How To Odds Work In Sports

3/27/2022by admin
  • As more and more states legalize sports betting in the U.S., inevitably more people will be drawn to sports betting. If you are a novice sports bettor, a sportsbook’s odds board or homepage on a mobile app may look like complete gibberish. In this article, we will get you.
  • When you make a futures bet, your odds are 'locked in.' That means if you bet the Redskins at 12-1, you will get paid off at 12-1 odds, even if the sports book later adjusts the odds (to 6-1, for instance). Futures betting also is offered on the major events in horse racing, such as the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup.

Sports betting has become a phenomenon across the world. People all around the world will put wagers on a sporting event to create more excitement around a game for themselves. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t watch a 1-10 team play a 2-9 team without placing a wager. But once the wager is in, you’re absolutely tuning in and watching every second.
Betting lines are used for sportsbooks to put a price on a certain wager. If you’re looking at a team with -150 odds to win, they’re a favorite. If it pays out, you will receive less than you put in. However, if you bet on the opposite side and take a chance with a +150 underdog, you would make more profit if the team won. Read more about Moneyline betting here.
Who creates the betting lines that are used by sportsbooks?

Generally speaking, you will find odds not only for football betting markets but for all sports betting including NBA, NHL, Golf, UFC/MMA and even Formula 1. Each sports betting event will have a certain outcome – in the end, there will be a winner and a second-placed team (may vary depending on. Understanding odds is the key to figuring out which bets are worth taking; Odds are displayed in a variety of different formats, but all are easy to understand; You can use odds to calculate the implied probability of a certain outcome in a sporting event; Understanding how to read odds is a crucial step to becoming a successful sports bettor.


Most sportsbooks have in-house oddsmakers that are in charge of creating betting lines in the weeks before games, especially when it comes to Opening Day or the NFL. In baseball, the oddsmakers are required to make the lines daily as games never seem to stop in the summer with the MLB.
Years ago, the oddsmakers didn't have that much information to look at when trying to make betting lines. Now there are analytics everywhere to come up with all of the lines much more accurately.
Back then, oddsmakers would really only have box scores to look at. Now oddsmakers can look up anything and everything which gives them an advantage over the average bettor. Of course, records and things like the weather are important, but deeper stats mean so much more to oddsmakers. They’re able to develop systems to figure out exactly how much a team will score and such. You know the saying, “Vegas is always right.” Unless you follow Doc’s Sports picks. Then it’s different.
How Lines Move
When a game starts out at -3 for a team and the line changes to -2 before the game begins, that means that there’s action on the game or an injury to a key player. There are 'sharp' bettors that place a large bet on one team that forces oddsmakers to raise an eyebrow and switch the lines. An oddsmaker is always watching action to see if a change is necessary on the lines.
Popular Ways to Bet
Point spread
A point spread is a handicap where you essentially give or receive points on top of the actual outcome of the game. The spread basically looks at how a sportsbook or oddsmaker thinks about what the outcome might be. For example, in an NFL game, if the Kansas City Chiefs are -3 on the spread, the oddsmakers believe that the Chiefs will win their game by three points. If your data and analysis say otherwise, you would be on the opposite slide and gain three points from their opponent. So, if you bet on the Chiefs with the spread, you would have needed them to win by more than 3 points to cash your ticket. If the score was 27-21, Chiefs, you would win your bet. But if it was 23-21, Chiefs, you would lose because the other side gained three points and won 24-23 theoretically. Betting on spreads allows you to pick a team to win with better odds. If you were to just pick the Chiefs to win that game, you would have to lay a lot of money on the Chiefs. Picking them against the spread gives you a chance to make money near an even line.

Moneyline bets:
Moneyline bets take some stress away. With a moneyline bet, you only need your team to win the game and don’t need to worry about how much they do it by. We’ve all been there where we’ve taken a team to win by 7.5 and then a team wins by just seven. Those are the worst bad breaks and losing bets possible and not fun to endure. After the game, you’ll then wish you had been on the moneyline instead. Those absolutely sting.
The problem with money lines is that you will have to lay a lot more money on the team to win. On heavy favorites, you’re looking at putting down $300 just to win $100 on teams that are -300 American odds. If the San Francisco 49ers were -300 against the Minnesota Vikings, all you would need is for the 49ers to win the game. However, if they are upset, you’d lose $300 trying to win just $100. Heavy money lines are very scary if your team doesn’t perform like they should be or how they were projected to.
Point total bets
With totals, or over/under betting, you don’t need to worry about who wins the game. You’re worried about how many points are scored in the game. For example, if you bet over 52 points on the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Eagles, you’d want the combined score between the two teams to be more than 52 points. Therefore, if the score was 35-28, you would have 63 points and score over 52 points. If the score was 17-14, you would have a total of 31 points and the total would go under. Therefore, you would lose the wager and the bet.
You don’t only have to bet on the total for the game, but you can also bet on the team total for a certain team. If you’re not sure about one side but you love the other side, you can isolate a team and bet their team total.

Proposition bets:
Many people make their money on proposition bets. Prop bets are available for most sporting events, and you can bet anything from a team’s total to how many yards a player will rush for to how many touchdowns a player will score. Prop bets are like playing fantasy sports but with odds.
Prop bets are extremely popular during the Super Bowl, where people go as far as betting on how long the National Anthem will be. There are some ridiculous props like what color Gatorade will be poured on the winning head coach. Unless you have insight on those bets, it’s hard to have concrete analysis for that. You’re basically just trying to hit the lottery.

Doc’s Sports is offering $60 worth of member’s picks absolutely free – no obligation, no sales people – you don’t even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit any way you please for any handicapper and any sport on Doc’s Sports list of expert sports handicappers. Get $60 worth of premium members’ picks free.

Sports betting is extremely popular. You love the sport. And you love betting.

Boxing, maybe more than any other sport, particularly lends itself to the art of wagering.

But to be successful, there are a few things any bettor should know especially when considering the sport of boxing.

Boxing odds are a bit different from other sports.

We’ll explain those differences in this article and equip you with the know-how and some special tips to make you a confident boxing bettor.

Table of Contents

How Do You Read Boxing Odds?

Understanding money lines is an important first step to reading boxing odds.

Boxing odds are written in money lines rather than fighter odds because, in boxing, the odds aren’t always a whole number.

Boxing odds are written with plus (+) and minus (-) symbols, and to read boxing odds, you need to know what those symbols mean.

‘Money Line’ and Fighter Odds

Many would say that betting the money line is one of the easiest and simplest ways to bet in sports.

Here’s how simple it is — you place a bet, and if you pick the winner, the sportsbook will pay you the amount owed.

In boxing, money lines are simply another way to express fighter odds.

Betting

Let’s say you’re considering placing a bet and you see the money line +400.What does that actually mean?

It’s just another way to express the odds.

In this case, +400 means the odds are 4 to 1.

It’s as simple as that. Kinda.

The + and – signs are significant — we’ll explain in more detail below.

But for now, an example may suffice.

Let’s take the +400 mentioned above. This would be 4 to 1 for the underdog. If you bet $100, you would win $400.

However, let’s say you are looking at – 400. This means the favorite has 4 to 1 odds. You would have to bet $400 for every $100 you want to win.

Does this sound confusing? Keeping reading to clear things up.

Boxing Odds Explained: Minus (-) vs. Plus (+) Money Lines

You want to know how odds work in boxing.

Maybe you’re familiar with the lingo —

  • Laying money
  • Taking a price
  • “Pick ‘em” fights

But what do those terms really mean?

Before you put your money down, you’ll want to have a better understanding of the terms, what they mean, and how they express the odds.

Before looking at the details, a few basics you should know are:

  • The minus (-) refers to the favorite.
  • The plus (+) refers to the underdog.
  • The number with the (-) is the amount you have to bet to win $100.
  • The number with the (+) is what you win if you bet $100.

Even those who understand boxing betting well know the importance of using a proven system. Online betting with ZenSports is not only fast, it’s convenient. Everything is easily accessible with your phone from anywhere.

Not only that, ZenSports makes betting fun and simple. You have control of your bets and don’t have to deal with a bookmaker.

Try ZenSports today by clicking here.

Laying Money (-)

Now that you know the basics, let’s dig into the details.

As mentioned above, the (-) identifies the favorite and expresses the amount you must bet to win $100.

But what does the phrase “laying money” mean?

It simply means, that when you look at the two options (boxers, in this case), you will lay your money on the side of the favorite.

But laying money comes with a risk — betting more than what you will make if you win (concerning profit).

Let’s look at some examples again to make it clearer:

  • Let’s say the favorite goes up at -500 money line. The bettor who chooses this favorite would put up $500 to win $100. If this fighter wins, the bettor would win $100 and get their $500 back, thus risking 5 times more than he’ll win.
  • The same scenario above would be true with a lesser bet. Say the bettor lays down $50 on the favorite. If he wins, he’d win $10 — still risking $5 for every $1 in winnings.

Taking a Price (+)

Taking a price is a different situation than laying money, and taking a price identifies the underdog.

The term “taking a price” has to do with how much the bettor will have to pay to make a bet — putting a price on a bet.

One way to think about it is the opposite of laying money. For every dollar the bettor risks, they are going to profit in a greater proportion.

Let’s look at another example to explain:

  • The bettor sees a +300 underdog. The “300” signifies to the bettor that if he bets $100 and the underdog wins, the bettor will profit $300, plus their original $100 bet.
  • Again, this scenario works with different amounts. This same bettor could bet $10, and if the underdog prevails, then the bettor would win $30. Again, the ratio determines the win amounts. Basically, in this case, for every dollar the bettor bets, he will profit $3 if the underdog wins — thus, the 3 to 1 ratio.

‘Pick-em’ Fights

What if there isn’t a clear favorite? What if the fighters are equally matched or one has only a slight advantage?

This occasionally happens, and in this case, both competitors will have a (-) before the price.

These scenarios are called “pick ‘em” fights and they might look something like this:

  • Fighter X – 110
  • Fighter Y -110 (The bettor would win $10 for an $11 bet.)

Or

  • Fighter X -120
  • Fighter Y -110

In either of these cases, the bettor will need to lay a price on both of the fighters and simply pick one to win.

Why bet on both?

Since there aren’t any real “odds”, this gives the sportsbook an opportunity to turn out an advantage.

How Do Odds Work in Boxing? Use the Odds to Determine Possibilities

Now that you know the basics of betting odds or more specifically, how odds work in boxing, it’s time to learn how to use that knowledge to make reasonable bets.

How can you use this information to know which competitor is the best bet — or which bet will deliver the best value?

In other words, which bet will deliver a payout better than you imagine it should?

Convert the Odds to Percentages

One way to determine value is to convert the odds to percentages.

This basically means that the bettor can convert the money line odds to a percentage of a chance to win and place the wager that way.

The bettor needs to answer the question, “Does Fighter X have a bigger chance of winning than Fighter Y?”

The best way to figure that out is to put some basic math skills to work and let the percentages — or chances of winning — speak for themselves.

When You Might Choose the Favorite to Win

Here’s how it works. (We’ll use odds that end in even percentages to make it straightforward.)

Let’s say Fighter X goes up at – 400. Remember, this represents a “to a dollar” bet. We could say that this fighter’s odds are 4 to 1 — if he wins, you’ll get paid 4 to 1.

However, to consider the odds as a percentage, we need to look at it this way: Fighter X has 5 out of 6 chances of winning. This converts to 80% (5 divided by 6 and then multiplied by 100).

So, should the bettor gamble on Fighter X?

Yes, as long as the bettor is confident that the favorite has more than an 80% chance of winning.

When You Might Choose the Underdog to Win

You can think about the underdog similarly.

If the underdog goes up at + 300, it does not mean that he has 1 out of 3 chances of winning. Rather, it means that he has 3 times the chances of losing.

Converting these odds to a percentage can help.

With +300 odds, we can say that this fighter has 1 out of 4 chances of winning. When we turn that into a percentage (1 divided by 4, then multiplied by 100), we see this fighter has a 25% chance of winning.

If the bettor believes that this fighter has more than a 25% chance of winning, then this might be a good bet.

In the end, whether the bettor is looking at the favorite or the underdog, if there isn’t a clear way for the fighter being considered to win, he may be better off avoiding the bet altogether.

How Does Boxing Betting Work? 5 Types of Boxing Bets

This question has a multifaceted answer.

There are several types of boxing bets, and taking a look at a few examples of each may help you determine where you are most comfortable.

#1: Money Line

As mentioned before, betting the money line could be considered the simplest and most straightforward type of bet.

Essentially, you are betting on the victor.

Who do you think will win based on the odds? Consider the following situation:

  • Fighter X goes up at – 600
  • Fighter Y goes up at + 400

The bettor may look at this setup and decide that Fighter X has a better chance of winning, and places his bet on the favorite.

#2: Number of Rounds (Over/Under)

Over/under betting is based not on who will win the match but on how many rounds the bettor thinks the match will last.

Consider Fighters X and Y above, let’s say the book lists an over/under of 8.5 rounds:

  • over, – 600
  • under, + 400

If the bettor thinks the fight will last into the 9th round, he should choose the “over.”

On the other hand, if he thinks the fight will be stopped in the 8th round or before, he should take the “under.”

#3: Victory Betting

Victory betting deals with how the victor will win. Wins can be determined by:

  • Knockout – KO/Technical knockout – TKO
  • Points/decision
  • Submission
  • Disqualification

In our example above with Fighters X and Y, a bettor may wager on Fighter X KO/TKO. For the bettor to win the wager, Fighter X would have to win the fight with a knockout or technical knockout.

#4: Proposition Bets

Proposition bets, or “special” bets, allow the bettor to bet on different features of a fight.

How Do Odds Work In Sports

Some aspect the bettor may choose from are:

  • Knockouts
  • Knockdowns
  • Point deductions
  • Type of punch to land first
  • Duration of the fight
  • Decision of fight
  • Draw

#5: Scorecard Spread

Betting on scorecard spread concerns the difference in points fighters earn in a fight.

Points can be given for:

  • Winning by stoppage
  • Winning by decision
  • Draw

A spread between Fighters X and Y may look something like this:

How To Odds Work In Sports Illustrated

  • Fighter X – 13.5
  • Fighter Y – 6.5

Explain How Betting Odds Work

If Fighter X wins by 14 or more, the bettor wins his wager.

Beyond How Odds Work in Boxing: Other Factors to Consider When Placing a Wager

To end our discussion of how boxing odds work, it may be helpful to take a look at some other elements that may help a bettor make an informed wager.

  • Styles of boxing – Consider how the boxing style of the fighter. Does he bounce around the ring? Does he jab hard? What is his style like compared to his competitor?
  • Fighting history – Who has the fighter competed against in the past? Have the fights been evenly matched? What level of competition has the fighter experienced before?
  • Tale of the tape – Looking at stats like height, weight, age, record, etc. can help the bettor see if there is a clear mismatch.
  • Physical shape – The bettor wants to place bets on fighters who are in good physical condition and are training consistently.

Now That You’re ‘In the Know,’ Place Your Boxing Bets Online With ZenSports

You now have a better idea of how odds work in boxing, and you’re reading to start betting.

ZenSports makes online betting easy and fast — and you can bet with anyone in the world.

What makes ZenSports the fastest and easiest way to bet online?

  • You can deposit funds instantly using cryptocurrencies or fiat.
  • You’ll experience reduced betting fees compared to traditional bookmakers.
  • You can use our Sport Utility Token to get discounts, rewards, and bonuses.
  • There is no need for a centralized bookmaker.

How To Odds Work In Sports

Start betting from your phone today. Click here to get started.

Comments are closed.