You may be new to the betting world, a little curious or willing to start placing your own bets! What if we told you it is super easy?
On a series of articles, we are going to tell you all you need to know about sports betting! First of all, let’s start with the basics!
We are sure you’ve heard about odds. They are the number one term everyone must be familiar with when we are talking about sports bets and bookmakers.
They are in every kind of betting market. But what are they? How do they work?
Don’t worry! We are going to explain everything in this article! Just keep reading.
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Understand an odd can be a little confused at first, even for professional players. And it is totally normal if you don’t know how to define them.
If you know what they are or want to learn more, this is a great article to dig in!
Every time you want to place a bet, you will have an odd linked with your bet.
In a way, odds are the essential aspect of an odd because you can’t place a winning bet without understanding them.
To get a better picture of this, let’s see an example.
Imagine you are placing your bets for the UEFA 2020 game Turkey vs. Italy:
What do these odds mean?
Before we go any further, we guarantee it is really simple and easy!
Basically, odds work the same way in every sportsbook. They can be fractional or decimal. Since they usually are decimal in Nigeria (like the image above), we are going to use this form.
Here, you can see that Bet9Ja has the following odds for this match:
- Turkey wins @ 6.60
- If Turkey wins: for each N10,000 you bet, you get N66,000
- Draw @ 3.9
- If the match draws: for each N10,000 you bet, you get N39,000
- Italy wins @ 1.5
- If Italy wins: for each N10,000 you bet, you get N15,000
But how did we get to those numbers?
The Probability of an Odd
Now that you know how much you can win in each odd in case you are right, let’s see how to make these decisions the right way. For that, you will need to look at the probabilities.
Remember the last example? Let’s calculate the percentages to that same Turkey vs. Italy game!
- Turkey wins @ 6.60
- 1 / 6.60 = 0.151 = 15.1%
- Draw @ 3.9
- 1 / 3.9 = 0.256 = 25.6%
- Italy wins @ 1.5
- 1 / 1.5 = 0.666 = 66,6%
If you see a small odd, there is a huge probability that event will happen.
By now you can see that you can win more if the odds are bigger. This happens because the event is not likely to happen. On the other hand, these odds are risky and not so easy to get them right.
How Bookmakers work around their odds
Did you notice?
If you add all of those percentages, the result is 107,03%. But it should be 100%…
We will talk about this is a bit!
How do Sportbooks define their odds?
We know every bookmaker is a business. And to be a business it needs profit to keep it running.
As you saw before, if you add all of the probabilities of the Turkey vs. Italy match the result is 107,03%.
Fair Odds
If the odds were fair, that amount would be 100%.
In order for these differences to happen, we can conclude that the probabilities for each event were altered. All of this to guarantee a safety net for the bookmaker.
That is why the sum of all the probabilities is not 100%.
Let’s see another example to make things super clear:
- Imagine you are playing cards with your friends at the bar and the deck has the same amount of red and black cards.
- You want to guess the color of the first card you take.
- The probabilities are the same for each event: 50% for a red card and 50% for a black card.
So, what is the odd and probability of taking a red or a black card?
- Red card: odd of 2,0 = 50%
- Black card: odd of 2,0 = 50%
Presented Odds
However, bookmakers manipulate the numbers in their favor.
This happens in order for them to win a percentage in each bet made by their players.
Imagine the presented odds made by a bookie would be:
- Red card: odd 1,90 = 52,60%
- Black card: odd 1,90 = 52,60%
The result of adding these two values would be 105,20%. The 5,20% is the profit for the bookie.
Everytime you bet N10,000, instead of winning N20,000, you will get N19,000. This happens because the odd decreased slightly.
Let’s do the sum again:
52,6% + 52,6% = 105,2% (profit of 5,2% for the bookie)
Why is it important to understand this?
Now that we saw that each sportsbook has its own odds, it’s important to check them in different bookies. By reading our reviews, you will choose the ones that are best for you.
This is why you have to pay attention to these margins. If they are more than 10%, you should consider making that bet in a different bookie.
But, there are exceptions!
Valuable bets
There is a reason why people say some bets are more valuable than other!
Now that you know a lot about odds and profit margins, you will be able to notice when bookmakers don’t evaluate a match in the right way. Sometimes, they define an odd with more value than what it really has.
This is the difference between making a bet with profit or loss. People call this a valuable bet!
If you see one of these, make sure you bet on it and win big!
Promotional Odds
We don’t want you to think bookmakers are the bad guys! In fact, they offer a lot of bonuses and promotions for their players!
They know how important odds are for their customers and a lot of them provide promotional odds.
With special offers to their Nigerian players, bookies have accumulator bonuses! They saw how the Nigerian market loved this kind of bets and they are now specializing in giving what their players want!
For example, Betwinner has a promotion for the Accumulator of the day!
This proves that sometimes the bookie will not keep the profit for themselves!
But there are more sportsbooks that have this kind of promotion!
LionsBet has an amazing Accumulator Bonus where you can boost your winnings on an accumulated bet.
And this is not the end!
You can enjoy awesome bonuses and promotions speacily made to improve your winnings and provide a fun time while betting:
Conclusion
We really want you to be the best player and a legend in sports betting! And now you are one step closer to that!
To know what an odd is means being able to win big and more!
This will make you choose the best betting sites to place a bet and you will have a bigger understanding of where the profit is!
There will be a time when you will see immediately the bets that will guarantee a big winning!
Keep in mind that if you continue to practice and bet frequently, you will improve your probability to win. All of these because you will see which bookies are better for your bets.
