Glossary Of Terms
Glossary Of Terms
American Odds
American odds are a way to express the odds of a bet in terms of money. They can be either positive or negative and represent either how much profit you stand to make on a $100 bet or how much you need to bet to make $100 in profit.
Positive American Odds (e.g., +200): This indicates how much profit you would make on a $100 bet. In this example, a successful $100 bet would yield a $200 profit, returning a total of $300 (your original $100 bet plus the $200 profit).
Negative American Odds (e.g., -150): This indicates how much you need to bet in order to make a $100 profit. In this example, you would need to bet $150 to make a $100 profit, returning a total of $250 (your original $150 bet plus the $100 profit).
Decimal Odds
This is a way to express odds as a decimal number. Decimal odds represent the total amount you will get back for a winning bet, including your original stake. They are commonly used in Europe and many other parts of the world outside the United States. For example:
Decimal Odds of 2.00: If you bet $100 with odds of 2.00, your potential payout would be $200 (which includes your original $100 stake plus $100 in profit).
Decimal Odds of 3.50: If you bet $100 with odds of 3.50, your potential payout would be $350 (which includes your original $100 stake plus $250 in profit).
To determine your profit, simply subtract your original stake from the potential payout.
Handicap Bet
A handicap bet is a type of wager that levels the playing field between two unevenly matched teams or participants. Here's how it works:
Favorites: The favorite (the team or individual expected to win) will be given a negative handicap, which means they start the game with a hypothetical disadvantage. For example, if a team has a handicap of -2.5, they need to win by 3 points or more for a bet on them to be successful.
Underdogs: The underdog (the team or individual less likely to win) will be given a positive handicap, which means they start the game with a hypothetical advantage. For example, if a team has a handicap of +2.5, they can either win the game, draw, or lose by 1 or 2 points for a bet on them to be successful.
Implied Probabilities
This refers to the conversion of betting odds into a percentage, which represents the likelihood of a particular outcome occurring. It's called "implied" because it's the probability suggested by the odds set by bookmakers, not necessarily the actual probability of the event.
It's important to note that the implied probability will often total slightly more than 100% when considering all possible outcomes. This overround or vig is where the bookmaker gets their margin.
Understanding implied probability can be useful for bettors to determine if they believe the odds offered by a bookmaker represent good value based on their own assessment of an event's likelihood.
Moneyline Bet
A moneyline bet is one of the most straightforward ways to wager on sports. When you place a moneyline bet, you are simply betting on which team or individual will win a game or event, without any point spread involved. With moneyline bets, you're not betting on margin of victory or any point spread. You're simply picking the winner. If your chosen team or individual wins, so does your bet; if they lose, your bet is lost.
Over/Under Bet
This is a type of wager that involves betting on the total number of points, goals, runs, or any other metric scored in a game by both teams combined. Instead of betting on which team will win, you're betting on whether the combined number of points scored by both teams will be over or under a number set by the bookmaker.