Sports Odds Meaning

Understanding Sports Odds

Sports Betting Odds Explained. For the novice sports bettor, understanding how sports betting odds work can be one of the most confusing sets of numbers you've ever dealt with. For those who have just started betting on sports, to know how the odds work is of key importance for.

  1. May 13, 2020 Fractional odds: Common in the UK, fractional odds are in a “big three” group that also includes Decimal and American odds. A fractional line of 10/11 equals -110 in American odds and 1.91.
  2. You can use odds to calculate the implied probability of a certain outcome in a sporting event Understanding how to read odds is a crucial step to becoming a successful sports bettor. From determining how much money you want to wager to figuring out which bets offer the most value, it all starts with a solid understanding of the odds.
  3. Sports Betting Odds Explained. For the novice sports bettor, understanding how sports betting odds work can be one of the most confusing sets of numbers you've ever dealt with. For those who have just started betting on sports, to know how the odds work is of key importance for a profitable and enjoyable betting experience.

NCAA Football Betting Terms

Action: A bet of any kind.

ATS: Abbreviation for Above the Spread

Back-door Cover: This term refers to meaningless points scored late in the game by the underdog team to cover the spread.

Book: A sportsbook or a betting establishment that offers odds and accepts wagers.

Bookie: A person (or establishment) that takes bets on the outcome of sporting events.

What Do Betting Odds Numbers Mean

Cover: If you beat the spread by the required number of points, you’ve ‘covered’ the spread.

Edge: This is the advantage in any wager.

Favorite: This is the team that is expected to win.

Front-door Cover: This is the opposite of Back-door cover. It is used in reference to the favored team scoring meaningless points late in the game to cover the spread.

Futures bet: This refers to placing a bet on any future event in the season. For example, putting down a bet early in the football season for who will win a bowl game.

Handicapper: This is a person who studies and rates sporting events.

Handicapping: This is when someone tries to predict the outcome of any given game.

Home field advantage: The edge a team is supposed to have when they play on their home field. Since the home field is a familiar turf and in front of the home crowd, teams are expected to perform better than they would if they were travelling thus giving them an edge.

Hook: This is a half point added to football odds.

Line: This is the odds, points, money line, or point spread offered on football games.

Linemaker: This is someone that sets the odds, points, money lines, or point spreads for football games.

Lock: This term is used to refer to an easy win.

Longshot: This is a term used to refer to an extreme underdog.

Moneyline: This refers to the amount of money a player must wager in order to win $100, or the amount of money a player wins if they put $100 on the underdog.

Oddsmaker: This is another term for the Linemaker. It is the person who sets the odds, moneyline, or point spread for football games.

Over/Under Bets: This refers to a bet on whether the combined total of the points scored by both teams will be more or less than a set number.

Overlay: This is a term to refer to odds that are higher than they should be. These odds favor the bettor not the house.

Parlay: This is a wager on two or more teams or outcomes where the selections must win in order for the bettor to win.

Sports Odds Meaning

Past performance: This refers to any given team’s results in past seasons. This is particularly important when betting on NCAA football.

Player: This is a term that refers to any person that puts down a bet on any given sports event.

Point Spread: This is a number of points given to the underdog by the Linemaker in order to handicap the favorite. It can also be thought of in terms of the scoring differential between the two teams. The point spread is used to even the playing field.

Sports

Proposition Bet or Props: This is a bet placed on a specific aspect of the game, such as who will score first or how long the longest touch down pass will be.

Soft line: This refers to a line that has been adjusted because of the result of an action. It is not the true posted line.

Underdog: This is a term that refers to the team that is expected to lose.

Underlay: This is a term that refers to odds that lower than they should be. These odds favor the house and not the bettor.

What Do Betting Odds Mean

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. If you bet the Cowboys -7 and they win by more than seven points, you win your bet. Similarly, if you bet the Packers +7, as long as they lose by less than seven points or win outright, you win your bet.

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It's a similar case for the betting odds, though favorites don't always have a ' - ,' especially in sports like baseball, hockey or soccer where final results are often decided by one run or one goal. It's especially the case in soccer since matches can end in draws, whereas a winner is declared in almost every other sport because of overtime rules. However, in most cases, the favorite will have a ' - ' in front of its moneyline odds while the underdog will always have a '+ .'

For an example of moneyline betting odds, you can bet the Eagles as a -150 favorite to win or the Giants as a +180 underdog to win. If you bet $100 on the Eagles to win at -150, you would net a payout of $166.70. If you bet on the Giants to win at +180, the payout would be $280 because they are an underdog.

What Does Plus 230 Mean In Betting

For something like soccer, Arsenal could be a +150 favorite against Everton as a +190 underdog, while the draw would be set at +220. In this case, the payout would be decent for every situation mainly because the teams are even and there are three possible results compared to just two for something like football (unless they go scoreless in overtime). In this case where both teams have a ' + ' in front of their odds, the team with the lower number is the favorite. The lower number also means a lower payout, which is always the case for betting the favorite on the moneyline. A $100 bet on Arsenal +150 would net $250, while a $100 bet on Everton +190 would net $290. Going further, a $100 bet on the draw at +220 would payout $320.