ODDS

Odds are referred to as the "price" for a horse in a race. The bookmakers set the prices according to what they believe are the horse's chance of winning. The more likely they think a horse is to win, the shorter the horse's price will be. For example if a horse is priced at 3/1 then the bookie is saying that if that exact race was run 4 times that horse would win it once. Or in percentage the horse has a 25% chance of winning.

There are three different ways odds can be presented. Depending on which market the bookmaker targets. Odds are presented by either the American, British or European standard.

American Odds

The American system is different the odds can be positive or negative. The system is based on “evens” (1/1) being expressed as 100.00. If an event is odds on then the figure is preceded by a minus “-” and represents the amount you have to stake in order to win 100 units. If an event has odds greater than evens then it is a positive figure and represents the amount you win for every 100 units staked.

British – Factional Odds

The traditional British way is to describe the odds as a fraction e.g. 6/1 or "Six to One". When the first figure is higher than the second it is called "odds against". The amount won will be greater than the original stake. For example if the odds offered were 6/1 then for every £1 staked you would win £6. When the first figure is smaller than the second it is called "odds on" and the amount of winnings will be smaller than the stake. For example if the odds offered were 4/8 then for every £8 staked you would win £4.

European – Decimal Odds

Unlike the British fractions the European system deals in decimals. The figure quoted is the return a punter receives (including the stake) based on a bet of 1 unit. To transfer from British odds to European odds simply divide the first number by the second number and add 1. So odds of 4/1 become 5 (4 ÷ 1 + 1 = 5) and odds of 4/8 become 1.67 (4 ÷ 8 + 1 = 1.50) The betting exchanges all use the European odds system so it is something you are going to have to learn to recognize.