Fractional odds, also known as UK Odds are most often used in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Originally used in horse racing, fractional odds are one of the oldest forms of odds for sports gamblers. If you were to walk down London’s high street of bookmakers, you would see fractional odds adorning the walls of some the largest bookies in the. Point Spreads Explained. The point spread is probably the most common bet when you think of wagering on a single sporting event. That is because it's designed to bring the two teams to an even playing field through the use of a handicap installed by oddsmakers.

Reading Sports Odds For Today

How to Read Sports Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 03/07/2008

If you want to be a sports bettor, you need to know how to read sports odds. That only makes sense. It's a really easy thing to do, but if you don't know how then it can be confusing and can cause you to make costly mistakes. If you need a refresher, here are the basics of how to read sports odds:

Money line - We'll start here because it's the more confusing. Money line betting is the most common form of betting in baseball, and is regularly used in other sports like football and basketball as well. In this kind of bet you are betting just on which team will win the game. The odds will either be presented as a negative number less than 100 (like -145, for example), or a positive number equal to or greater than 100 (like +145, for example). In almost every case, one team in a game will be assigned a negative number, and the other will be given a positive number. The one with the negative number is the favorite, and the one with the positive number is the underdog.

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Figuring out the potential payouts is straightforward. We'll start with the underdog. The positive number is the amount of profit you would earn from a bet of $100. For example, if the odds were +145, a $100 bet would earn a profit of $145, so the total payout would be $245 (profit plus the return of the original bet). The favorites just need to be looked at in the opposite way as the underdogs. The negative number is the amount you would have to bet to win $100. For example, if the odds were -145 a $145 bet would produce a profit of $100. The payout would still be $245, but the initial bet would be higher.

Point Spread - This is the most common way to bet on football and basketball. In this case you are not betting on which team will win the game, but rather how much a team will win by. Oddsmakers set a point spread for each game. That spread is, at least theoretically, the number of points by which the favorite is likely to win the game. As a bettor, your goal is to decide whether the favorite will win the game by more points than the spread or fewer, or if they will win the game at all.

This is easier to understand with an example. Let's say that Boston is playing Washington in basketball, and Boston is favored by six points. If you were to bet on Boston then they would have to win by more than six points in order for you to win the bet. If they were to win by five or fewer points then a bet on Washington would be a winner. You would also obviously lose your bet if you bet on Boston and Washington won. If the spread was six points and Boston won by exactly six points then the game would be called a push and all bets on both teams would be refunded.

Another way that this can be looked at is by adjusting the score before the game starts. If Boston was favored by six then the score at the start of the game is essentially 6-0 for Washington. That means that Boston would have to win the real game by at least seven points to cover the spread.

The cost of making a point spread bet can vary, and is set by using a money line. This is referred to as 'juice' or vigorish and is the commission charged on sports bets by the bookie. The standard price for a point spread is -110, or a bet of $110 would produce a profit of $100. That vig will vary from sports book to sports book and from game to game, so it is important to look at the spreads and prices being offered at several books to make sure that you find the best price for the bet you want to make.

How NFL Odds, Lines, Point Spreads and Totals Work

When you wager on NFL football it’s important that you understand clearly and concisely how to read odds and how they work. This is basic information that you must know in order to make informed bets.

You’ll need to know how the rotation number, point spread, moneyline and over/under are used and what each means. Each of these terms may be called by another name. The rotation number if often referred to as the number or the rotation mark, moneyline becomes line, point spread is called the spread, and over/under becomes the total. When you come down to it, these are the major terms that can be lumped under the heading odds.

Reading Sports Odds

Bookmakers use odds to even out the bets, getting gamblers to wager on both sides of the line by leveling the playing field. Although there is overall parity in the NFL, there are teams that are haves and others that are have-nots. Indianapolis is still superior to Cincinnati but when they play each other the bookies have to get about half of the bettors to put cash on the Bengals. This covers the sportsbooks ensuring they’ll make a decent amount of cash on just about every game.

When you read NFL odds, you’ll first see the date and time of the game on the left and then immediately to the right, there will be two numbers with the name of each team next to one of each numbers. That number is called the rotation number.

Rotation numbers are standard from sportsbook to sportsbook. The number becomes a way to refer to the game and team without mentioning the teams name. It’s a sort of shorthand. Also, the rotation number allows each book to list the games in the same order—numerically. It is, in essence, a way to keep all of the games that are posted each day and throughout the week organized. That makes it easy for the bettor and the bookie.

Sports Odds And Lines

As an example, let’s consider a matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals. In our scenario, the Bengals are the home team, which means they will be listed last and the Colts, as the visitors, will be on the odds slip first. If Indy’s rotation number is 101, then Cincy’s rotation mark would be 102. When you place a bet live at a Vegas sportsbook or over the phone, you would say the number of the team on which you want to wager and not the name.

To the right of the team’s name are the different types of odds. Usually the spread will be first. You may then see the moneyline (although some books list these on another slip) and then, finally, the over/under. Thus, all of the basic bets are in one place, allowing for easy access.

The point spread, which is the most popular type of bet, lists the favored team with a minus sign and a number and the underdog with a plus sign and the same number as the favorite. (If neither team is favored, they will be listed as EVEN or PICK.)

The team that has the minus sign, which is the favorite, has points deducted from its final score, while the dog, with the plus sign, has points added. The favorite must beat the spread, which means they have to win by more than the negative number to pay off. The underdog pays off in two instances—if they win outright or if they lose by less than the spread.

In our scenario, Indianapolis is at -10.5 and Cincinnati at +10.5. If you bet on the Colts at -10.5, which means they are favored, they must win by 11 or more for you to collect on your bet. If you wager on Cincinnati, which is the underdog, your bet pays off if they win the game outright or if they lose by less than 11.

Sometimes with NFL odds you’ll see a spread posted as a whole number. Decimals or fractions are usually utilized to ensure there won’t be a tie. If in our example the spread was reset to 10 with the Colts favored and they win by 10, then the game is considered to be a tie, which in betting terms is called a push. If there is a push all bets are off and the sportsbooks return all wagers back to the bettors.

Many people will say that the odds on a spread bet are even, paying 1:1. But this is not true. The actual odds are 0.90:1. For every dollar bet, you can win 90 cents. When checking out the spread, you’ll usually see a number listed next to each spread. That number, which is your stake, is posted as -110. This number tells you how much you have to bet to win $100. If you put $110 on either team, you stand to win $100. If you bet $11.00, you can win $10.00. Every NFL point spread works this way.

The moneyline is different. First, with the moneyline whichever team wins the game pays out. There’s no giving or taking away of points. How do the bookies even the playing field with the moneyline? They do it by making bettors wager more on the favorite to win less and allowing them to bet less to win more on the dog. The favorite is posted with a minus sign and a number. That number represents the amount of cash that has to be wagered in order to win $100. The underdog, on the other hand, is listed with a plus sign in front of a number. That number shows how much a bettor wins when they bet $100.

Cbs Sports Odds

Taking the exact same match up and odds above, Indy would be listed at -380 and Cincy at +355. When wagering on the Colts, the favored team, a sports bettor would be required to bet $380 to make $100. If they take the Bengals, who are the underdog, a $100 bet can result in a $355 profit.

By the way, there is a relationship between the spread and the moneyline. The exact relationship can vary a bit depending on the book, but the correlation works in this manner:

Sports Odds Nfl

When considering NFL odds, the last type of basic bet you’ll see listed is the total or over/under. The over/under is a prediction regarding the total number of points that both teams will score. As it is with the spread, the total is usually posted as a fraction or decimal and the stake is the same as it is with the point spread (-110)

With NFL odds the over/under can vary but usually it’s somewhere between 35 and 47 points. Let’s say in the Colts and Bengals game that the total is posted at 37.5. If Indy scores 27 and Cincy gets 13 points, the total would be at 40 and the over would win. But if the Colts rack up 35, and they shut out the Bengals, the total of 35 would be under.
If, as it is sometimes with the spread, the total is listed as a whole number, the result may be a push. Let’s say the total is 37 and the Colts score 24 and the Bengals 13 for a total of exactly 37 points. If this happens all bets are returned on the push.
If you are able to interpret NFL odds and know what the various terms mean, such as the rotation number, point spread, moneyline and over/under, you’ll have a basic understanding on what you are betting. Prior to wagering make sure you see our NFL odds page, which carries all the latest odds from the top online sportsbooks. Remember that the odds makers are attempting to even the out the bets on each game. The sports bettor has to analyze each game and the odds and make their bets accordingly in order to win cash.