There are three widely-used means of quoting odds:

Fractional odds

Favoured by bookmakers in the United Kingdom, fractional odds quote the net total that will be paid out to the bettor, should he win, relative to his stake. Odds of 4/1 (read “four-to-one” or “four-to-one against“) would imply that the bettor stands to make a $400 profit on a $100 stake. If the odds are 1/4 (read “four-to-one on“), the bettor will make $25 on a $100 stake. The bettor always recieves his original stake back, so if the odds are 4/1 you would actually receive a total of $500 in return upon winning a $100 bet ($400 plus the original $100.)Odds of 1/1 are often called evens.

Fractional odds are also known as British odds, UK odds or in that country, traditional odds.

Decimal odds

Favoured in continential Europe and Canada, decimal odds differ from fractional odds in that they quote the amount that will be paid out to the bettor, multiplied by and including his stake. Therefore, the decimal odds of an outcome are equivalent to the decimal value of the fractional odds, plus one, and even odds would be quoted as 2. The 4/1 fractional odds discussed above would be quoted as 5, while the 1/4 odds would be quoted as 1.25. This is considered to be ideal for parlay betting, because the odds to be paid out are simply the product of the odds for each outcome wagered on. Decimal odds are also favoured by betting exchanges because they are the easiest to work with for trading.

Decimal odds are also known as European odds, or continental odds in the UK.

Moneyline odds

Moneyline odds are favoured by American bookmakers. If the figure quoted is negative, then the moneyline odds are quoting how much money must be wagered to win $100 – this is done if the odds are worse than even. If the figure quoted is positive, the odds are quoting how much money will be won on a $100 wager – this is done if the odds are better than even. Even odds can either be quoted as $100 or -$100. Fractional odds of 4/1 would be quoted as (+)$400, while fractional odds of 1/4 would be quoted as -$400.

Moneyline odds are often referred to as American odds. Moneyline refers to odds on the straight-up outcome of a game with no consideration to a point spread.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 10:52 am and is filed under Fixed odds gambling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.