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Football Odds – a quick beginners guide

Online betting is fast becoming the world’s favorite way to bet, with hundreds of reputable online sportsbooks offering bets on tens of thousands sporting events. At any given moment there are dozens of matches taking place and punters worldwide can place bets on any of them. However, finding the best odds can sometimes be a challenge and with so many sportsbooks to choose from it’s important to make sure you pick the right one. Finding the best odds is the key to winning when it comes to sports betting tips and this article will explain how it’s done.

Understanding Betting Odds:

Placing a bet is all about making a prediction; anticipating what the team, jockey, player etc. is going to do next. Making accurate predictions is hard, but if you assess the odds carefully you can place smart, strategic bets, and develop a betting strategy which will help you win over time. Before you can do this you must first understand how to read betting odds. Betting odds are usually presented in one of two ways:

 

  • Decimal odds: odds can be presented as a decimal number which represents the amount of money you stand to win for each $1.00 you wager. For example, if you see odds of 2.8, it means you could potentially win $2.8 for each $1 you bet.
  • Fractional odds: These are similar to decimal odds, but they are presented differently. The fractional number refers to the amount of money you can potentially win per $1 wagered. It can help to break down the fraction into decimals, e.g. odds of 3/4 equals 0.75, which means you stand to win 75 cents for each $1 you wager.

 

Low odds means you won’t win too much, but the likelihood of winning is higher, at least according the bookies. High odds means you stand to win a lot, but you will probably lose. The trick is to try and beat the bookies, i.e. win with high odds. You can try and do this by spread betting or using an accumulator. 

Finding the Best Odds

The best way to find good odds is by using an odds comparison. Once you have decided which event – sporting or otherwise – you want to bet on, you have to use an odds comparison tool to find which bookies are offering the best odds for the outcome you want to bet on. Comprehensive odds checking sites will scrutinize all the top sportsbooks and let you know which ones offer the best odds for each sport. It’s also useful to read a review before depositing money with any sportsbooks to make sure they’re reliable and trustworthy.