If you’re brand new to betting; odds can be really confusing. OddsMonkey is here to make understanding odds really easy for you…
The first thing we’re going to do is stop using fractions. Fractions, such as three to one (3/1) or fifteen to two (15/2) make understanding odds harder than it needs to be. Instead of using fractions, we’re going to use decimals.
The most important thing you need to know about decimal odds are that they are a measure of how likely something is going to happen. The bigger the number – the less likely.
Here are some examples. The decimal ‘odds’ are the bold numbers at the end.
Mr Ed to WIN the 14:30 at York = 6.00
Red Rum (he’s dead) to win the 14:55 at Newmarket = 1000.00
Wayne Rooney to score in the Man Utd v Chelsea match = 3.50
Sir Alex Ferguson (retired) to score in the Man Utd v Chelsea match = 5000.00
The higher the number, the less likely it is to happen. Wayne Rooney is much more likely to score a goal than Sir Alex, right?
When you BACK an outcome that has high odds, if you guess correctly the rewards are greater than if you BACK an outcome with lower odds. By using decimals it’s really easy to understand how much you can win by BACKING an outcome correctly. Here’s how:
Dave BACKS Mr Ed to win the 14:30 at York at odds of 8.00 and hands the bookmaker a stake of £1. A stake is just another word for the amount of money that Dave (the BACKER) is putting on his prediction.
Mr Ed romps home in 1st place. Dave has predicted correctly and swaggers BACK into the bookmakers. The bookie gives him £8 (£1 x 8.00 = £8) for predicting correctly. In other words, the bookmakers has lost £7 and Dave is £7 in profit.
See? It’s dead easy. You don’t need to remember this, but for reference just multiply the stake by the decimal odds and the resulting number is the amount that would be returned to the BACKER.
A return is just another word for the amount of money the BACKER receives if the prediction is correct.
(STAKE x DECIMAL ODDS) = RETURN.
(£1 x 6.00) = £6
When the bookmaker accepted the bet, the bookmaker knew that there would be a liability of £7 if Dave predicted correctly. The liability is just betting jargon for how much the LAYER stands to lose.
BACKER = Stake
LAYER = Liability
Calculating the liability is dead easy. You don’t need to remember this, but for reference its just a case of multiplying the backers stake by the decimal odds; and then subtract the backers stake.
(stake x decimal odds) – stake = liability.
(£1 x 6.0) - £1 = £5