Sports betting explained
Odds and prices
- 50–60%
- Won 56% of 4,364
- 60–70%
- Won 64% of 1,624
- 70–80%
- Won 77% of 416
- 80% or more
- Won 88% of 210
How does sports betting work?
You stake money on an outcome at the odds a bookmaker offers: who wins, by how much, how many goals or runs, which player scores. If it happens, you are paid at those odds; if not, you lose the stake. The odds are fixed when the bet is struck, so a price that moves afterwards doesn’t change what you are paid.
How do betting odds work?
Odds are a price on a chance. Fractional odds of 2/1 pay £2 profit for every £1 staked, the same as decimal odds of 3.00, and both imply a one-in-three chance. A favourite at 1/2 (1.50) is priced to win two times in three. Add up the chances a bookmaker offers on every outcome and the total comes to more than 100%; the excess is their margin. Use our betting odds converter
Why are the odds different at each bookmaker?
Each bookmaker sets its own prices and its own margin, and moves them on the money it takes. Two can disagree on a match by a few per cent, and the one with the lower margin pays more on every outcome. Taking the best price on offer adds up over a season of bets. Bookmaker odds ladder
Do favourites win as often as the odds say?
Close to it, by the time the market closes. In 6,614 men’s limited-overs cricket matches from 2009 to 2026, the bookmakers’ favourite at the off won 60% of the time. With the margin taken out, near coin-flips won about as often as their odds said, and the heaviest favourites a little more often, so the longest-priced underdogs won less often than their odds implied.
What does SP mean in betting?
Starting price: the official odds on each runner when a race or event starts. A bet placed at SP is settled at that price, whatever was on offer when you placed it. It is mostly used in horse and greyhound racing.
What is best odds guaranteed?
A racing offer: if you take a price and the starting price turns out bigger, the bookmaker pays you at the bigger one. It usually applies only to bets placed on the day of the race.
Types of bet
What is a single bet?
One selection, one stake. It wins if the selection wins. Every other bet type is built from singles combined in some way.
What is an accumulator?
One bet on several selections, all of which must win. A double has two, a treble three, and an accumulator four or more. The odds multiply, so four selections at 1.67 pay about 7.7 times the stake, but the chances multiply too: four favourites with a 60% chance each all win only 13% of the time, about one in eight. The bookmaker’s margin multiplies with them, so an accumulator carries far more margin than a single.
What is an each-way bet?
Two bets of the same stake: one on the selection to win, one on it to place (finish in the top few). The place part pays a fraction of the win odds, often a quarter or a fifth. £5 each way at 10/1 with a fifth of the odds for a place costs £10. If the selection finishes second, the win bet loses and the place bet pays at 2/1, returning £15.
What are Trixie, Yankee and Lucky 15 bets?
Bets that cover every combination of a few selections, so one loser doesn’t sink the lot. A Trixie is three selections in four bets: three doubles and a treble. A Patent adds the three singles, seven bets in all. A Yankee is four selections in 11 bets: six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold. A Lucky 15 adds the four singles, 15 bets in all. The stake is per bet, so a £1 Lucky 15 costs £15.
What is a bet builder?
An accumulator of selections from the same match, such as a side to win, a player to score and over 2.5 goals. The legs are linked (a side that wins is more likely to have scored), so the bookmaker prices the combination as a whole rather than multiplying the odds, and the margin on it is usually higher than on a single.
How do free bets work?
A free bet is a stake the bookmaker gives you. Most are “stake not returned”: a winning £10 free bet at 4.00 pays the £30 profit but not the £10 stake. Offers often set a minimum price and an expiry date.
Betting markets
What are the main betting markets?
Match winner is the biggest in almost every sport: who wins, with the draw as a third outcome in football and Test cricket. Handicaps and totals come next: a side to win by more than a set margin, or the match to have over or under a set number of goals, points or runs. Player markets make up the rest of the main ones: a player to score, a player’s points or runs, man of the match. Cricket betting explained
What is a moneyline bet?
The American name for a bet on who wins the match outright, with no handicap. In sports where a draw is possible, the moneyline is either three-way, with the draw as an outcome, or settled with the draw refunded.
What is handicap betting?
The bookmaker gives one side a head start to even up the match. Backing a favourite at −1.5 goals means it has to win by two or more; backing the underdog at +1.5 means it wins the bet unless it loses by two or more. In American sports the same bet is called the spread, or the run line in baseball and the puck line in ice hockey.
What is Asian handicap betting?
A football handicap with no draw. On a whole number, such as −1, a one-goal win is a push and the stake comes back. On a quarter line, the stake is split between the two lines either side: −0.25 is half at 0 and half at −0.5, so a draw returns half the stake and loses the other half.
What does over/under mean in betting?
A bet on whether a total ends above or below the bookmaker’s line: goals in a match, points in a game, runs in an innings. Lines usually end in .5, such as over 2.5 goals, so there is no push. On a whole-number line, landing on the number exactly returns the stake.
What are outright bets?
Bets on the winner of a whole competition, a league or a tournament, or on a season-long prize such as top scorer. They are settled when the competition ends, so the stake is tied up for months, and the margin across a big field is usually higher than on a single match.
Voids, dead heats and rules
What does void mean in betting?
The bet is cancelled and the stake returned, as if it had never been placed. A push on a handicap or total line is settled the same way. A void leg in an accumulator drops out and the rest stands at the remaining odds: a treble with one void leg becomes a double.
What is a dead heat in betting?
A tie for a place that only one can win: two horses past the post together, two golfers sharing fifth, two batters level on the most runs. The stake is split between them, so with a two-way tie half your stake is paid at full odds and the other half is lost: £10 at 5.00 returns £25, not £50.
What happens to bets when a match is postponed or abandoned?
If a match doesn’t start, bets on it are usually void, unless it is played within a set window of the original start, often 24 or 48 hours. If it starts and is abandoned, bets on markets already decided stand and the rest are void, unless the sport’s rules make the result official, as with a rain-shortened cricket match. Rain rules in cricket betting
What happens to tennis bets if a player retires?
It depends on the bookmaker. Some settle match bets once a set is completed, paying the player who goes through; others void them unless the match is played to the end. Markets already decided, such as the first set, stand either way.
What is Rule 4 in horse racing?
A deduction from winning bets when a horse is withdrawn after the betting has formed. The rest of the field has a better chance than the prices said, so the bookmaker takes a set amount in the pound off winnings: the shorter the price of the horse withdrawn, the bigger the deduction. Bets at starting price are not affected, as the new market forms without it.
What is a palpable error?
A price the bookmaker shows by obvious mistake, such as a clear favourite at long odds. Under the rules most bookmakers publish, bets struck at a palpable error are settled at the correct price at the time, or voided.
Are betting rules the same at every bookmaker?
No. Rules on postponed matches, retirements, dead heats and players who don’t take part vary by operator and by sport, so always check the rules of the sportsbook you bet with before you place a bet.
In-play and cash out
What is in-play betting?
Betting while the event is on. Prices move with every goal, point or wicket, and markets open on the next scorer, the next game or the next over as well as the result. Bets are often held for a few seconds before they are accepted, so the price can change while you wait.
Why are betting markets suspended?
Bookmakers close markets the moment something could change the price: a goal, a penalty, a video review, a wicket, a break point. They reopen them at new prices once play settles. A bet struck after the event had already happened, because the bookmaker’s feed was behind, can be voided.
What is cash out?
An offer from the bookmaker to settle your bet early for a sum based on the current price. Partial cash out settles part of the stake and leaves the rest running. The offer carries a margin of its own on top of the original one, so cashing out regularly hands back value.
Exchanges and value
What is a betting exchange?
A market where punters bet against each other rather than against a bookmaker. You can back an outcome to happen or lay it not to, and the exchange matches your bet with someone taking the other side. It takes a commission, usually 2–5%, on net winnings on each market instead of building a margin into the prices.
What is a lay bet?
A bet that something won’t happen: you take the bookmaker’s side. If it doesn’t happen, you win the backer’s stake. If it does, you pay out at the odds, so laying £10 at 5.00 risks £40, your liability.
What is a value bet?
A bet whose odds pay more than the chance of winning justifies. Odds of 2.50 imply a 40% chance; if the real chance is 45%, the bet makes money over a long run of bets like it, even though it loses more often than it wins. Finding value means having a better view of the chances than the price. Our match chances
What is closing line value?
How the price you took compares with the final price before the start. Closing prices are the market’s sharpest view, with every piece of team news and money in them, so a punter who regularly takes bigger odds than the close is usually finding value, win or lose on the day.
Staying in control
How do I set a deposit limit?
In your account settings at the bookmaker, under responsible or safer gambling. UK-licensed bookmakers have to offer daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits. A lower limit applies at once; raising one takes effect only after a cooling-off period, usually 24 hours.
What is GamStop?
A free self-exclusion service that blocks you from every online bookmaker licensed in Great Britain at once, for six months, a year or five years. Bookmakers can’t lift it early. Free, confidential support is also available from the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.
18+ only. Please gamble responsibly. BeGambleAware.org