Just as your favorite team has its star player to give them the best chance of winning, you also need a star online sports betting site to increase your chances of winning too.
Whether it’s Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, or Tom Brady, every single player is carefully selected and the decision process is complex and extensive. Although we are not choosing the world’s top athletes to join our team, we do take the same approach when it comes to recommending online sports betting websites to our esteemed readers.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN SPORTSBOOKS
- Licensed bookmakers with a proven reputation
- Odds comparison across different bookies
- SSL encryption for 100% safe betting
- Fast and reliable depositing and withdrawing options
- Picking the bookmaker with the best welcome bonus
- Availability of mobile betting & in-play feature
Sports Betting Guides:
Remember to Check
There are so many things to consider when it comes to evaluating an online sportsbook, a lot of which are overlooked by the majority of players. But that doesn’t happen here because our expert reviewers have eagle eyes. Nothing escapes their watch, not even the littlest of details. That’s why when it comes to rating online sports betting sites, there is no one better.
Aside from being completely legal and fully regulated, these sites offer some of the best bonuses and promotions available. They also have the best odds and bet selection to provide you with an online sports betting experience that you cannot get elsewhere.
Read the comprehensive guides for each of the sites, and then give yourself the best head start possible by playing on any of our top recommended online sports betting sites.
Online Betting Guides
More people are taking advantage of technological improvements in the internet to embrace the fascinating world of betting to make money while having fun with it. If you are a beginner, the first thing you need to do is learn the use of betting odds in calculating the probability of an event occurring and your potential winnings. At first, you may find these calculations a little bit hard and confusing, but our straightforward and free betting tips will help you understand probability, betting odds and the relationship between the two. From there, you can easily learn how to calculate your winnings from betting odds and understand the use of decimal betting odds in the world of online betting.
If you are a beginner in the fascinating world of sports betting, we have some amazing free betting tips just for you in our betting odds explained guide.
The first thing on your agenda learning and understanding the working of betting odds. The mastery of how to calculate probability using betting odds enables you to understand the likelihood of an event occurring, which, in the world of gambling is pretty much the biggest advantage that you can give yourself. Also, understanding how betting odds work will also allow you to calculate what your potential winnings will be.
It may seem hard at first and you might even be a little confused about it, but the following free and straightforward betting tips will ensure that betting odds are explained to you in a way that you’ll easily understand.
Understanding Probability
Basically speaking, understanding probability is the most important tip among all our free betting tips that will enable you to predict how an event will turn out. What this translates to is that you’ll know which outcome is most likely to happen, therefore giving you the biggest chance of winning if you bet on that result. This is by far the biggest secret to winning.
We can use an event of tossing a coin as a good example. If a person tosses a coin, there are only two outcomes: head or tail. Thus, if you bet that the person tosses a ‘head’, there is a 0.5 probability that will happen.
We get this by simply dividing the possible numbers of the occurrence of head (1) by the total number of outcomes (2). Betting odds, as explained earlier, present the likelihood of the occurrence of the event.
What Are Betting Odds and How It Relates to Probability
Whenever there is a slash separating two numbers, e.g. 7/1, it is called a fractional odd. It enables us to calculate how likely a particular event is to take place. For us to better understand how to calculate probabilities using betting odds, let’s replace numbers with letters:
i.e. 7/1 becomes A/B. therefore, probability (%) = B/ (A+ B).
we can calculate 4/1 as 1/ (4+1) = 0.20. Thus, the likelihood that the event will occur is 20%.
we can calculate 1/4 as 4/ (1_4) = 0.80. Thus, the likelihood that the event will occur is 80%.
We can calculate 1/1 as 1/(1+1) = 0.50. Thus, the likelihood that the event will occurs is 50%.
We can calculate 9/1 as 9/(1+9) = 0.10. Thus, the likelihood that the event will occur is 10%.
As seen above, a betting fraction odd can show you the likelihood (probability) of what you are going to bet on will occur.
See, we told you it’s easy. By using the simple calculations above, we’re already making fantastic progress! Let’s continue with more free betting tips and see how you can win more money by utilizing betting odds.
How to Calculate Winnings from Betting Odds
A good understanding of how to calculate betting odds is the most useful of all our free betting tips as it’ll provide you with the skills necessary to calculate the amount of money you could potentially walk away with if you place a bet.
We will employ the same examples as earlier, replacing the numbers with letters, i.e. 7/1 becomes A/B, to once again paint a clearer picture for you. Basically, you will pocket the value of A for every value of B you bet, in addition to your original stake. It is that simple.
4/1: you will win $4 for every $1 you bet.
1/4: you will win $1 for every $4 you bet.
1/1: you will win $1 for every $1 you bet.
9/1: you will win $9 for every $1 you bet.
This is even more straightforward than understanding how to calculate probabilities using betting odds, right?
Calculating winnings using betting odds as explained is among our top free winning tips that will make sure you are well advised before placing a bet. For example, if you are to bet $1, you can comfortably conclude that a 9/1 odd, though less likely to occur than an outcome with 1/1 odd, will likely win you more money than that 1/1 odd if it occurs.
Decimal Betting Odds Explained
Apart from displaying odds as fractions, decimals are another way of displaying odds and most major betting sites offer people an option to view odds in either formats. At the end of the day, which way you choose to view the odds is completely down to you. We find decimals to be a little easier to understand, therefore we’d like to show you how this works too, so that you are fully equipped to choose which ever format best suits you.
When using decimal odds, simply multiply the bet value (stake) by the decimal figure shown. That will show you the money you will be returned on top of your stake. Again, let’s demonstrate this with some simple examples:
For instance, 6.25 for every $ 10 you bet will return $62.50. But you must also remember to subtract your original stake, which in this case is $10, meaning your actual total winnings is $52.50.
As you get used to fraction and decimal odds, you will probably realize, just like us, that the latter is easier to work with. That explains the emerging trend towards decimal odds.
Another reason why decimal odds are gaining popularity is their inclusion of the stake. While fraction odds show the winnings only, decimal odds include the returned stake.
As betting exchanges such as Betfair grew in popularity, the world of betting saw the transition of betting odds formats from fractional to decimal ones. For slight change in odds, large fractions are bound to be created even when there is marginal increase or decrease in probability. Thus, when it comes to how to calculate likelihood of outcomes using betting odds, any average punter may find the fractions quite hard to compute.
Summary
Betting odds, as we have explained, represent the likelihood or probability of an event to occur. Thus, they enable you work out the amount of winning from the value of the bet you have placed, in case the bet sails through. With our free betting tips, you now know how to calculate betting odds and money using fraction and decimal formats.