If you want to become the best you can be at matched betting, knowing a little bit about betting odds is going to help you make the right decisions when you’re choosing where to place your bets.

And in this short article, we’ll break down exactly what betting odds are, and how to make sure you’re using them in your favor!

What Are Betting Odds?

Betting odds are numbers used by bookmakers to show how likely they think an event is to happen. When you see odds on a betting site, they tell you two main things: the probability of a specific outcome and how much money you could win if you place a bet on that outcome. These odds can be shown in different formats like fractional, decimal, or Moneyline if you’re American.

Each format has its own way of presenting the potential payout and the likelihood of winning. For example, in fractional odds like 5/1, if you bet £1 and win, you get £5 in profit plus your original £1 back.

Whereas the same in decimal odds would be 6.00. If you bet £1 you’d multiply it by 6, and that’s the amount of money you’d get back.

Fractional Odds Vs Decimal Odds

So just to make it clear:

Decimal Odds: These odds show you the total amount you’ll get back for each dollar you bet. For example, if you bet $10 with decimal odds of 3.5, you’ll get $35 back if you win. This amount includes your $10 original bet and $25 as your winnings. The calculation is straightforward—just multiply your bet by the decimal odds.

Fractional Odds: These are a bit more complicated because they show how much profit you’ll make compared to your bet, but they don’t automatically include your original bet in the total return. If you place $10 on odds of 5/2, first you find out how much you’d win by multiplying $10 by 5/2, giving you $25. Then, you add your original $10 to get a total of $35. So as you can see, fractional odds are generally more difficult to work with.

Moneyline Odds: These odds are expressed as positive or negative numbers that indicate how much you need to bet or can win, depending on whether you’re betting on the favourite or the underdog. For instance, if the Moneyline odds are -150 for the favourite, it means you need to bet $150 to win $100. Conversely, if the underdog’s odds are +130, a $100 bet would earn you $130 in profit if they win.

Fortunately, Moneyline odds are rarely used in UK betting, so you won’t need to worry about them too much, unless you’re betting with US bookmakers.

Fortunately, you can most bookmakers give you the ability to change from fractional to decimal betting odds. So it’s always recommended to change before you start matched betting.

Converting Fractional Odds To Decimal Odds

Fortunately, there are plenty of calculators on the internet that can change fractional odds to decimal odds for you. And failing that, most websites will allow you to do this anyway.

However, if you can’t for whatever reason find a way to do this, the way to convert fractional odds to decimal odds is actually quite simple. You just need to do the following:

Look at the Fractional Odds: These are numbers like 5/2, 3/1, or 10/1, which might look like pieces of a pie.

Divide and Add:

• First, divide the top number by the bottom number. For example, if you have 5/2, you divide 5 by 2, and you get 2.5.
• Then, add 1 to the number you got from dividing. So, 2.5 + 1 equals 3.5.

Finished:

• Now, you’ve changed 5/2 into 3.5. This new number includes getting your bet back plus what you win.

Why We Add 1: We add 1 because we want to include the money you originally bet when we talk about how much you will get back. So, this new number tells you everything you’ll receive if you win.

Why Betting Odds Are Against You

The reason that we do matched betting is that obviously when you’re just gambling normally, the odds are always against you. And there are a few reasons for this.

• House Edge: Bookmakers create a profit margin called the “house edge” by paying out less than the true odds, ensuring they make money over time (e.g., paying $1.90 on a $1 bet instead of $2).
• Balancing the Book: To minimize their risk, bookmakers adjust odds to balance the money wagered on all outcomes, making less popular bets more attractive.
• Psychological Factors: Odds are often skewed because bookmakers set less favorable odds for popular teams, knowing fans will bet on them regardless.
• Information Asymmetry: Bookmakers have access to more advanced data and tools than the average bettor, allowing them to set more accurate and often less favorable odds.
• Overround: Bookmakers ensure a profit by setting the total odds to sum more than 100%, guaranteeing they keep a percentage as profit (e.g., total odds that add up to 105% leave a 5% profit).

How Odds Affect Liability

The relationship between odds and liability is straightforward: the higher the odds you lay at, the more money you need in your betting exchange account to cover that bet. This is because if you lose your lay bet, you will have to pay out more.

Here’s a simple way to think about it:

• If you lay low odds, you won’t have to pay out much if you lose, so the liability is low.
• If you lay high odds, you could have to pay out a lot more, so the liability is high.

Let’s say you’re making a £10 lay bet at different odds to see how your liability changes:

Lay Odds	Liability Calculation	Total Liability
2.0	(Odds – 1) x Stake = (2.0 – 1) x £10 = £10	£10
3.0	(Odds – 1) x Stake = (3.0 – 1) x £10 = £20	£20
4.0	(Odds – 1) x Stake = (4.0 – 1) x £10 = £30	£30
5.0	(Odds – 1) x Stake = (5.0 – 1) x £10 = £40	£40
6.0	(Odds – 1) x Stake = (6.0 – 1) x £10 = £50	£50

So, if you don’t have much money in your exchange account, you’ll need to stick to lower odds to keep your liability manageable. You can’t lay at high odds if you don’t have enough money to cover the potential payout.

But, with a bigger balance, you can afford to lay bets at higher odds. This might be preferable because laying at higher odds can maximize your profits from free bets in matched betting. However, always ensure you’re comfortable with the potential liability.

It’s also good for your:

• Betting Profile: Bookmakers watch how you bet. If you always switch between very low and very high odds, they might think you’re matched betting and could limit your account. Having more money to cover larger bets lets you choose odds that look more like those of regular bettors, which can help keep your account safe.
• Stake Amounts: The amount of money you bet also matters. If you can bet more money on lower odds on your free bet it’s going to make you look more like a punter, over a matched better, helping to keep your account healthy and secure for longer.

To Summarize

As you can see, betting odds are an integral part of matched betting, but when you get the hang of them, they’re incredibly easy to figure out. The most important thing I think you should take from this though is that when you are opening new accounts, make sure you’re changing to decimal odds to reduce the chance that you’ll make a mistake!

If you liked this article, make sure you check out the rest of the website! Otherwise, have a great day!