If you want to come out on top against the bookies it is vital that you understand the fundamentals. When it comes to sports betting there is nothing quite as fundamental as the odds that the bookies offer. Unfortunately, betting odds can prove very confusing. That’s especially true for people who are new to betting.

Pittsburgh Steelers +4.5 vs. Cincinnati Bengals -4.5. Above is an football point spread. Pittsburgh is +4.5, with Cincinnati at -4.5, which means Pittsburgh is a 4.5-point underdog and Cincinnati is favored by 4.5 points. For a bet on Pittsburgh to win at +4.5, they can either win the game outright or not lose by an amount that surpasses 4.5. The odds are usually somewhere between 1.1 and 1.4, depending on the relative expectation of goals in the particular game. Betting on over/under 1.5 goals is a simple method of betting and you don’t have to worry about which team will win. All you have to do is predict whether there will be at least two goals or not.

That’s where this article comes in. We’re going to explain exactly how betting odds work, how they are set and the differences in the ways they are displayed. After taking in all the information below, you will be much better equipped to set about making some profit.

What Do Betting Odds Represent?

1. For example, the odds of your favorite football team losing a match maybe 1 to 5. The odds of you winning a lottery might by 1 to 10,000. On the other hand, the odds of the horse you bet on winning the race may be equal to 4 to 3. What do these numbers mean? There are two types of odds ratios: 'odds of winning' and 'odds of losing'.
2. Odds-On: A term used for a strong favorite to win, when to have to actually spend more to win. A horse priced at 1/3 is odds on. Long Odds: This is an underdog bet, but if you win you’ll receive many multiples of your stake back. A horse priced at 50/1 is long odds. Short Odds: This is a high chance to win, but you will only make a small.
3. 1-4 runners: win only. 5-7 runners: 1/4 odds a place for 1,2. 8+ runners: 1/5 odds a place for 1,2,3. 12-15 runners in handicaps only: 1/4 odds a place 1,2,3; 16+ runners in handicaps only: 1/4 odds a place 1,2,3,4. The place terms in other sporting events will be advertised on the event in question, but do generally follow the pattern above.

At their most basic, betting odds tell you two things:

1. How much you stand to make should the selection win
2. The probability of the selection winning

Take this example. If you were looking through the weekend Premier League fixtures and saw a team had fractional odds of 2/1 (that’s decimal odds of 3.0) you would know that you stand to win £2 in profit from every £1 that you stake should the team win. You’d also know that the bookmaker who set the odds ranks the team’s chances of winning as one in every three times the game is played.

If you saw a team had fractional odds of 8/13, you’d know that for every £13 you stake, you will win £8 or profit and that if the game was played 21 times in total, the bookies think the team would win 13 times and fail to win eight times (what is known as the implied probability).

Working out an implied probability percentage from fractional odds is simple. You just divide the stake by the combined sum of the two numbers which make up the fractional odds. In the case of 2/1 the equation looks like this:

1 / (2+1) = 0.33 or 33%

For odds of 8/13 this is the equation:

13 / (8+13) = 0.62 or 62%

That’s how the maths works but when it comes to the actual odds that bookmakers set, it’s a little more complicated.

How Do Bookmakers Set Their Odds?

The basic business model of a sportsbook is fairly uncomplicated. Bookmakers set the odds and take bets on an event. When that event ends they pay out everyone who backed the winner and then keep the rest for themselves.

But, consider the following horse race.

1 5 Odds Meaning Dictionary

As you can see, the combined implied probability of the selections above is 100%. From a bookmaker’s perspective that is a big problem. That’s because, presuming they’ve got the same amount of liability on each selection, they’d never make any money as they’d have to collect and payout the same amount.

So, the bookmakers will build something called an overround into their odds. Here’s a real example of a match odds market from a football match:

With an total implied probability of 101.7%, the bookmaker who set those odds is guaranteed to make a profit of 1.7% assuming that they have the same amount of liability on all three selections. Of course, it rarely works out that the bookies manage to spread their liability evenly but you need to know that when you look at a betting market you’re not simply looking at a reflection of how the bookies think the event will pan out. There’s much more going on behind the scenes.

Armed with this knowledge of how the bookmakers set their odds, you can concentrate on finding value. That is, finding a bet where you believe the odds (and therefore the implied probability) is too big. If the bookies think that a side has a 50% chance of winning but you think they’ve got a better chance than that, that’s value.

The Difference Between Decimal and Fractional Odds

You will have seen above that we’ve spoken about both fractional and decimal odds. They are just different ways of conveying the same information but they do add another layer of complexity.

All the major online bookmakers will shows their odds as both fractions and decimals so it’s important that you understand just what they are showing and how to switch between the two. Thankfully, it only requires simple maths.

To go from a fraction to a decimal is as easy as dividing out the fraction and adding one. Here’s how that looks for odds of 2/1:

(2/1) + 1 = 3.o

And using our second example from above, 8/13, it looks like this:

(8/13) + 1 = 1.62

If you want to go from decimal odds to fractional odds is similarly simple. You just minus one from the decimal odds, turn that number into a fraction and reduce it down to it’s simplest form.

Let’s take decimal odds of 4.5, this is the equation:

4.5 – 1 = 3.5
35/10 -> 7/2

If the decimal price is 1.25, you convert it into fractional odds like this:

1.25 – 1 = 0.25
25/100 -> 1/4

Here’s a list of some of the most common fractional odds and their decimal equivalents (for a more in-depth list click here).

Key Terminology

When reading betting advice or searching for a value bet on the bookies’ websites you’ll come across some key terms relating to betting odds. To round up our article on betting odds, we’ve covered the most widely used terms to ensure you don’t get confused in your search for winners.

Stake – The amount of money that you place (or wager) on a specific bet.

1/5 Betting Odds Meaning

Price – The price of a bet is simply another way of referring to the odds. You can either say that a football team can be backed at odds of 2/1or that their price is 2/1.

Odds On & Odds Against – Two of the key terms that you’ll hear when it comes to betting odds are ‘odds on’ and ‘odds against’. These terms refer to whether a price is greater or lower than evens. Any price above evens is known as odds against, while anything below evens is odds on.

Short and Long Odds – If something is described as being short odds it means the price is low. A long odds shot will provide you with a bigger win but is much less likely to win.

American odds are primarily used by sites that cater to US sports bettors, also know as “moneyline odds” they are the odds most often used for moneyline betting for American sports bettors. American odds are probably the easiest to understand as odds represent how much the bettor will have to wager to win $100.

Introduction

American Odds are simply one way to express odds. A pick em will be listed as “pk” or “pick” or “pick ’em” depending on your site. There are two basic types, favorites and underdogs

Favorites come with a – symbol attached. The higher the absolute value of the number, the better the chance the bet will win. So for example a -200 favorite has a better chance to win than a -120 favorite. 200 is greater than 120 so this is what we mean by absolute value, you ignore the – sign and take just the number when considering this.

Underdogs come with a + symbol attached. The higher the number, the larger the underdog. So a +200 underdog has a better chance to win than a +500 underdog.

Have a look at the betting markets at some of our highest-rated bookmakers to see how they price up games in American odds:

Terms & Conditions: T&Cs Apply. Full terms apply.

What Do The Odds Mean?

1 5 Odds Meaning Chart

American Odds always use a baseline value of $100. For favorites you are always risking the money to win $100, and with underdogs you risk $100 to win the amount.

A -135 favorite means you must risk $135 to win $100 from the sports book. So you either lose $135 or win $100, or push.

A +350 underdog means you risk only $100, but you win $350. You either lose $100 or win $350, or push.

What Are 1/5 Odds

American Odds can easily be converted into other odds such as decimal or fraction, using our free online calculator. Most, if not all, sites also offer odds in those formats, by simply choosing your preferred format.

What Does 1-5 Odds Mean

We can also convert American Odds into percentages. This is useful because it gives you a breakeven % that you need to achieve long-term to win when betting certain odds.

The most common odds are -110 so we will use that. The question to ask is “how often will we need to win, when betting at -110 odds, to break even?” The answer is “enough so that you turn 110 into 210 often enough to overcome the juice” but it is expressed in percentages. So we take our $110 risked, divided by the ultimate $210 payout if our ticket cashes, and come up with .5238 or 52.38%. This means you must win at least 52.38% of your bets at -110 to break even.

Another example will involve underdogs. Let’s say we have a +200 underdog. How often do they have to win for us to break even? We take a $100 risk and divide by the ultimate payout of $300 and get .3333, or 33.33%. So any +200 underdog that wins 34%+ of the time is a profitable bet.

American odds are attached to point spreads in most American sports such as the NFL and NBA. Here is an example from the NFL:

Atlanta +3 -115
Carolina -3 +110

The American odds will give the bookmaker influence over the point spread without changing the key number of 3. Odds worse than -110 as we discussed can hurt your breakeven percentage and should be taken into account even when betting spreads. On the other hand, underdog plus odds will help your bottom line.

5 To 1 Odds Meaning

Conclusion

American Odds are convenient and fast once you get accustomed to them. Just like any other format, it is all personal preference. It is also easy to convert American Odds to fractional or decimal odds and can easily be done using our online odds converter.

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