How to Read Betting Odds

Before placing your first sports wager on a game, there’s a few fundamental things you must understand in order to properly know what you’re betting on and the potential payout you stand to receive from your wager. Reading and understanding the odds of a play is crucial to knowing which side of a play you should bet on.

The odds essentially tell you the likelihood of a team winning a particular play. The odds represent which team, athlete, horse, etc, has the best chance of winning the contest. For example, if a team has a 70% chance of a winning a game, according to the oddsmakers in Las Vegas, then the odds would be 70 to 30. Meaning 70% chance they’ll win, 30% chance the other team will win.

In moneyline bets the odds work a bit differently in the sense that they are represented by as positive or negative number next to the team name. A positive number represents the underdog team in the game, while the negative number is for the favorite. These negative and positive numbers directly correlate to the payout a player stands to receive. So if a team is -135, that means the player must bet $135 to win $100. On the other hand, if you bet on the underdog of the game who has a statistically less greater chance of winning, the payout it more. For example, if you bet on the underdog team that is +125, then you need only bet $100 to win $125. These are some basic aspects of gambling that a bettor must first understand before placing your first wagers, in order to set yourself up for success in your sports wagers.

Regardless of if you’re wagering on the money line or the run line, you should always be aware of the odds and how the payout of those odds effects your wager. Being a smart investor and employing some basic strategy when placing your wagers can greatly increase your chances of making it big and finding an easy winner. Maximizing your wins and minimizing your losses is what sports wagering and handicapping is all about. It’s the difference between going 1-0 and having little to show for it and going only 1-2 and still coming out a winner. That’s because you have to put your biggest money on your best play with the best payout and odds available. When you’re making smart wagers, it can cover a lot of other amateur mistakes that new sports bettors commonly make. Join the pros today and let our team show you more secrets about how to be a successful sports bettor against the spread.