The favorite in a matchup, indicated by a minus (-) sign, will have a given number of points taken away from its final score, while the underdog, known by its plus (+) sign, will have the same number of.

The legal sports betting world is changing. New states are opening their arms to the world of legal sports betting and are opening opportunities for you to take part in making legal sports bets on your favorite teams in casinos, race tracks and through online betting.
Sep 22, 2020 The most popular type of sports betting is the moneyline bet. This is the act of placing a wager on a team or player to win the contest in question. For moneyline bets, the minus (-) will be found next to the the favorite along with their odds to win, while the plus (+) will accompany the underdog and their odds.
The most popular type of sports betting is the moneyline bet. This is the act of placing a wager on a team or player to win the contest in question. For moneyline bets, the minus (-) will be found next to the the favorite along with their odds to win, while the plus (+) will accompany the underdog and their odds.
Jan 26, 2021 In sports betting, especially in America, the plus (+) sign denotes how much a $100 bet will payout. The minus (-) sign denotes how much you have to use to place a bet to get a payout of $100. However, the plus and minus signs are also used for more exciting kinds of bets like the point spreads.

Reading sports betting odds can seem complicated at first glance.

-110

11/10

1.91

What do they all mean?

All of the above numbers represent different ways to display betting odds, however they all represent the same thing.

All betting odds represent the implied probability to win a bet. The way that number is displayed is where things can differ.

Types of Betting Odds

There are three main ways to display betting odds:

American
Decimal
Fractional

Each of the odds formats represent a chance of winning, just displayed in a different way.

Most sports betting sites will give you the option in how you display your sports odds, so it is important to understand how to read them.

All sports betting types will have odds attached to them: point spread, money line, total, futures, props, and more.

How to read American odds

In the United States, it is standard to use the American odds format (shocking!). Each bet will always have a plus (+) or minus (-) in front of a number greater than 100.

Take for example how the following moneyline bet odds would be displayed for the following sporting event:

Chicago Bears -196

Washington Redskins +170

Since this is a moneyline bet, these odds represent the implied probability each team has to win the game.

American odds can be broken down into two categories: favorites and underdogs.

How do Plus and Minus odds work?

Favorites Odds

When a bet is a favorite, it means the implied probability (win percentage) is greater than 50%. Favorites will always have a minus (-) sign and will always be “negative odds”. Ex: -150.

Favorite odds can be read as “to win $100”.

Meaning if the odds of a bet were -150, you would need to bet $150 to win $100. Note that you do not need bet in $100 increments.

This same ratio would apply to different bet sizes: Bet $15 to win $10, bet $1.50 to win $1, etc.

If you were to read betting odds of -150 out loud, you would say “minus one fifty”.

Underdog Odds

The other side of American odds are underdogs. Underdogs have an implied probability of less than 50%.

Underdog odds are always represented with a plus sign (+) in front of the number and will always be “positive odds”. Ex: +150.

Underdog odds are interpreted different than favorites. Underdog bets are betting $100 “to win” whatever the odds are.

In the +150 example, you would bet $100 to win $150. Again, you can bet any amount you would like. It doesn’t have to be $100. Ex: bet $10 to win $15, bet $1 to win $1.50, etc.

How to read decimal odds

Decimal odds are the easiest odds type to interpret. They are used by most people outside of America, most notably Europe. The Decimal format are also the easiest odds type to convert to an implied win percentage.

Decimal odds tell you what your return will be given your bet amount (or “stake”).

For example, if you bet $10 on the New York Knicks to win at odds of 2.25, your return (or “total payout”) would be $22.50 if they won.

Return does not take into account your original bet amount. Therefore your profit, or “to win” amount, would be $12.50 ($22.50 return – $10 wager).

Note that the return aspect is the key difference between Decimal and American odds. The Decimal format will tell you your return, while the American format will tell you your “to win” amount.

How to read fractional odds

Fractional odds are simply decimal odds represented as a fraction. For example, 3/1 odds are the decimal equivalent of 4.

The biggest difference between fractional and decimal is that fractional tells you the potential profit while decimal tells you the return.

Going back to the previous example, a $10 bet at 3/1 odds would represent $30 in profit.

A $10 bet at the equivalent odds of 4 in decimal format would return $40. Subtracting your $10 bet from the return would give you your profit of $30.

Fractional odds can be read as the first number being the potential profit while the second number is the amount you will need to risk for that profit.

For example, fractional odds of 23/20 would represent a bettor needing to risk $20 in order to profit $23.

Fractional odds are most common in horse racing and futures markets.

Related: Find more sports betting guides here

Over the past few months, we’ve posted quite a few articles on sports betting. We posted three guides to cover the basics on handicapping baseball, basketball and football, but these didn’t nearly cover everything a beginner would need to know. We’ve also posted articles that cover basic terms, as well as other assorted betting tips.

But we realized that, to some bettors, the number of articles on the basics might present a problem. It’s a lot of information to keep track of without having it all in one place. In addition, we also like to post articles offering pro tips, whether about certain sports or simply about how sportsbooks are run. When posting these types of articles, we don’t want to risk alienating our more experienced clients by having to stop and rehash some of the basics that have already been covered elsewhere.

So we’ve decided to cover all of the basics in one fell swoop, with a complete guide to betting on sports. This will combine some information that has been covered previously, such as tips about finding a decent sportsbook or about how to manage your money efficiently, while also providing some new information that we’ve wanted to cover for a while. This is going to be a pretty long guide, but we suggest that novice bettors make sure to bookmark it. This information will almost definitely prove useful to you as you get your start.

Of course, with our handicapping consulting services, it isn’t that hard to make a profit through sports betting. But you will still want to know the following basics if you don’t want to get lost in a sea of numbers and tricky decisions. With that said, let’s dig in.

1. Start By Asking Yourself Some Personal Questions

And try to come up with some better answers than this guy did. (GPointStudio/Shutterstock)

Is Sports Betting Right For You?

If you’re looking at this type of guide for the first time, you might still be on the fence about sports betting. You might feel lured in by the promise of winning, while your more practical side is screaming at you that the threat of losing is simply too great to risk it. And that’s why you’re going to have to do some soul-searching before you even bother with the rest of this guide.

Now, there are some circumstances under which we absolutely would not suggest for you to engage in the practice of sports betting. For instance, if you don’t have much money and are thinking that sports betting will act as some sort of “get rich quick” scheme, then you might want to turn the other way. You can make a lot of money on sports betting, but no one wins every time. You also wind up with a lot of your money stuck in v

Plus And Minus In Sports Betting