How To Calculate Sports Odds
Welcome to the Sports Betting Odds section of The Sports Geek. If you are new to sports betting and don’t understand how to read betting odds (+150, -110, +2200, etc) we will lay it all out for you and help you learn how the betting odds work.
Implied Probability = (-1.(Odds)) / (-1(Odds) + 100) Which looks like: Implied Probability = (-1.(-110)) / (-1(-110) + 100) or: 52.4% or 0.524 = 110 / 210. The way that sportsbooks manufacture their odds and betting lines has changed drastically over the years. The sports betting industry was once dominated by old-school Vegas oddsmakers, but much has changed since the advent of online sportsbooks, as well as the fine-tuning of sports.
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Sports Betting Odds Explained
How To Calculate Odds Payout
Many people don’t know how to read or calculate sports betting odds, so below we have done our best on explaining how betting odds work. The most common type of sports betting odds used in North America are the American style odds which we explain below.
American Style Sports Betting Odds
Most online sportsbooks will list their odds in what is called “American Odds”. There are a couple different versions of sports betting odds, but these American Odds are the most common odds used. Reading and understanding sports betting odds can bet a little confusing to beginners, so we have provided an example below using two NFL football teams:
American Odds
- Matchup Odds
- New England Patriots +120
- Pittsburgh Steelers -140
The number shown in the bracket represents the odds. The American Odds have two components to them, the first being the positive or negative sign, and the second being the number that follows the sign.
The sign in front of the number indicates whether placing a wager on that outcome will pay out more money then you have wagered or less money then you have wagered. If the odd is negative (-) it means that outcome is more likely to happen and placing a bet on that outcome would payout less than the amount you wagered, while a positive (+) odd shows that the outcome is less likely to happen and it would pay out more than the amount you wagered.
The next step is figuring out exactly how much the bet pays out, which is where the numbers in the odds come into play.
A listed odd with a – sign in front of it, such as the -140 in our example above, shows us how much money you would need to wager in order to win $100. So using the -140, this would show us that you would need to bet $140 in order to win $100 in profits. You can easily substitute the $100 bet for a $10 bet by moving the decimal place over one spot, showing us that you would need to wager $14 in order to win $10 in profits.
Examples:
A listed odd with a + sign in front of it, such as the +120 in our example above, shows us how much money you would win on a $100 bet. Using the +120 odds, it shows us that a $100 bet on that outcome would pay out $120 in profits. Again this can easily be converted into smaller or larger size bets. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits.
Examples:
Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site.
In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet pays $100).
The great thing about betting online is that the online sportsbooks will do the calculations for you before you place your bet. You can click on the outcome or team you would like to bet on, and then input the amount you wish to wager and it will show you your potential pay out before you confirm your bet.
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Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds
Decimal style odds are used mostly in Europe, and are pretty easy to understand. To calculate the decimal style odds all you will need to do is simply multiply the amount you wish to wager by the decimal odds shown and you will get your payout. For example it may look something like this:
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on the USA at 2.40 you would simply need to multiply your $10 wager by the 2.40 odds (10 x 2.40) to find out that the payout is $24. It is important to realize that with decimal style odds it includes the amount you wagered, so to find out profits you would need to subtract your wager ($24 – $10) to find out your potential payout is $14 in profits.
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on Brazil you would again just multiply $10 x 1.55 to find out that you would win $15.50 total or $5.50 in profits.
Decimal style betting odds are very simple to understand, but you won’t see them displayed in many North American sportsbooks. With that said, most online betting sites will allow you to chose the style of betting odds you want displayed, with American odds set as the default.
How to use the vig calculator
Enter American odds (ex: -110) for each team and view the “Vig %” for the given odds. The vig percentage represents how much “vig” or “vigorish” the sportsbook is charging you. This is also known as “juice” or “hold” in the sports betting industry.
The vig tells you how much the sportsbook is making when it offers a two sided bet. The higher the number, the more the sportsbook is making.
Use the calculator to find bets that minimize the vig. This will help you have a better chance of winning in the long run in sports betting.
For example, if you enter odds of -250 and +250, that would mean the vig is 0. This is a great scenario for the bettor as it means it is essentially a 50/50 bet without having to pay anything extra. The equivalent would be someone giving you 50/50 odds on a coin flip.
How to calculate market hold
Another way to use the vig calculator is to calculate market hold.
Market hold is the vig percentage across multiple different sportsbooks, choosing the best price from each side.
The benefit of doing this line shopping is that you will often bet at much better prices than you would have at a single sportsbook.
Take the image above for example. If you wanted to bet on a side for the Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers, you can see the odds across multiple different sportsbooks.
If you only bet at DraftKings Sportsbook, then you would either bet on Cincinnati at +163 or Pittsburgh at -200. Entering those two values in the calculator shows a 3.4% hold. That means that DraftKings is making ~4.7% on this market on average.
How To Figure Out Sports Odds
However, you can see that William Hill is offering +175 on the Cincinnati Bengals while FanDuel Sportsbook is offering -190 on the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you were signed up at either of these sportsbooks, then you could bet at these improved prices.
Entering these two values into the calculator outputs a market hold of 1.9%. That means you have saved ~60% of the cost you would have paid by just choosing between the two sides on DraftKings (1.9% / 4.7%).