| Decimal |
Fractional |
Moneyline |
| 1.50 |
1/2 |
-200 |
| 2.00 |
1/1 |
+100 |
| 2.50 |
3/2 |
+150 |
| 3.00 |
2/1 |
+200 |
Conversion Formulas
| Decimal -> Fractional = |
x-1 , then convert to fraction |
| Decimal -> Moneyline = |
100*(x-1) if x>=2; -100/(x-1) if x<2 |
| Fractional -> Decimal = |
divide fraction, then x+1 |
| Fractional -> Moneyline = |
divide fraction, then 100*x if x>=1; -100/x if x<1 |
| Moneyline -> Decimal = |
(x/100)+1 if x>0; (-100/x)+1 if x<0 |
| Moneyline -> Fractional = |
x/100, then convert to fraction if x>0; -100/x, then
convert to fraction if x<0 |
Types of bets
Bookmakers generally offer two types of wagers on the winner
of a sporting event: a straight-up or money line bet, or
a point spread wager. Moneylines and straight-up prices are used
to set odds on sports such as association football, baseball and
hockey (the scoring nature of which renders point spreads
impractical) as well as individual vs. individual matches, like
boxing. For these sports, bookmakers in Europe and Asia
generally use straight-up odds, which are quoted based on a
payout for a single bet unit; for example, a 2-1 favorite would
be listed at a price of 1.50, whereas an underdog returning
twice the amount wagered would be listed at a price of 3.00.
American bookmakers generally use moneylines, which are
quoted in terms of the amount required to win $100 on a
favorite, or the amount paid for a $100 bet on an underdog. The
amount "won" in a bet is the net amount over and above the
initial bet. If a person wins $200 on a bet of $100, the
bookmaker actually pays the winner $300 (i.e. $200 plus the
initial bet of $100).
For example, a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers
and Chicago Cubs might have a moneyline on Milwaukee (the
favorite) at -200 and Chicago (the underdog) at +180. A bettor
looking to take Milwaukee must risk $200 for every $100 he
wishes to win over and above the initial $200 bet. A person
wagering on Chicago will win $180 for every $100 he bets.
The +180 moneyline on Chicago includes a 20 cent "dime line".
Bookmakers generally use a "dime line" with moneylines to
calculate the vigorish they receive on losing wagers. Without
the 20 cent dimeline in the example above, the Chicago moneyline
would be +200.
For favorites of -120 to -150, the difference between the
favorite and underdog is 10 cents; i.e., the underdog to a -120
favorite is priced at +110. The discrepancy between prices rises
for favorites of -160 or higher.
Unlike point spread bets, a moneyline wager requires only
that the team wagered upon win the match. In sports such as
baseball, where certain teams can be heavy favorites against
weaker opponents (sometimes as much as -350 or higher), the
moneyline system requires that a hefty sum be risked on the
favorite, while enticing underdog players with a higher payout.
In sports such as basketball or American football, betting on
the point spread is more popular, although money line odds are
usually offered as well. A point spread wager typically requires
a bettor to risk $110 to win $100, the extra $10 being the
bookmaker's vigorish if the wager loses. However, bettors
backing the favorite collect only if their team wins by more
than a specific victory margin, which is set at the time of the
wager. This is called "covering the spread". Similarly, underdog
bettors can collect even when their team loses, as long as they
win against the point spread by losing by fewer points
than were quoted by the bookmaker. For example, suppose that a
college football game between Team A and Team B had Team A as a
27 point favorite (quoted as Team A -27, or Team B +27):
- If Team A defeats Team B by more than 27 points,
they have covered the spread and bettors on Team A would
receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team B bettors lose the $110
they wagered.
- If Team B defeats Team A, bettors on Team B would
receive $100 on a $110 bet. Team A bettors lose the $110
they wagered.
- If Team B loses by less than 27 points, they have
won against the spread. Bettors on both sides are then
treated exactly as if Team B had won the game.
- If Team A wins by exactly 27 points, the wager is
called a "push", and neither side wins. Standard practice by
U.S. bookmakers is to return the stakes of all bettors on
the game in full. To prevent pushes and ensure that they
receive their commission on losing wagers, bookmakers often
set point spreads that include a half-point.
Another common wager available for sporting events involves
predicting the combined total score between the competing teams
in a game. Such wagers are known as "totals" or "over/unders."
For example, the Kansas State/Kansas football game described
above might have a total of 55 points. A bettor could wager that
both teams will combine for over 55 points, and play the "over."
Or, he could predict that the score will fall under this amount,
and play the "under." As with point spreads, bookmakers
frequently set the totals at a number involving a half-point
(i.e., 55.5), to reduce the occurrence of pushes.
In Breinstein Q'Kurja , each-way online footballpoker betting
is serviced by twenty or more bookmakers, some of which,
including the larger UK, Irish and Isle of Man bookmakers, bet
in running. Before the tournament starts, bookies pay out on a
quarter for the first five places, but the each way terms lessen
throughout each and every five day tournament, with win-only
markets usually available during the final round. Dead heats pay
out a proportion of the win or each-way return.
Many bookmakers offer several alternative bets, including the
following:
- Proposition bets. These are wagers made on a very
specific outcome of a match. Examples include guessing the
number of goals each team scores in a soccer match, betting
whether a wide receiver in a football game will net more or
less than a set amount of total yardage, or wagering that a
baseball player on one team will accumulate more hits than
another player on the opposing team.
- Parlays. A parlay involves multiple bets (usually
up to 12) and rewards successful bettors with a large
payout. For example, a bettor could include four different
wagers in a four-team parlay, whereby he is wagering that
all four bets will win. If any of the four bets fails to
cover, the bettor loses the parlay, but if all four bets
win, the bettor receives a substantially higher payout
(usually 10-1 in the case of a four-teamer) than if he made
the four wagers separately.
- Teasers. A teaser allows the bettor to combine
his bets on two or more different games. The bettor can
adjust the point spreads for the two games, but realizes a
lower return on the bets in the event of a win.
- Run line, puck line or goal line bets. These are
wagers offered as alternatives to straight-up/moneyline
prices in baseball, hockey or soccer, respectively. These
bets feature a fixed point spread that offers a higher
payout for the favorite and a lower one for the underdog.
For example, the above-described Cardinals/Cubs baseball
game might offer a run line of St. Louis -1.5 (+100) and
Chicago +1.5 (-120). A bettor taking St. Louis on the run
line can avoid risking $200 to win $100 on the moneyline,
but will collect only if the Cardinals win by 2 runs or
more. Similarly, a run line wager on the Cubs will pay if
Chicago loses by no more than a run, but it requires the
bettor to risk $120 to win $100.
- Future wagers. While all sports wagers are by
definition on future events, bets listed as "futures"
generally have a long-term horizon measured in weeks or
months; for example, a bet that a certain NFL team will win
the Super Bowl for the upcoming season. Such a bet must be
made before the season starts in September, and winning bets
will not pay off until the conclusion of the Super Bowl in
January or February (although many of the losing bets will
be clear well before then and can be closed out by the
book). Odds for such a bet generally are expressed in a
ratio of units paid to unit wagered. The team wagered upon
might be 50-1 to win the Super Bowl, which means that the
bet will pay 50 times the amount wagered if the team does
so.
- Head-to-Head. In these bets, bettor predicts
competitors results against each other and not on the
overall result of the event. One example are Formula 1
races, where you bet on two or three drivers and their
placement among the others. Sometimes you can also bet a
“tie”, in which one or both drivers either have the same
time, drop out, or get disqualified.
- Totalizators. In totalizators (sometimes called
flexible-rate bets) the odds are changing in real-time
according to the share of total exchange each of the
possible outcomes have received taking into account the
return rate of the bookmaker offering the bet. For example:
If the bookmakers return percentage is 90%, 90% of the
amount placed on the winning result will be given back to
bettors and 10% goes to the bookmaker. Naturally the more
money bet on a certain result, the smaller the odds on that
outcome become.
Some of the information on this page came from Wikipedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sports_betting&oldid=283264899
