If you’re new to sports betting, one of the first things that you should learn is how betting odds work. Although the choice of what and where to place bets is the primary concern for many enthusiasts and bettors, understanding betting odds is equally critical. Your success (or even failure) when following or betting on sports eventually depends on your knowledge and how you make informed betting decisions.
Top Bookmakers in the Philippines for 2023
At first, understanding betting odds can be complicated and stressful, and this is specifically true if you’re a new customer of a Philippines -focused sportsbook facility. But with this introductory guide to odds and online sports betting, following your favorite sports and leagues from the homegrown Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), National Basketball Association (NBA) to the Champions League will be fun and exciting.
Online Betting Odds - It’s All About Probability?
Every day, we ask random questions about the chance that something or an event will happen. For example, you make ask what’s the likelihood that it will rain (so you can bring an umbrella) or the chance that you’ll bump into your close friend. This is what be we call as probability and it also works in sports betting. At its core, sports betting allows you to predict the outcome of a certain event and when your prediction is correct, you can collect your win.
For a given event or occurrence, there are a certain number of results or outcomes. For example, if you roll a dice, there are six possible outcomes. In short, when you bet that a ‘three’ will turn out, you have a 1 in 6 chance or 16.67% chance of getting it right. Or take the case of the flipping of a coin. There are two outcomes- heads or tails. If you bet that heads will turn up, you have a 1 in 2 chance of getting it right or 50% chance. In short, the betting odds simply give you an idea as to how likely a certain event will happen.
There are different ways on how betting odds are presented. For example, for bookies based in the United Kingdom, the odds are presented as a fraction, say 1/6. However, the majority of the sportsbooks that accept players from the Philippines present the odds in decimals.
Use the Betting Odds to Check the Probability of an Event
When you sign up for a sportsbook, you’ll find different numbers represented in different ways. For example, you’ll find a 9/1 or 4/1. In online sports betting, we call these numbers as fractional betting odds. By checking out these number representations, you can easily analyze how likely an outcome or event is to happen.
For ease of computation, we replace the first digit with A and the second with B so that a 9/1 will become A/B. To calculate for the probability of an event happening, use the following formula: B/(A+B). Therefore, a fractional PBA betting odds of 9/1 for San Miguel Beermen can be calculated as: 1/(9+1)= 0.10.
This means that the event of San Miguel will win in the game is 10 percent. But if the basketball lines indicate that the team is assigned a 1/1, it means that it has a 50 percent chance of winning (or losing).
Betting Odds - Calculate Your Winnings from the Fractional Odds
The betting odds presented by your sportsbook can offer you a wealth of information. When you bet on sports like PBA or NBA, you should check out how the betting odds are presented first before placing your wager.
Let’s go back to the example used above: 9/1. Again, it will be translated into A/B. This means that for every value of B, you end up winning A and the wager is returned to you. This means that if you bet $1 for a team rated at 9/1, it only means that you win $9.
What to Do With Decimals?
In other top sportsbooks, the NBA betting odds are presented as decimals. For many players and bettors, odds presented as decimals are easy to explain and compute. If you’re faced with decimals for NBA betting odds or MPBL odds, you simply use this formula: your winnings= (odds x stake)- stake. If the sportsbook reflects decimal odds at 9.0, it means that with a stake of $10, you end up with a win worth $80.
When you sign up for a real money account with many sportsbooks, there’s a big chance that you’ll encounter both types of odds. As you can see, each type comes with its own set of information and benefits for the player. However, if you’re a beginner in all types of betting from PBA betting, UFC betting to NBA betting, you’ll feel safe and confident with the decimal betting odds.
The problem with fractional NBA betting odds is that these only represent your potential winnings and will not inform you about the returned stake. The decimal odds of top sportsbooks will provide you with that information thus giving you a more clear picture. Thanks to this benefit, several top-rated online sportsbooks that cover popular sports like football, basketball, and women’s basketball use the betting odds in decimals.
How Betting Lines Fit Into the Picture
When you bet on sports, you should not just pay attention to the betting odds. For complete information about your bets and chances, you should also understand how the betting lines work.
So what exactly is a betting line and how is this presented by your preferred sportsbook? Well, the betting line is simply a form of betting wherein the operator will handicap a team to make the contest even. The operator will set a margin or line between two teams wherein there are only two possible outcomes, either A or B wins. You can use the betting line of the sportsbook to check which team is favored to win by the market. For example, if in the NBA betting lines the Los Angeles Lakers is -20 and Cleveland Cavaliers is +20, it only means that Lakers is penciled to win the match-up. In short, the NBA spreads or lines can offer helpful information if you’re planning to make informed bets.
Always Access the Resources and Other Tools Online
Betting on sports can be tricky and stressful if you don’t know the basics. As a bettor or a passionate fan of different sports, you must have access to important betting information and resources including the betting odds and betting lines. The good news is that the majority of sportsbooks today offer guides, tips, and other tools to players. You can also find casinos and sportsbooks that offer the betting odds converter tool. This free online tool is helpful if you want to check out the odds in different formats. More importantly, this free tool available online will not just convert the MPBL odds or WNBA odds into different types; the tool can also give you an idea as to how much you can win.
So before you take the Champions League betting or NBA finals betting seriously, pay attention to the basics of the business. Read and understand how betting odds and betting lines work for all sports!
FAQ
?? Is online sports betting profitable?
It can be, however, you must have a deep knowledge of the sport and leagues you are betting in and to have a strategy. Also, it is very important to do proper research so you know how much money to bet and on which games.
?? Can I make bets from my mobile device?
Yes, you can make bets from your mobile device. All online bookmakers have a dedicated app or at least a mobile-friendly website.
?? Is online sport betting a skill or luck?
It is mostly skill but luck plays a part in it too. If you do proper research before you make your bets it is not that much left to luck.
