In the world of online gambling, no matter what game you’re playing, you’re playing the odds. Whether it be enjoying bingo games, a spin of the online slots, or of course having a bet on the horses, odds are what you play and often what you base your betting decisions on.
For beginners this can prove tricky and confusing. Understanding odds is one of the first requirements of starting to place bets. If you don’t understand them, then it’s a failure waiting to happen.
There are different ways odds can be presented to you though. Below you’ll find the two main ways and how they work…
Fractional Odds
Fractional odds are most commonly found in the UK and are relatively easy to understand. You’d often find these across different types of sports betting and casino games, and look as follows:
- Legs 11: 1/3
- Boris’ Door: 4/1
- Kelly’s Eye: 9/2
The example above is a horse race, with the names of the horses and the odds beside them. You can use the odds to discover the favoured outcome of an event, as well as how much you may win.
As you can see these are displayed as fractions. The number on the right hand side of the slash is the predicted number of times that event will happen of the total sum of the numbers on both sides of the fraction.
So, taking Legs 11, this horse would be predicted to win three of every four of the same event. Boris’ Door would be predicted to win one in every five.
You can also calculate how much you will win using fractional odds. The number on the left of the fraction is how much you will win for every number on the right you bet. So with Legs 11 you would win £1 for every £3 you bet on it, plus the return of your stake. Therefore if you bet £3 you would win £1 and see a total return of £4.
Decimal Odds
Decimal odds are also popular in the UK and slightly easier to understand. They are easy to work out, although you won’t find them very regularly in casino gaming or bingo. These come in the form of decimal numbers and in order to work out how much you will win, you simply multiply your stake by the decimal.
- Legs 11: 1.33
- Boris’ Door: 5
- Kelly’s Eye: 5.5
Therefore, if you wished to place a £5 bet on Legs 11, you would multiply 1.33 by 5 and your return would be calculated. In this instance your return would be £6.65. It is worth noting that unlike fractional odds, this is inclusive of your stake.
It is more difficult to work out how likely an outcome is to happen compared to fractional odds. However, the lower the decimal the more likely the outcome will occur.
