If there’s one thing you know, it’s sports. You’ve been making friendly bets with your buddies for years, and almost always come up a winner. But do you really understand odds in sports betting?

• How To Understand Betting Odds Horse Racing
• How To Understand Betting Odds Football
• How To Read Odds 5 2

NHL Team prop betting odds are lines formed for games and during the season that do not really relate to the direct outcome of the game. For example, a team prop in a specific game might be something like the first team to score a goal in the match up. The bet is placed, and once the first team puts one in the back of the net, the bet is closed. First there are the moneyline betting odds, which is the bet on who will win the event outright with no point spreads or other variables. You simply pick the team you think will win and place the bet. However, without using the odds, the payouts are usually much different then they would be with the odds in place. Understanding betting odds is key to enjoying the experience of betting online and essential to learn before you start placing a bet online. We’ll go through the various kinds of gambling odds new players might see as they flick through the various online providers, detailing how to understand betting odds, the pillars of how sports betting.

Sports betting odds can be tricky to understand at first, especially since you may see the odds posted in more than one way.

From plus/minus to decimal, to fractional — how is anyone supposed to know how to place the best bets?

Don’t sweat it, we’ve got you.

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about how to understand odds in sports betting, and how you can start creating your own odds.

Understanding Sports Odds: What Are They?

So, you want to place a bet on the upcoming match but you’re not sure how to get started.

First things first, you have to understand the odds to know which bets are worth the risk. We’ll touch more on that in the sections below.

Secondly, you need to know that there are a variety of formats for which odds are displayed, such as:

• American (plus/minus)
• Decimal Odds
• Fractional Odds

All of them are easy to understand, and we’ll show you in the upcoming sections of this article.

Lastly, odds are used to calculate the implied probability of a particular outcome in any sporting event.

Once you have a solid understanding of how the odds work, you’ll be able to determine which bets offer the best payouts and how much money you are willing to wager.

Sports Odds Explained: American Odds

If you don’t know how to calculate sports betting odds, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

The most common type of sports odds used in North America is American Odds, which uses a plus/minus system for calculating payouts.

Below, we’ll answer your question: how are odds calculated in sports?

We’ll start with the American way, and give you some betting odds examples so you know exactly what you’re looking at the next time you want to make a wager.

But first, it’s important to know what odds are designed to do.

1. Odds flag potential bettors as to the implied probability of the bet
2. Odds announce the payout you could win if you bet on that outcome

However, odds can be influenced by more than the events that are relevant to the outcome of the game or match.

Many traditional sportsbooks are known for manipulating the odds in their favor and factor in how much the book is charging for you to place your bet. You may hear fellow wagerers refer to this cut as the “juice”, “vig”, or “cut.”

How Does Plus/Minus Work in Sports Betting?

When you see +130/-240 (or any other three-digit combination) you know you’re dealing with American odds.

The plus or minus indicates whether you’re betting on the favored team or the underdog.

A negative number on the betting line implies the favorite, and exactly how much you have to bet to walk away with a $100 payout.

Positive numbers belong to the underdog, and let you know how much you’ll win if you bet $100.

For example:

How Do You Understand Odds in Sports Betting With American Odds?

Using the above example, calculating your odds look like this:

To win $100 on the Vikings (favorites), you would need to wager $130. If you bet $100 on the Packers (underdogs), you’d be paid out $260 in addition to receiving your $100 bet back.

Calculating Payouts

Let’s say you don’t want to bet $100 of your money — we get it, that can add up.

Many people prefer to place a series of smaller bets on multiple games to get the most out of the experience.

Winning two and losing one can be more appealing than losing it all in one shot.

With the above example, let’s calculate the odds of betting the underdog with only $10, instead of $100.

Using the +260 odds on the Packers, a $10 bet would payout $26 in profits, plus the return of your original $10 bet for a total of $36 back in your pocket.

In most cases, the sportsbook you’re betting with will do the calculations before you even place the bet.

You’ll know the exact payout before you confirm your bet.

Calculating Implied Probability

If you’ve started to research exactly how sports betting works, then you’ve probably heard the term “implied probability”.

The odds are what suggest a particular outcome in any match, and the implied probability refers to the prospect of that outcome.

To calculate the implied probability you need to convert the odds into a percentage.

The reason you’d want to calculate the implied probability is to determine if the estimated probability of a match you wish to bet on is different from the sportsbook so that you can adjust your bet accordingly.

Remember, that all odds available at a sportsbook include the “juice” or “cut” so you’ll need to factor that in, as the implied probability of every conceivable outcome of a match is going to be above 100%.

This is called overround, and it’s the reason you should remove the “juice” from betting lines before calculating what the oddsmakers actually expect the outcome to be.

How To Understand Betting Odds Horse Racing

Sports Odds Explained: Decimal Odds

Of the three types of odds you’ll come across, betting with decimal odds are the easiest to learn.

Decimal style odds are typically used in Europe, but many Sportsbooks default to American odds. However, you should be able to set the preference to any betting style.

Decimal odds look like this:

How Do You Understand Odds in Sports Betting With Decimal Odds?

Calculating your potential winnings with decimal odds is easy. All you have to do is multiply the amount of money you’re wagering with the odds attached to the team you’re betting on.

How To Understand Betting Odds Football

For example:

Calculating Implied Probability

Calculating your implied probability is a valuable tool to determine if a wager is worth the risk.

Using our example above, we’ll determine implied probability using the following formula: 1 / Decimal odds

With the above example, the Toronto Blue Jays implied probability of winning is:

1 / 2.10 = 47.6%

And the New York Yankees implied probability of winning is:

1 / 1.40 = 71.4%

In this case, the New York Yankees have a much higher probability of winning, and therefore the safer bet… unless you know something we don’t.

Sports Odds Explained: Fractional Odds

Fractional odds are most commonly used in the UK and can typically be seen when placing bets on horse races.

They’re sort of funny looking odds, but when you understand what they mean, they are really easy to calculate.

How Do You Understand Odds in Sports Betting With Fractional Odds?

Let’s say you want to bet on a horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

You open up your betting app and see strange-looking figures such as 8/3 or 1/2 (which, by the way, we would say “eight to three” or “one to two”).

So, how do you calculate these odds?

Simple.

The number on the left (8) tells you how many times the oddsmaker expects the related outcome to fail. And the number on the right (3) dictates how many times the outcome should succeed.

So, what does this mean for your pocketbook?

Calculating Payouts

Calculating your payout for fractional betting is really quite easy.

Multiply your bet by the numerator (or top number), then divide the result by the denominator (bottom number).

For example, if you place a $50 bet on 8/3 odds the calculation would look like this:

(50 x 8) / 3 = $133.33 (a total of $183.33 coming your way).

Or if you placed your $50 bet on the 1/2 odds, then the calculation would look like this:

(50 x 1) / 2 = $25 (for a total of $75 in your pocket).

How To Read Odds 5 2

Calculating Implied Probability

Figuring out the implied probability for fractional bets can be done fairly easily.

Let’s say your horse of choice has 8/3 odds on him, this means that out of 11 races (8+3) your horse is expected to win eight times. Pretty good right?

Now divide the number of times he’s supposed to win by the number of races on the roster and you get your implied probability: 8 / 11 = 72.7%

Remember though, it costs money to play, so anytime you’re calculating odds, whether American, decimal or fractional,the outcomes when added together will always equal more than 100%… that’s the “vig” or the “cut” we’ve been talking about.

What is a Push?

A push — while not related to odds — can directly affect your payout so we thought it was worth mentioning here.

Being aware of the possibility of a push before you place your first bet on a sports match is important.

So, what is a push, exactly? In simple terms, it’s a tie.

You will not see a push on the moneyline when placing bets, so you need to know in advance if it’s an outcome you can bet on. Typically this only applies if you’re betting against the spread or making a totals bet.

If a push occurs and hasn’t been bet on, then you’ll just get your money back, as it’s considered neither a win nor a loss.

A point spread will usually add half a point to each number so that a push can’t happen, but that’s not always the case, so keep your eye on your bets and all possibilities of a push.

What Is ZenSports?

Now, that you know how to figure out odds in betting this is where it gets really interesting.

ZenSports is an online peer to peer betting marketplace that removes the need for a bookmaker, and thus the “vig”, “cut”, or “juice”.

By eliminating the bookmaker, ZenSports can charge 50-90% lower fees than traditional bookmakers do.

On top of saving a lot of money, every customer that uses ZenSports is betting against other sports bettors (not greedy bookmakers), so customers feel good knowing that they’re going up against people that are just like them.

Create Your Own Bets and Odds With ZenSports

How does peer to peer betting work, exactly?

By eliminating the bookmaker, ZenSports has essentially created a marketplace for which every bettor plays a role in creating a fun, decentralized ecosystem for everyone involved.

Here’s a five-step overview of how the ZenSports process currently works:

1. Makers create bets. Anyone can create any imaginable sports bet they want with their own terms, payout, and wager amount.
2. Takers accept bets. Anyone can accept part of or a whole bet created by a Maker.
3. Makers submit the results of the bet outcome. To prevent a Maker from submitting false results, Makers have an escrow fee of 10% of their bet set aside in case of a dispute by the Taker.
4. Takers can dispute results. A Taker can dispute any outcome but are required to hold 5% of their bet in escrow aside to prevent the Taker from making false disputes.
5. The Marketplace resolves disputes. The Marketplace is incentivized to vote correctly because they will receive half of the losing party’s escrow amount if they vote alongside the majority of the voters. The prevailing party received a full refund of their escrow fee, along with half of the losing party’s escrow fee.

All bets are then paid out accordingly.

ZenSports is the only mobile peer to peer sports betting marketplace, where anyone can create and accept bets around the world without the need for a centralized bookmaker.

The future of online sports betting is here.

Thanks for visiting ExplainBettingOdds.com, where we will help you understand exactly how to read NHL betting odds. The NHL is a fast-paced sport, complete with a ton of action and wild entertainment. And with 82 games during the regular season, plus the playoffs, that provides both oddsmakers and bettors alike with a lot of opportunities when it comes to betting lines for the sport. The NHL has a number of different betting odds which are formed during the season for each matchup. Here on this page, we detail what types of lines you will see online sportsbooks come out with during the season, and explain them so that they are easy to understand. The NHL is definitely a different type of sport to wager on than for example the NFL. Actually, Major League Baseball betting lines could be compared most similarly to that of the NHL. So let's check out what betting lines you can expect to see formed for the NHL.

How To Bet On The Spread In The NHL

The NHL Goal line is a type of spread installed for each game on the schedule during the week. But unlike the NFL or NBA, the NHL goal line is a set number a 1.5 goals. A team will then be set in the role of having to cover that spread, which is always the team that is set as the favorite on the moneyline. We will get into the moneyline further down below. But for this purpose, consider the team that has to cover the 1.5 goal line with a two-goal win or more as the favorite to win the game out right. Every game is installed with this goal line, though most of the time the team picked as the one having to win by two goals or more is not the favorite to cover the spread. That's because statistically, the majority of hockey games are decided by one goal or less, or result in a tie. Payouts around the goal line can actually vary quite a bit, and you can see some big disparities between the team having to win by two or more goal, and the one that can still lose by a goal and cover.

Article: How To Read Point Spreads

NHL Moneyline Betting Odds Explained

Just like a goal line, every match up in the NHL is installed with a moneyline. This is a straightforward wager, where the bet is placed on the team to win the game outright, with no goal line or any type of spread involved. If you bet on the Canucks to beat the Islanders, the bet is won if Vancouver wins the game, no matter what the score is. This sounds easier right? Well it is. But you can see a disparity in the payouts. The favorite on the moneyline will obviously payout quite a bit less than a bet that would be made and potentially won on the underdog.

Here in this moneyline example, the Canucks are set as -300 favorites on the betting line. That means for every $3 wagered on Vancouver to win, a $1 profit is returned. In the role of the underdog, New York is going off at 2/1 on the payout.

NHL Over / Under Bets Explained

The goal total betting line is a game line set down with the total number of goals for a game between both teams. Oddsmakers will research the two teams, and then come up with an over/under goal total for the specific matchup. The wager is made on the actual scoring total of the game going higher, or lower, than the oddsmakers' prediction. Payouts for this wager are right around even.

Article: How To Read Over / Under Betting Odds

NHL Team Props Explained

NHL Team prop betting odds are lines formed for games and during the season that do not really relate to the direct outcome of the game. For example, a team prop in a specific game might be something like the first team to score a goal in the match up. The bet is placed, and once the first team puts one in the back of the net, the bet is closed. The rest of the game does not have any effect on the outcome of this particular wager. Prop betting odds reduce many of the variables in a game, and are smaller bets within a game. By smaller, we do not mean the amount that can be wagered; only that it's not a bet on the outcome of the game.

NHL Player Props Explained

Player prop betting odds for the NHL are just like team props, only related to specific players. Within a game, we could see as many as 30 or 40 prop betting lines set down for players. They range in nature, and typically revolve around the number of goals or assists, or a combination thereof for players during the game. The bet is made on the number installed for a player, whether it be one goal or 1.5 goals or whichever number. The wagered would then be made on the actual total going over or under that installed number from oddsmakers and online sportsbooks.

How To Read NHL Live Betting Odds

Betting live on sports is definitely something that is becoming more and more popular in this day and age. With the increase in technology and the accessibility of online sportsbooks, live betting is available right at your fingertips. As far as the NHL is concerned with live betting, it is available for games. Not every single game is available for live betting, but online sportsbooks will establish which ones are. From there, the available betting lines will also be shown. Alternate moneylines, team and player props are what are typically available. With live betting, odds are obviously changing every couple of minutes, making for a fun and exciting way to bet sports.

How To Read Stanley Cup Betting Odds

Stanley Cup futures wagers are a betting line which is formed during the season. In fact, these odds come out the day after the championship from the previous season is won. The bet is placed on the odds to win the Stanley Cup for the upcoming or current season. These odds are not set in stone, and do change during the season as teams do well, or fall out of contention.

Bovada Sportsbook - NHL Games Big On Bovada!

The reason that may fans come and sign up for an account with Bovada is because of the variety of games that can be bet on. Hockey is a sport that goes know but barely talked about but is still bet on often. Bovada knows that even though there are a few hockey fans everywhere, having the games on their sportsbook only means that more players will sign up and wager on NHL soon as the puck drops. This means that live betting feature that is present to all account holders can be very busy when it comes to all these games that last a few hours sometimes.

There are so many different money lines and also different betting odds that will be here for players to check out. The fact that there are many different prop bets here as draws a huge crowd of players and that means more and more players will drop money on a bet that could win them a lot of money. Check out the bonuses as well that could make a difference in how much money players can put on their account.

MyBookie Sportsbook - MyBookie The Best Place To Bet On NHL Games

Now for the most part players like to go on their online sportsbooks a place their bet and leave. With MyBookie, placing your bet is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what players can do on their account. With so many different betting options here on MyBookie, the NHL is one of the sports that after you place your bet, you can find other things to get into like checking out other money lines and also participate in live betting feature that it offers.

There is also a mobile betting feature here on MyBookie as well that lets players log in and check on their bets and even place other wagers while they are out of the office or not close to a computer. The games that are being seen will always show up as options and with the NHL season, there will always be plenty of games up on MyBookie so there is no reason for a player to be bored with this account they have!