What Are Football Betting Odds?

If you want to bet on a football tournament or football game in general, you may want to know more about betting odds. Betting odds not only show the amount of profit you can gain but also imply the expected possibility that a team can win a match.

Understanding football betting odds is important if you want to bet on sport profitably. And of course, you wouldn’t actually be betting if you didn’t think you win!

So this article will provide you some information about football betting odds. And hopefully to provide you with some tips to take advantage of betting odds.

What Are Betting Odds?

Statistically speaking, the odds are the number of times a favorable event happens in relation to the number of times it does not happen. In other words, they are relative probabilities.

Football betting odds are the probabilities that your favorite team will win compared to the probabilities that it will not win.

In the past, bookmakers mostly set odds and they set them in a way that the sum of all possible outcomes exceeds 100%. The excess will then be their profit.

However, with the advent of the internet, odds are now being set by bet exchanges. These are where bettors can trade with others more directly. As a result, the odds are set by the whole market and are closer to the true odds.

Types Of Betting Odds

The first type are fractional odds which are largely found in the UK. This is the net total paid out to the winner in relation to the stake.

For example, 6/1 odds means that a player will get back £6 for every £1 they bet if their bet wins.

Decimal odds are popular in Europe, Australia, Canada and on most betting exchanges. They represent the total amount paid out to winners per wager including the wager itself.

As an example, odds of 2.5 means if a bettor wagers and wins, the payout is .5. This still includes his stake and thus the profit he gained is .5.

Moneyline odds are more popular among Americans. The quote in this case can be either positive or negative. The quote is a straight-up amount of money.

  • Positive figures: the amount of money won on a 0 wager. Example: A quote of +120 means a player can make a profit of 0 if he wins on a wager of 0
  • Negative figures: the amount of money bettors must be wager in order to win 0.
  • Example: A quote of -20 means that in order to get 0 of profit in case the favorite team win, a bettor must wager.
  • Even odds can be quoted as either +100 or -100

Betting Odds Conversion:

Fractional odds can be converted to decimals by converting the fractional number to decimal then add 1. For the opposite, you can convert decimal odds to fractional odds by subtracting 1 from the decimal number then convert them to fractional number.

Moneyline odds can be converted into decimal odds depending on whether it is positive or negative. Positive figures are converted by dividing it by 100 and adding 1. Negative figures can be converted by being removing the minus sign, then taking 100 to divide by that amount, then adding 1.

Betting odds are very important in football betting, so you should study them carefully before wagering. In addition, you should also check if they are set fairly or not when you bet on the result of a football match.

To be fair, most odds are so heavily calculated these days that they are a fair reflection of the potential outcome. If they weren’t bookmakers would go out of business. That said, always bet with a trustworthy and reputable bookmaker.

Don’t fall for the promise of lucrative bonuses on sites you’ve never heard of. Stick with the bookies and games you are familiar with and good luck!