Tell us, how do you read betting odds? Understanding how to read odds is a vital step you must take if you want to become a successful sports bettor. With a solid interpretation of the odds, you can easily determine how much money you should wager, the bets that have the most value, and what you’ll earn in payouts. Teaching yourself how to read betting odds is a step you can’t miss if you truly want to become an expert bettor. While a few bettors think of this as being challenging, by investing time and enough practice, you can soon start reading odds. This article educates new punters like you about how to read, understand, and interpret betting odds and; more importantly how to make a profit with this skill. See: Betting Basics: Optimizing Your Betting Selections Types Of Betting Odds There are three major types of betting odds – Money line (American, Fractional (British),  and Decimal (European)odds. These are simply different ways of displaying the same odds and have no difference in terms of payouts. Fractional odds are the ratio of the amount (profit) won to the stake, decimal odds represent the amount you win for every $1 you wager, and money line odds depending on the negative or positive sign, show the amount you wager to win $100 or amount to win for every $100 you stake. What are Money Line, Decimal, and Fractional Betting Odds?  When odds are represented in moneyline, decimal, or fractional formats, they are that way for two reasons: To signal the implied probability of the outcome they are attached to. Indicate how much money bettors could win betting on that outcome. Money Line Odds Money Line or American betting odds are displayed as any three-digit number with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign in front of it; +150 -200, etc. The plus and minus signs on a betting line show your prospective payout and if you’re backing favourites or underdogs.  The favourites are identified by negative numbers, this number indicates the amount of money you should bet to win $100. Positive numbers represent underdogs and show the amount of money you’ll win if you wager $100. Most prominent wagers including many points spread bets have two sides with negative odds. This is because point spread aims at levelling the playing field between both sides. Calculating Winnings With Money Line Odds To win $100 on the favourites (Bruins), you need to wager $130. For the underdogs (Canadiens) a wager of $100 will win you $110. For a wager of $40 on Boston (-130), the equation looks like this: Cross-multiply for 130x = 4000 and solve for ”x” x= 4000/130 x= 30.77 A $40 bet on Boston wins you $30.77 and you get a $70.77 payout (original wager + winnings). Betting $40 on Montreal (+110) the equation will look like this: Cross-multiply for 100x = 4,400 and solve for ”x” x= 4000/100 x= 44.00 A wager on Montreal gets you $44.00, the total payout is $84.00. Calculating Implied Probability With Money line Odds Implied probability is the likelihood of an outcome given by the odds. To solve it, you’ll convert odds into a percentage, indicating the likelihood an event will happen vs. the alternative. This concept is important because if your estimate of the probability of an event happening differs from a sportsbook’s you can adjust your bet accordingly. E.g if a team had a 60% chance of winning and its implied probability was 52.4%, it would be a smart wager. The formula for calculating implied probability is: Risk/Return = Implied Probability In American odds implied probability can be used in positive and negative odds.  Formula For Positive Odds: This formula can also calculate Montreal’s (+100) implied probability of winning the game.  From the equation, Montreal has a 47.6% chance of winning. Formula For Negative Odds: Boston’s (-130) implied probability of winning the match, can be calculated with the above example. The bookmaker predicts that Boston has a 56.5% chance of winning the game. See also: Betting Basics: How Do Bookmakers Make Their Money? Decimal Odds Decimal or European odds are the easiest betting odds to work with, and are displayed like this:  Calculating Winnings With Decimal Odds To determine your payout with decimal odds, just multiply your wager by the odds assigned to the team you’re backing. For calculating winnings, subtract the original wager from the payout. Calculating Implied Probability  Use this formula to get the implied probability of decimal odds. Implied Probability: 1/Decimal Odds The equation below provides Kansas’ implied probability of winning: Implied Probability: 1/2.40 = 41.7% Cincinnati’s chances of winning: Implied Probability: 1/1.61 = 62.11% Fractional Odds Fractional or UK betting odds are popular in the UK and are used to bet on horse races. These odds are represented as – 9/5 or 1/2. When pronouncing the odds you’d say ”nine to five” or ‘one to two.” In fractional odds, the number on the left determines how many times bookies expect an event’s outcome to fail, while the number on the right is how many times the outcome is expected to succeed. How Fractional Odds Work If Oleksandr Usyk gets 8/13 odds for an upcoming fight with Anthony Joshua, the odds state that if their fight happened 21 times (8+13), Usyk would lose 8 matches and win 13. The implied probability of Usyk winning is calculated by the number of times he is predicted to win (13) divided by the total number of trials (21). This gives Usyk a 61.9% chance to win the fight. Look at the math below: To calculate Joshua’s probability of winning the fight, you’d use the same equation. If the odds are 11/8, and the fight happened 19 times (11+8), Joshua will lose 11 times and win 8 times. The probability will be 8 divided by 19. Joshua gets a 42.1% chance of winning the fight. The formula looks like this: Without factoring in the probability of a draw, the total of the probabilities