Working Out Betting Odds Payout
Many people start their betting journey with the same question. How do odds work? The answer to this question is incredibly important if you want to become a successful bettor, but it’s also only the start of a long journey. Read on to find out why all bettors need to know how odds work.
There is a conversation that all seasoned bettors will have had numerous times with friends and relatives who want a casual bet on a major sporting event. What are the odds on x? What do they mean? What will I win if I bet x amount?
The answer you give to these types of questions will vary depending on how much detail you want to go into, but they will centre around the same concept. Probability.
What do odds represent?
Bookmakers present their odds in decimals, fractions or an American format. They all look different but they all mean the same thing. All odds are a representation of the probability of something happening.
You enter the odds, we calculate the stakes. Bet365 Live Streaming Schedule - Watch live sport including football and horse racing, T&Cs Apply, 18+. Advertising Disclosure. To help us keep the site running as a free service some bookmakers pay. To calculate winnings on fractional odds, multiply your bet by the top number (numerator), then divide the result by the bottom (denominator). So a $10 bet at 5/2 odds is (10. 5) / 2, which equals $25. If You’re Betting an Underdog: The odds for underdogs will have a plus (+) sign in front, and indicate the money you’ll win for every $100 risked. So if you’re betting the Red Sox at +110, you’ll risk $100 and will.
Odds are simply the way prices and payouts are shown at a horse track. The numbers displayed as 4-7 or 2-5 tell you what you pay and how much you get back if the horse you bet on wins. The first number tells you how much you could win, the second number is the amount you bet. The Free Bet Calculator is the most advanced online sports bet calculator, allowing you to calculate the stake and profit for an extensive range of bets. All of the most popular bet types are supported, including Lucky 15, Single, Double, Accumulator, Patent and Round Robin, along with more specialised bets.
The fact that there are many different odds formats - American, Decimal and Fractional - illustrates the point that odds are simply a means to an end, i.e. offering betting. Bookmakers really deal in risk measured by probability.
Betting is about assessing the chance or probability of an event happening and bookmakers like Pinnacle use odds because it translates implied probability into a more usable form in order to offer betting.
Using implied probability in betting can also help you compare odds between bookmakers. However, if you consider betting to be just about odds, you're missing the bigger picture. To really expand your understanding of odds and betting, you must also understand how to calculate probability.
With a good understanding of how to calculate probability yourself and how it compares to the odds provided by the bookmaker, you can begin to make more informed decisions when it comes to what you should bet on, when you should bet and how much you should stake for the bets you make.
How To Figure Payout On Odds
Basics of Betting How does betting work? - Episode 1
The basics of probability
Considering how we are faced with a problem to solve or an assessment of risk every single day of our lives, it is surprising how unfamiliar the average person is with being able to calculate probability.
How often do you think: “What are the chances of me making that train on time?” or “How likely is it to rain?”
We rarely attribute a numerical figure to answer these questions but we are still dealing with a question of probability.
Using implied probability to calculate a bookmaker’s margin is easy and very useful as few, if any, bookmakers publicly share it.
In the simplest of terms, probability is a scale running from 0 (where there is no chance of an event occurring) to 1 (a certain future event). The likelihood of all other potential outcomes fall somewhere in between those two end points of the probability spectrum.
A coin toss is a great way to explain how to calculate probability because we know the true probability for each outcome. The coin will definitely land on either heads or tails, which taken together provide us with the certain event. We now know this certain event has a probability of 1.
Of course as a bettor what you really want to know is the probability (or chance) of your chosen call, which we will say is heads. To do this there is a simple equation:
Favourable outcomes / all possible outcomes
If you are calling heads, then the favourable outcome will be heads. Therefore to get your probability value, you divide the favourable outcome (in this case there is one, heads) by the number of possible outcomes (this is two as it will either be heads or tails). This leaves us with a probability of 0.5.
In general people are more comfortable with percentages, so by multiplying the probability of your event (0.5 for heads) by 100 you can say that there is a 50% chance of the coin landing on heads, and you winning your bet.
How to calculate betting odds
Getting a handle on how to calculate probability yourself and converting it into odds is the first step in developing your own assessments of betting value.
Once you know how to calculate probability, turning that figure into odds is a straightforward process. Decimal odds are one of the three main formats used by bettors and bookmakers alike.
You can arrive at the Decimal odds value for your coin toss choice with the simple equation:
So the Decimal odds for a coin being heads is 1 (certainty) divided by the probability of it occurring which we know is 0.5, producing decimal odds of 2.0. At this point you can equally take odds and reverse engineer the implied probability with the inverse of the equation for turning probability into odds:
1/decimal odds = probability
Take your newly found knowledge and work out the implied probability for your coin toss with your friend and you'll see the aggregate implied probability of both outcomes in the coin toss is 100% - (0.5/1+0.5/1)*100 - no surprises as a certain event is 1 (100/100).
However, performing the same calculation for actual odds from your favourite bookmaker will produce a value greater than 100%. So what is happening here?
Calculating a bookmaker’s margin
In simple terms the odds don't reflect the true likelihood of the outcomes concerned with an event. The amount by which the implied probability diverges from 100% is the margin the bookmaker has added to that particular that market.
This is an essential piece of information for a value-seeking bettor as it highlights the true cost of placing a bet with a bookmaker. Using implied probability to calculate a bookmaker’s margin is easy and very useful as few, if any, bookmakers publicly share it.
While it is important you are able to use the above information to convert odds into probability and calculate a bookmaker’s margin, you don’t have to do it yourself for every single bet. If you want a quick way to calculate how much margin a bookmaker has applied to the odds, you can use Pinnacle’s Margin Calculator.
Using odds to calculate your payout
Calculating odds and probability opens up a new world for calculating value but you also want to know what your bet will payout if you win. For our coin toss example this requires a simple multiplication:
So if you bet €10 on heads with odds of 2.0 your return including stake is 2.0 x €10 which equals €20 (this includes your €10 stake + €10 profit).
- Read: Do you know how difficult betting is?
Being able to calculate probability and understand where odds actually come from is an essential part of evolving as a bettor because it enables you to calculate your own expected frequency for an event - starting to model your own odds - and then compare what you think will happen with what odds are available.
Where the two diverge you can potentially turn that edge in your favour, and generate profit, which is what a bettor should be focused on.
If you want to calculate the return and profit of your bet, Pinnacle's Bet Calculator will do the work for you.
Now that you know how to calculate betting odds, you can take advantage of Pinnacle's low margin odds or read more expert betting articles to help make more informed betting decisions.
Whether you are new to the world of betting or somewhat of an old hand when it comes to having a flutter every now and again, you will undoubtedly be aware of the sheer range of options at bookmakers like Betfair and Paddy Power when it comes to having a bet.
While putting money on a horse winning a race may sound like a relatively straightforward matter, there is a wide range of bets available. For example, are you planning to keep it simple with a single bet on one race? Or, alternatively, are you looking to take a chance on a larger gamble with an accumulator?
Thankfully, that is where online odds calculators come into their own. These handy tools can make a huge difference to your betting activity, providing you with a full overview of the options available and ultimately helping you to place the bet – or combination of bets – that works best for you.
In this article, we are going to take a closer look at the concept of odds calculators, how they tend to work, and the key benefits that they can offer in terms of boosting your betting balance.
What is an odds calculator?
On the most basic level, odds calculators are designed to help you understand the implications of your bets and ultimately determine what returns you will receive if you are successful.
Such tools tend to operate in a standard format, with them first asking you to input the type of bet that you have made or are planning to make. This could be anything from a single to a Yankee to Super Heinz or an accumulator. Once you’ve provided this information, you will then be asked to enter the odds on your bet and also the stake that you’ve placed on it. The calculator may also ask you to either enter the odds in the decimal or fraction format, but we will touch upon the key issues related to that further on in this article.
You will then repeat that process however many times is necessary – for example, if you have placed multiple bets – and then may also be able to add information related to Dead Heats or any situation when Rule 4 may have come into play. The latter offers compensation in the event that a horse withdraws from a race after a bet is placed.
Clear benefits
After providing full information regarding your range of bets, the odds calculator will then take care of the hard work by doing the maths and generating an overview of the bets you have made or are planning to make, as well as the potential returns which will be available if you are successful.
Choose your each-way terms with the odds calculator – these vary based on the number of runners and the type of race
As you may have already realised, such tools offer clear benefits to horse racing fans whether they are planning for future races or even checking what their final winnings will be after placing several bets. The ability to input information on a combination of bets is a particular benefit, as it ensures you do not get a headache while attempting to consider the potential outcomes of the bets you have made.
Fractions vs decimals
For a great number of horse racing fans, the use of fractions is the traditional way of viewing the odds for the runners and riders, but the use of decimals is something which has grown significantly across recent years, too. The concept operates on the straightforward notion that you simply multiply a stake by the decimal shown and the outcome will be your total winnings. For example, if you place a £1 bet on a horse with odds of 4.00, you will get a return of £4.
While the use of decimals may seem very simple in that respect, it is worth bearing in mind that the concept offers up one fundamental difference in comparison to the use of fractional odds. When it comes to decimal odds, your stake is always factored into the return that you calculate but this is not the case when following the fraction method. In terms of the latter, if you put £1 on odds of 4/1 you will receive £4 in profit but also get your £1 stake back too – so £5 in total. As such, the fraction allows you to work out your winnings, but you will also need to factor in that your stake will also be returned to you as well.
A better understanding
It goes without saying that a huge number of people across the globe love betting on horse racing with bookmakers like Betfair and Paddy Power, whether they are attending race meetings in person, following the action on TV, or online via streaming services. You can get free Timeform tips for every British and Irish horse race and free Infogol tips on Europe's biggest football leagues. However, it is also true that some can find it a complicated world to navigate around and they often want a bit of a helping hand to get started.
Whatever your level of experience, taking some time to gain a better understanding of how the different formats for odds work can be an important step towards making informed decisions on your betting. Furthermore, the use of odds calculators can help you fully understand how specific combinations of bets could put you on the path towards winning big and also ensure you are fully aware of the winnings that you are due.