Kansas City Chiefs (-250), Las Vegas Golden Knights (-110), Toronto Raptors (+125) – the chances are that you’ve come across these sorts of options in your sports betting journey. If you don’t know what these numbers mean, you’re not the only one.

The way that sportsbooks manufacture their odds and betting lines has changed drastically over the years. The sports betting industry was once dominated by old-school Vegas oddsmakers, but much has changed since the advent of online sportsbooks, as well as. What To Know About Vegas Betting Odds. The truth of the matter is that Vegas pretty much sets all of the sports betting odds for the entire world. All of the world’s leading experts work for the big casino companies in Las Vegas, and all of them work together to set the odds for different sports.

What Do Betting Odds Mean

A large number of betting newbies have no idea what the figures are representing. If you want to learn, you’re at the right place. We’re now going to show you how Vegas odds work. We will also explain the process of making the odds. We’re even going to show you how to use this knowledge to your advantage.

What Are Vegas Odds?

Vegas odds a.k.a. American-style odds are the ones you will see in the land-based sportsbooks across Nevada. Caesars, Wynn, Golden Nugget – all these bookies are using the Vegas odds format.

The trouble is that they may seem strange to the inexperienced eye. However, everything becomes clear once you learn more about them. So, how do Vegas odds work?

These odds come in the form of three-digit numbers, which can either be positive or negative. If the number is negative, it means that the team is the favorite. If it’s a positive number, it’s the opposite. If the number on each potential outcome is -110 (or sometimes -105), it means that each team has an equal chance of winning.

The big question is how can you use these odds to figure out how much money you’re going to cash in if your bet wins? That’s the question we’re going to answer next.

How You Calculate Vegas Odds?

You calculate your potential win based on whether the odds come as a positive or a negative number. If the odds are positive, e.g., +150, it practically means that this is how much you can profit if you bet $100.

Let’s say you want to bet Justin Gaethje at Vegas odds of +150. If you put, $100, you’re going to make a net profit of $150 if he wins. But, what if you’d like to bet a different amount?

In that case, you need to use the following formula:

Vegas Odds/100 x Your Stake

So, let’s say you wish to put $70 on Gaethje, your potential net profit is calculated by dividing his odds by 100, then multiplying the number with 70.

Use your calculator and you will see that 150/100 x 70 equals 105. That is how much you will make if Gaethje wins. Note that $105 is your net profit, while you’ll also get your $70 stake back. So, your total win would be $175 on a $70 bet.

An important thing to remember is that the aforementioned formula only works if odds are displayed as positive numbers. If the number is negative (e.g., -150), you need to go with a different formula. In that case, this is what you got to use:

Your Stake/Vegas Odds x 100

This is because, with Vegas odds, the negative number represents the amount of money you need to bet in order to win $100. So, if the odds are -150, you will have to bet $150 to get a net profit of $100.

Is There a Simpler Alternative?

Vegas odds are traditionally used in land-based sportsbooks across Nevada. It’s been like that for decades, and when online sports betting became legal in other US states, most operators decided to embrace this format.

The same was the case with offshore sportsbooks that cater to American customers, with one important difference – BetOnline.ag, MyBookie.ag, SportsBetting.ag, and many other bookies let the players decide on the odds format.

So, if you find Vegas odds too complicated, you can always use decimal odds in offshore sportsbooks. How they work is that your stake is multiplied by the odds. The result you get is your gross profit (your net profit + your stake). For example, if the odds on Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 1.65 and you wish to bet $90, your potential win is $148.5.

Who Sets the Odds in Vegas?

When speaking about Vegas odds, there’s another question that pops out – who decides them? Some sportsbooks employ teams of oddsmakers to come up with the odds, while some hire independent companies to do the work for them.

In both cases, the goal is to set the odds in such a way that they attract equal action on both outcomes. This way, the sportsbook is going to make profits regardless of the outcome. As a result, the Vegas odds on the favorite are always negative numbers, while underdogs get positive numbers.

Oddsmakers take into account various factors to decide who’s the favorite/underdog. What we’re talking about are power rankings, game locations, the form of the teams, and so on. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Vegas odds equal the true probability.

Using the Odds Knowledge to Your Benefit

The thing about odds is that they change all the time. For example, there might be some big news coming from a team’s roster, such as an injury of a key player. You can be sure that the sportsbooks will adjust the odds in that case in order to protect themselves.

Still, the #1 reason why odds change lies in the behavior of the bettors. If the players suddenly start betting on one outcome, the sportsbook will have to react by adjusting the odds. They will move the odds on the outcome in question (e.g., from -128 to -175), while moving the odds against the opposite outcome (e.g., from +108 to +155).

This way, they are making sure they aren’t going to have to pay out too much money if the favorite wins. At the same time, they are encouraging bettors to put their money on the underdog with the odds more lucrative than earlier.

How can you use this knowledge to your benefit? You can go on an odds hunt. If you compare all the odds available, you will be able to find the best value for your bets. It may be at a Vegas-based sportsbook or it could be at an offshore website, you’ll find out only after you’ve compared them!

This guide will help you understand how betting odds work.

There are 3 different kinds of betting odds; Fractional, Decimal and American. American odds are often called Moneyline odds.

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HOW DO DECIMAL BETTING ODDS WORK?

Decimal odds are the easiest type of odds to understand.

To calculate your winnings using decimal odds, simply multiply your [tooltip text=”stake” gravity=”n”]Your “Stake” is the amount of money you wish to bet[/tooltip] by the decimal number. For example…

How Do Vegas Odds Work Nfl

If you placed a $10 bet at odds of 2.00, you would simply multiply 10 by 2.00 to calculate your return.

10 x 2.00 = 20.00 = $20 return from your $10 bet

How about placing a $15 bet at odds of 1.57?

15 x 1.57 = 23.55 = $23.55 return from your $15 bet

That was easy wasn’t it?

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HOW DO AMERICAN [MONEYLINE] ODDS WORK?

American odds are calculated based on how much money you have to bet in order to win $100. The odds are always accompanied by either a plus [+] or minus [-] symbol. The symbols determine whether you need to bet more than $100 (-) or less than $100 (+), to win $100.

This may sound confusing at first, but it’s really not that difficult!

Lets jump right into an example of how American odds work. Remember that American odds are all about how much money you have to bet, in order to win $100.

Imagine the odds looked like this for a particular fight…

Fighter A = -150
Fighter B = +200

When working with American odds, you need to remember that the minus [-] symbol always means that you will have to bet more than $100 to win $100. Minus [-] odds are considered the “favourite”. Odds with the plus [+] symbol are considered the “underdogs”.

If you take a look at the odds above, you can see that Fighter A is the favourite at -150. This means that in order to win $100, you would have to bet $150.

Fighter B on the other hands is a +200 underdog. This means that you would only have to bet $50 to win $100. Here are a couple more examples using more challenging odds…

Fighter A = -600
Fighter B = +1000

In this example Fighter A has odds of -600, which means that you would have to bet $500 to win $100. Fighter B on the other hand has odds of +1000, which means you’d only have to bet $10 to win $100.

Working with American odds will take some getting used to and it can be difficult to work out the exact amount of money you will win from your bets at first.

You can practice working with American betting odds by visiting Best Fight Odds and using an Odds Converter to calculate your returns.

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Vegas Odds How They Work

HOW DO FRACTIONAL BETTING ODDS WORK?

Fractional betting odds are favoured in the United Kingdom and Ireland and they’e the most popular type of odds used in Horse Racing. Although they may look confusing at first, they’re actually not that hard to work out. Lets jump right into looking at an example of how Fractional odds work…

If you wanted to bet $50 at odds of 6/4 six to four, this is how you would work it out:

First you have to add the numbers of the fraction together, in this case it would be 6 + 4 = 10. Then divide this number by the second number, in this case 4. 10 divide by 4 = 2.5. Then multiply this number by your stake. 2.5 x 50 = 125. Your return for a $50 bet at odds of 6/4 would be $125.

Vegas Betting Odds Explained

(6+4 = 10) 10 divided by 4 = 2.5

2.5 x 50(stake)= £125

How Does Gambling Odds Work

If you get stuck and you’d like some help calculating how betting odds work, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.