What Does 40 To 1 Odds Mean
American odds are read differently for favourites and underdogs:
Money Lines: A way to express odds precisely. We all grew up familiar with fractional odds, like if a boxer is a 20/1 favorite, for example. Money lines allow for more nuance and precision. Just remember this: minus means favorite and plus means underdog. With favorites, the number next to the minus sign is what you need to bet in order to win. American Odds are the default odds at American sportsbooks. These odds are based on winning $100 for a given bet. Betting a Favorite: The odds for favorites will have a minus (-) sign, and represent the money you need to risk to win $100. So if you're betting on the Packers at -140 against the Vikings, that means Green Bay is a slight favorite. 40/1 is an exceptional return on a bet and if it comes in, you’re laughing. A horse with odds of 40/1 would be classed as an ‘Outsider’ or ‘Longshot’ and if the race has only a few runners then it’s statistically unlikely that you will win.
Favourite (odds that start with -): odds are the amount you need to stake to win 100
Underdog (odds that start with +): odds are the amount you would win if you bet 100
Example:
20 To 1 Odds Means
Odds = +180
Stake = 100
Total Payout = 180
As the name implies, American odds are most commonly used in the USA and Canada. They are much less common in Europe, falling in favour to Decimal or Fractional odds. Let’s take a look at a matchup between Nadal and Djokovic; assume an oddsmaker set the odds like this:
Nadal -152
Djokovic +120
The first thing to note is the “+” and the “-” before the number for each market.
If a market has a “+”, that means it is the underdog. That is, it is the market perceived to have a lower chance of winning the matchup.
If a market has a “-”, then it is the favourite, perceived to have the higher chance of winning the matchup.
In this example, Djokovic is the underdog, and Nadal is the favourite – pretty straightforward, right?
The numbers after those symbols are used as an indicator of how likely the teams are perceived to be to win or lose.
For favorites, the number is the amount you would need to risk in order to win 100. In the case of Nadal, you would need to risk 152 to make a profit of 100. If Nadal wins, your 152 is returned to you, plus your 100 profit. But if Nadal loses, then you lose the 152 you risked. Easy enough.
For underdogs, the number is the amount you would win if you risked 100. If you risked 100 on Djokovic then you would win 120 if he won the matchup, and of course you would get your initial 100 returned on top of that. Even easier!
What Does Odd Number Mean
The unit size of 100 is used just for simplicity. In no way does that mean you have to be risking that amount. For Djokovic, you could risk 50 to win 60, risk 25 to win 30, risk 10 to win 12, and so on.
What Do Betting Odds 4 5 Mean
To convert any odds formats check out Pinnacle’s odds converter.