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Understanding The Different Betting Odds

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As we know, betting on sports continues to grow each year. In the sports world one professional franchise is currently calling Las Vegas home, that being the Las Vegas Golden Knights, of the NHL. Soon a second professional team will be joining the Golden Knights in Vegas. That team will be the Las Vegas Raiders, currently the Oakland Raiders, of the NFL. The reason I mention this is because a couple of years ago Las Vegas didn't have its own team to bet on, as of next year, they will have two. This will help continue to grow the sports betting world even more, including online betting. With the anticipated growth potential, more and more people will need an understanding of the odds. Below I will cover a couple of them.

American Odds

American Odds are fairly popular with sportsbooks in the United States. These types of odds work by showing how much money you'd have to risk in order to get a $100 payout on the designated favorites. The + and - symbol before the number tells you weather that team is the underdog or the favorite in that contest. Here's an example of a NHL game on November 27th 2019.

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently are -185 to win this game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Placing a successful $185 bet on them yields you $100 and you also get your original bet of $185 back, netting you a total payout of $285.

Let's say this was reversed, with the Maple Leafs were +285 to win this game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Placing a successful $100 bet would yield you $285 in winnings and you'd also get your $100 bet back, giving you a total payout of $385.

Fractional Odds

Fractional Odds are popular in the United Kingdom and are mostly used in horse racing or British Futbol, but can also be used in other sports. Fractional Odds quote the total net that'll be paid out to the bettor, assuming they win. For example, let's say the Seattle Seahawks odds to win another Superbowl are 5/1.

If you pick them and they do win your payout would be times (x)5. A $20 dollar bet would net you a $100 in winnings (20 x 5=100). You'd also get your original bet of $20 back. All told you'd walk away with a total payout of $120.

Decimal Odds

Decimal Odds are more popular in Europe, Australia and Canada and most people think this is the easiest betting format to understand. With Decimal Odds the figure quoted is the exact amount paid out, if the bet is a winning one. For example you bet on the Cleveland Browns to make the playoffs with decimal odds of 2.00.

A successful bet of $100 for the Browns making the playoffs results in a win of $100. Your total payout would be $200 (2.00 x 100).

Conclusion

I hope this answers questions for those who are curious about learning or getting into the betting world. Here's another helpful tip - keep an eye out for lines that get posted early! The reason is because, the more time you have to analyze the odds, the better your changes are at finding a site that offers the best value. To get started, this list of NFL betting sites consists of popular sportsbooks that have a good reputation. Odds from those sites are posted pretty early so do a bit of digging to see which one fits your criteria.