Betting Terms Explained

Transcription

1 Betting Terms Explained To most people betting has a language of its own, so to help, we have explained the main terms you will come across when betting. STAKE The stake is the cash amount that you place on a particular bet. Your potential winnings or losses are calculated according to the size of your stake. For example, a 4/1 bet means you win 4 x your stake. A 5/2 bet means two and a half x your stake. BANK Your 'bank' is the total amount that you are prepared to spend on betting. It is advisable that you set this figure to an affordable amount. Your bank can then be divided in to individual stakes to places on specific bets. HANDICAP Bookies will award teams an imaginary Handicap (plus or minus) to even up the chances of both teams winning the bet. Similar odds will then be available for each outcome. Handicaps are particularly common in Rugby bets. The number of points awarded will depend on the bookmaker's rating of the team. The underdog will be given a points advantage ('plus' handicap). And the same imaginary points total is also deducted from the favourite ('minus' handicap). Then, the team with the most points after the handicap has been applied (either added to the team with the plus handicap's score, or deducted from the team with the minus handicap) is the winner of the bet. Here's a typical (but fictitious) Rugby handicap.

2 England (+10 pts) to beat France at 10/11. France (-10 pts) to beat England at 10/11. For the France handicap bet to win, they must win the match by more than 10 pts. For the England handicap to win, they must either win the match, or lose by 9 pts or less. MARKET A market refers to an event or outcome that bookies offer to bet on. So, if for a specific football match, bets were available on the Match Result, Total Number of Goals and First Goal Scorer, there would be said to be three betting markets for that match. FRACTIONAL ODDS Bookmakers traditionally use fractional odds to illustrate their opinion of the likeliness of an outcome occurring. For example, if a bookmaker gives odds of 3/1 on Manchester United to win the Premier League, they are effectively saying that if the Premier League was played under exactly the same conditions, three times, Manchester United would only be likely to be Champions once. If Manchester United were to win, a bettor would win 3 x their stake (plus that stake back). The term 'odds on' refers to situations where the outcome is deemed very likely to happen. So if Manchester United were considered a strong favourite, they might be odds on at say, 2/7. DECIMAL ODDS To calculate the potential winnings for a bet, the fractional odds are converted to decimal figures. Bookies will give both fractional and decimal odds, and on all bookies' websites there should be an option on the screen to switch between the two. With fractional odds, a winning bet is worked out as the fraction multiplied by the stake, and then the original stake is returned on top of this. Decimal odds, however, include the stake return within the figure that bookies give by adding 1 to the fractional odds divided by each other. For example, fractional odds of 13/2 are represented as 7.5 as decimal odds: 13/2 is 6.5, plus 1 (the stake) = 7.5. The potential return for this bet is simply your stake multiplied by 7.5.

3 FIXED ODDS Fixed odds bets are the simplest and most common type of bet. They are 'fixed' because at the time of placing your bet the potential amount that can be won or lost is decided, according to the odds that you accept for that bet. For example, let's say you want to place a stake of 10 on Arsenal to beat Chelsea at odds of 2/1. There are the only 2 outcomes for this bet *If Arsenal don't win you lose your 10 stake. *If Arsenal win, your bet is a winner and you will win of this is profit, and 10 is your stake returned. This is calculated like so: Odds x Stake = Profit, Profit + Stake = Total Returns. For the above bet this would be: 2/1 = 2, 2 x 10 = = 30. SINGLE A Single is a bet on one result or outcome, and is the most common type of bet. DOUBLE This is when you place one stake on two bets. Both bets must win for your Double to be a winner. The potential winnings are greater than if you placed two Single bets as the odds of both results occurring are greater the two bets are multiplied together. For example, if you placed 20 on the following Double bet, this is how it would be calculated: Liverpool to beat Tottenham at odds of 10/11 and Everton to beat Aston Villa at 2/1 Liverpool beat Tottenham and your 20 stake becomes approx. 38. This amount then goes on Everton to beat Aston Villa being at 2/1 and he scores. This Double would return approx Doubles can be calculated more easily using Decimal Odds. For the above bet, 10/11 is approximately 1.9, and 3/1 is 3. Multiply these together to get 5.7. Multiply that by your 20 stake and you get 114. TREBLE These are bets on multiple results just like Doubles, but you guessed it three successful outcomes are needed for your bet to win. The potential winnings are greater once again, but unless you are very confident of your three selections they are very much a longshot rather than a sound betting

4 choice. Trebles are calculated using exactly the same method as described above for a Double. So, if you bet 10 on a Treble, and the odds for the three individual bets were 4/5, 7/5, and 13/5, a winning Treble would return As Decimal Odds, this would be worked out as: 4/5 = 1.8, 7/5 = 2.4, 13/5 = 3.6 The Treble odds would be calculated as: 1.8 x 2.4 x 3.6 = Therefore, the potential return is: x 10 = ACCUMULATOR This is a bet on any multiple number of individual bets. All must win in order for your one bet the accumulator to win. Doubles and Trebles are accumulators on two and three outcomes, and therefore, the odds for an accumulator bet are calculated in the same way. Bookies will generally give you decimal odds on your accumulator. An accumulator can be as big as you like but the chances of winning become more of a lottery the bigger the selection. Large accumulators fall under the bracket of 'fun' bets due to the large odds; as such, only a very small stake is ever worth risking on them. One way to think of accumulators is as essentially the same as a Football Pools coupon picking and choosing the outcomes of multiple matches, with the chance of scooping a big payout if they all win. EACH WAY Some bets have an 'each way' option i.e. on outcomes such as league positions, top points scorers, etc, where it is possible to finish 2nd or 3rd. This is essentially two bets one on your selection to win outright, and one on it finishing in the top two or three positions. With regards to Tennis, this will usually be the two players that reach a tournament final. Bookies will display this bet alongside the outright bet, written as something similar to: 'each way bets 1/2 odds first 2' which would mean that at half the outright win odds, the each way bet will pay out for the first two positions, such as reaching the final of a tournament but not winning it. If the outright win does occur, both this and the each way bet win. Your stake will cost twice the amount of a single bet, as you are essentially placing two bets - one at the stated odds and one at the each way price.

5 SPREAD BETTING Spread betting is essentially a game of 'higher or lower' a bet is placed on whether an outcome will be more or less than the 'spread' (the number range) that the spread betting firm have set for that outcome. With spread betting, the more 'right' you are with your winning selection, the more you stand to win. Subsequently, the more 'wrong' you are with your selection, the more you stand to lose unlike fixed odds betting, where you can only lose the amount that you stake. The leading spread betting firm is Sporting Index and bets can be made online or over the phone. Because of the potential for losing more than you stake, it is advised that bettors progress to spread betting only once they have experience at fixed odds betting. A spread betting firm will allow you to set a limit to the amount that you can lose from one bet, and this will govern the size of stake that they allow you to place on that specific bet. TRADING and EXCHANGES Betting exchanges differ from bookmakers in that they merely act as the 'middleman' on a betting exchange you have the opportunity to be the bookmaker, or to place bets at better odds than with the bookies. Betting exchange language basically comprises of 'laying' and 'backing.' To lay is to bet against an outcome accept bets yourself at fixed odds, as a bookmaker would. To back is to bet that that outcome will occur just as with standard fixed odds betting; the only difference being that the odds have been set by members on the exchange, and as such there may be a choice of different odds. Odds on the betting exchanges can change rapidly and can often be better than those given by the bookies as you are basically betting against the opinion of somebody else on the exchange. Similar to the stock exchange in its premise as a meeting place for traders a betting exchange will automatically and anonymously match up bets from members with the exchange. The leading online betting exchange is Betfair: