, we shall focus on educating you on how the football odds work
Formats of Football Odds
Before looking at how the odds work, we need to understand the types of football odds. The two include the following;
- Decimal odds- A decimal number denotes the odd as a decimal-1.25 or 4.5
- Fractional odds- These odds are indicated as a fraction- ¾ or 9/1
The two odds formats mean the same thing. The only difference is the structure.
Use of Football Odds to Calculate the Probability of an Event Happening
Odds in football and other games are used to show the probability of an event happening. When you see the trailing slash separating two values, that’s a fractional odd. To determine likelihood using the odd A/B, take B/ (A+B) x 100
In fractional odds examples, we can have these probabilities of the event happening;
- For an odd of 4/1, the calculation is 1/ (4+1) – This means there is a probability of 1/5×100 =20% chance that the event will happen
- An odd of ¼ means that the likelihood of the event occurring is 4/ (1+4) x100 = 80%
When betting on decimal odds, the probability of a football event happening will be derived as follows;
- An odd of 0.20 implies that the likelihood of an event happening is 0.20×100 =20%
- An odd of 0.80 means that the probability of an event happening is 0.80×100 =80%
At least now we know how we can calculate the likelihood of an event happening.
Use of Football Odds to Calculate Winnings
This is the use of odds that many punters know. When given the fractional odds in a football game in the format of A/B, it means you will win A amount if you stake B amount. Let us look at various examples
- 2/1 means that for every 1EUR you stake, you win 2EUR
- 1/6 means that for every 6 EUR you stake, you win 1EUR
Sometimes you realize that your bookie gives the odds in decimal formats. This is not a problem as determining the winning is also easy. To get the amount you win, multiply the stake and the odd and deduct the stake (Odd x stake) – stake. Let us get to some examples below;
- When you stake 10EUR at an odd of 9.0, the won amount is (9.0 x 10EUR) – 10EUR to get 80EUR winning
- When you stake 10EUR at an odd of 2.5, the won amount is (2.5 x 10EUR) – 10EUR to get a winning of 15EUR
Understanding the odds is an essential step in betting. You need to understand the working so that you calculate potential winnings before wagering. There is no need to risk a huge stake in the event of low probability and meagre winnings, you can read more – low odds betting strategy
