Odds in sports betting can appear in several different ways but will have no difference in the payout of potential winnings. The 3 most common odds formats are Decimal odds, Fractional odds, and American odds.

Decimal Odds

Decimal odds are probably the simplest odds to understand for most people. The decimal odds represent how much you win for every $1 placed. For instance, let's say that the chances of Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid to win La Liga look like this:

Barcelona – 2.00

Real Madrid – 3.00

Atlético Madrid – 5.00

These numbers represent how much you could win for every 1$ placed, including the stake. If you bet $100 on Barcelona to win, then you would win $200. $100 is your stake returned and the other $100 is the profits of Barcelona winning the competition. Similarly, if you place a bet on Real Madrid (3.00) or Atletico Madrid (5.00) with a $100 stake you would win $300 or $500, respectively.

Fractional Odds

Fractional odds are mostly used in Great Britain and can be a little confusing at times. Usually, you will see them written like this: 5/1,11/8, 2/9, etc. We will take the same teams as an example.

Barcelona 10/11

Real Madrid 9/4

Atletico Madrid 5/1

In this case, if you bet $100 on Barcelona to win the La Liga you would win $91 in profits:

[$100*(10/11) ] = $100*0.91=$91

Together with your initial stake, you would get back $191.

If Real Madrid wins La Liga it would look like this with a $100 bet:

[$100*(9/4)] = $100*2.25 = $225 and with your initial stake you would get back $325.

If Atletico Madrid won La Liga it would look like this with a $100 bet:

[$100*(5/1)] = $100*5.00 =$500 and with your initial stake you would get $600 back.

American Odds

The Moneyline odds, also known as American odds are a bit easier to understand. They tell you how much money you need to put down in order to win a $100 when betting on a favourite of the game and how much money you would earn with a $100 if you bet on the underdog of the game.

The fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje was a good example. Khabib was favourite at (-300). Meaning that you would need to place $300 to profit $100. When Khabib won, you would have received back $400 all together.

Justin Gaethje was the underdog at (+275). Meaning that you would win $275 in profits if Justin Gaethje won the fight. Including your stake, this would have resulted in a $375 return.

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