Reading sports betting odds can seem complicated at first glance.

1. Reading Horse Racing Betting Odds
2. How To Read Spreads
3. Reading Betting Odds Football
4. Next Reading Manager Betting Odds
5. Reading Betting Odds

Betting Odds are written in terms of 100 as an industry standard. The easiest way to think of the plus and minus signs is as follows. If it is a plus, you will receive more than a $100 payout on a $100 bet. The word line, in the language of a sportsbook, can refer to either the odds and/or a point spread in any sports contest. Let’s take a look at an imaginary line the way you’d read it off the board sitting in a Vegas sports betting lounge or on the screen at your online book. Horse racing betting odds are displayed as fractions, to determine potential winnings simply multiply your intended wager by the fraction. The number you get represents the net profit you will see if your bet is a winner. The plus (+) and minus (-) in sports betting can refer to either the point spread or betting odds. In terms of the spread, the ' - ' always refers to the favorite and the ' + ' always refers to the underdog. For example, you can bet the Dallas Cowboys as a -7 point favorite to beat the Green Bay Packers or the Packers as a +7 point underdog.

-110

11/10

1.91

What do they all mean?

Betting odds simply indicate the likelihood of an event and the return you’d get if you did make a wager on the result. Betting odds may be displayed in three different formats at US sportsbooks and online.

All of the above numbers represent different ways to display betting odds, however they all represent the same thing.

All betting odds represent the implied probability to win a bet. The way that number is displayed is where things can differ.

Types of Betting Odds

There are three main ways to display betting odds:

• American
• Decimal
• Fractional

Each of the odds formats represent a chance of winning, just displayed in a different way.

Most sports betting sites will give you the option in how you display your sports odds, so it is important to understand how to read them.

All sports betting types will have odds attached to them: point spread, money line, total, futures, props, and more.

How to read American odds

In the United States, it is standard to use the American odds format (shocking!). Each bet will always have a plus (+) or minus (-) in front of a number greater than 100.

Take for example how the following moneyline bet odds would be displayed for the following sporting event:

Chicago Bears -196

Washington Redskins +170

Since this is a moneyline bet, these odds represent the implied probability each team has to win the game.

American odds can be broken down into two categories: favorites and underdogs.

How do Plus and Minus odds work?

Favorites Odds

When a bet is a favorite, it means the implied probability (win percentage) is greater than 50%. Favorites will always have a minus (-) sign and will always be “negative odds”. Ex: -150.

Favorite odds can be read as “to win $100”.

Meaning if the odds of a bet were -150, you would need to bet $150 to win $100. Note that you do not need bet in $100 increments.

This same ratio would apply to different bet sizes: Bet $15 to win $10, bet $1.50 to win $1, etc.

If you were to read betting odds of -150 out loud, you would say “minus one fifty”.

Underdog Odds

The other side of American odds are underdogs. Underdogs have an implied probability of less than 50%.

Underdog odds are always represented with a plus sign (+) in front of the number and will always be “positive odds”. Ex: +150.

Underdog odds are interpreted different than favorites. Underdog bets are betting $100 “to win” whatever the odds are.

In the +150 example, you would bet $100 to win $150. Again, you can bet any amount you would like. It doesn’t have to be $100. Ex: bet $10 to win $15, bet $1 to win $1.50, etc.

Reading Horse Racing Betting Odds

How to read decimal odds

Decimal odds are the easiest odds type to interpret. They are used by most people outside of America, most notably Europe. The Decimal format are also the easiest odds type to convert to an implied win percentage.

Decimal odds tell you what your return will be given your bet amount (or “stake”).

How To Read Spreads

For example, if you bet $10 on the New York Knicks to win at odds of 2.25, your return (or “total payout”) would be $22.50 if they won.

Return does not take into account your original bet amount. Therefore your profit, or “to win” amount, would be $12.50 ($22.50 return – $10 wager).

Note that the return aspect is the key difference between Decimal and American odds. The Decimal format will tell you your return, while the American format will tell you your “to win” amount.

How to read fractional odds

Fractional odds are simply decimal odds represented as a fraction. For example, 3/1 odds are the decimal equivalent of 4.

The biggest difference between fractional and decimal is that fractional tells you the potential profit while decimal tells you the return.

Going back to the previous example, a $10 bet at 3/1 odds would represent $30 in profit.

A $10 bet at the equivalent odds of 4 in decimal format would return $40. Subtracting your $10 bet from the return would give you your profit of $30.

Fractional odds can be read as the first number being the potential profit while the second number is the amount you will need to risk for that profit.

For example, fractional odds of 23/20 would represent a bettor needing to risk $20 in order to profit $23.

Fractional odds are most common in horse racing and futures markets.

Related: Find more sports betting guides here

Reading Betting Odds Football

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.

Sports Betting Odds Explained

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.

Ready To Start Betting?MyBookie and BetNow are my two favorite sportsbooks and make betting very easy. You will also get a Free Money Bonus at each sportsbook if you follow either link above.

Next Reading Manager Betting Odds

Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds

Reading 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.