top10betting.co.uk

What are the odds?

• Odds are simply numbers which tell you how much you will win for a given wager or stake. So, a ?10 bet on Manchester Utd to beat Arsenal at 6/4 (Euro 2.50) would return ?15.00, ?25.00 including your stake.

Example: Manchester Utd vs. Arsenal

• Odds imply a probability of something happening and can be converted into percentages. This is helpful when looking at the value the quoted odds give you. For example, an even money bet (Evens UK, 2.00 Euro) reflects a 50% chance of an outcome and a 6/4 UK, 2.50 Euro bet is giving you a 40% chance.

  To work this out, using the 6/4 (2.50) example you can do the following calculation:

  6 / 4 = 1.5 + 1 = 2.50

  100% / 2.50 = 40%

• Using the top5bet Odds Ready Reckoner you will be able to look at any market, whether it’s a football match, horse race or whatever and quickly establish the over-round and therefore whether value exists in your bet.

   

• The over-round is the bookmaker’s margin – or profit. Below you will see some typical odds for a football match – in this instance between Manchester Utd and Arsenal. The over-round in this example is 110%. Due to the competitive nature of football (soccer) betting, this is getting better all the time. Some firms are offering markets with over-rounds of 106 – 108%.

Example: Manchester Utd vs. Arsenal

• Remember, Betting Exchanges such as Betfair and Betdaq are people-to-people gambling sites so the over-round is almost non existent – you just have to consider the commission level which will be taken from winning bets.

   

• Here is a top5bet example of how the different odds could be presented using the English Premier League Champions Chelsea, versus the reigning Champions League winners Liverpool (2004/05). (Because British odds use fractions rather than decimals there may be rounding errors.)

Example: Chelsea v Liverpool

• UK, European and American based bookmakers’ all present odds in their own unique style. The top5bet Odds Converter table converts the British, European and American standard for you. Some bookmakers support more than one of these standards and will have drop boxes which will allow you to look at odds in the way you feel most comfortable.

  For example: Super Featherweight Fight - Las Vegas NV:

  Marco Antonio Barrera	–500
  Robbie Peden	+450

  Using the Odds Converter chart we can see that Peden is 9/2 and Barrera a short favourite at 1/5.