If you have ever been the type of person who took even the smallest bit of interest in gambling, you must know about odds. If you don’t remember, this sentence might help you odds of a royal flush vs. the odds of winning the lottery.
Well, if it didn’t, there’s no problem. We are here to refresh your memory and even educate you if you have no idea about the odds in gambling.
So odds are nothing but the likelihood of an event happening. They can help you find out the amount of money that you will be winning.
It’s quite literal in its meaning, isn’t it? However, most things seem simple at first. They go on complicating themselves with time. If that were a bit too philosophical for you, you’d understand it as this article progresses.
To put it simply, in terms of gambling, odds show the ratio between the amount of money placed on stake by different players on a bet.
Learn about probability and the odds of a royal flush vs. the odds of winning the lottery
The most familiar example to explain this is rolling a dice. When you throw it, you can think about a total of six outcomes. They are all possible and just as likely to happen as the other one. If we think about betting on a particular number between one to six that can show up on the five when you roll it, there is a 16.67 percent chance of it happening.
That is precisely what probability is. It exists in the same way in the world of gambling as well. At the basic level, it will help you in predicting the outcome of an event. If your prediction turns out to be accurate, you win the amount of money.
How to use betting odds for calculating the probability
The most understandable way to put this is by denoting a fractional number like 10/1. This fraction is also called a trailing slash, and in the world of gambling, it is known as fractional odds. With its help, you’ll be able to calculate the probability of an event. Here is how you can calculate.
- Assume a fractional number, let’s call it A/B, the possible outcomes.
- Apply the formula to calculate the percentage of probability: B / (A+B).
How to use betting odds for calculating winnings
Like we mentioned earlier, betting odds help you figure out the amount of money that you will be winning off of a bet. Under this heading, we will show you how. This is where you learn to calculate your winnings using betting odds.
- Take the previous examples of A and B.
- For every single part of B that you bet, you get to win A along with the return from your stake.
It is quite simple if you spend some time doing calculations related to betting odds. After all, you learn everything with practice, and betting odds are no different.
Have a look at the decimals
Decimals are just another way of having a look at betting odds in the format of fractions, you see. They might not be very popular in the markets as of now, but they are definitely picking up their speed.
However, they are still quite familiar with exchanges like Betfair. Yet, nowadays, you will find a lot of popular betting sites providing an option of showing betting odds in the decimal format. If you ask us, we would only say that decimals are more comfortable to work out as compared to fractions. The simple calculation is –
- Winnings = (Odds * Stake) – Stake
The difference between decimal odds and fractional odds
In all its fairness, there is no report card that suggests one is better than the other in case of fractional odds and decimal odds. However, people are certainly making their pick. This is giving birth to a trend that is significantly in favor of decimal odds. Still, it doesn’t cover up the fact that fractional odds have been in existence for long. The evidence of which lies in the high street and racetracks of the United Kingdom.
Coming back to the more critical point, we have laid down the two main differences between decimal odds and fractional odds –
- Fractional odds are slightly harder to understand as compared to decimal odds.
- Decimal odds include the returned stake, unlike fractional odds, which only show the total winnings.
You can also convert betting odds
Hopefully, that was not a lot to take in. If you have a close look, it’s all fuss-free when you are interested in real. However, people don’t want to put too much time and attention on anything these days. This is why there are several tools available online that help you convert odds. They let you see the odds in whichever format you prefer. On top of that, you will also be able to know the likelihood of your selection winning.
After going through this massive bunch of information, you should be able to make out what betting odds are, how you can read them, understand the probability of an event, and your winning amount.
As a gist, we would like to add that betting odds merely represent the chance of an event that is going to be happening in gambling, and that’s how they tell you about the amount of money that you will be winning if you win the bet.