• What Does 4 5 Odds Pay
• 4/5 Odds Mean
• 4 To 5 Odds Explained
• 4/5 Odds Explained

If you want to come out on top against the bookies it is vital that you understand the fundamentals. When it comes to sports betting there is nothing quite as fundamental as the odds that the bookies offer. Unfortunately, betting odds can prove very confusing. That’s especially true for people who are new to betting.

That’s where this article comes in. We’re going to explain exactly how betting odds work, how they are set and the differences in the ways they are displayed. After taking in all the information below, you will be much better equipped to set about making some profit.

What Do Betting Odds Represent?

At their most basic, betting odds tell you two things:

1. How much you stand to make should the selection win
2. The probability of the selection winning

Pittsburgh Steelers +4.5 vs. Cincinnati Bengals -4.5. Above is an football point spread. Pittsburgh is +4.5, with Cincinnati at -4.5, which means Pittsburgh is a 4.5-point underdog and Cincinnati is favored by 4.5 points. For a bet on Pittsburgh to win at +4.5, they can either win the game outright or not lose by an amount that surpasses 4.5. Typically, a point spread has odds of -110 for either side of the bet. In the example above between the Cowboys and Giants, the point spread is 4.5 points, while the odds are -110, meaning you would have to wager $110 to earn a profit of $100, or a profit of $0.91 for every dollar you bet.

Take this example. If you were looking through the weekend Premier League fixtures and saw a team had fractional odds of 2/1 (that’s decimal odds of 3.0) you would know that you stand to win £2 in profit from every £1 that you stake should the team win. You’d also know that the bookmaker who set the odds ranks the team’s chances of winning as one in every three times the game is played.

If you saw a team had fractional odds of 8/13, you’d know that for every £13 you stake, you will win £8 or profit and that if the game was played 21 times in total, the bookies think the team would win 13 times and fail to win eight times (what is known as the implied probability).

Working out an implied probability percentage from fractional odds is simple. You just divide the stake by the combined sum of the two numbers which make up the fractional odds. In the case of 2/1 the equation looks like this:

1 / (2+1) = 0.33 or 33%

For odds of 8/13 this is the equation:

13 / (8+13) = 0.62 or 62%

That’s how the maths works but when it comes to the actual odds that bookmakers set, it’s a little more complicated.

How Do Bookmakers Set Their Odds?

The basic business model of a sportsbook is fairly uncomplicated. Bookmakers set the odds and take bets on an event. When that event ends they pay out everyone who backed the winner and then keep the rest for themselves.

But, consider the following horse race.

Selection	Fractional Odds	Decimal Odds	Implied Probability	Profit From a £10 Bet
Horse 1	Evens	2.0	50%	£10
Horse 2	3/1	4.0	25%	£30
Horse 3	7/1	8.0	12.5%	£70
Horse 4	7/1	8.0	12.5%	£70

As you can see, the combined implied probability of the selections above is 100%. From a bookmaker’s perspective that is a big problem. That’s because, presuming they’ve got the same amount of liability on each selection, they’d never make any money as they’d have to collect and payout the same amount.

So, the bookmakers will build something called an overround into their odds. Here’s a real example of a match odds market from a football match:

Selection	Fractional Odds	Decimal Odds	Implied Probability	Profit From a £10 Bet
Man Utd	1/2	1.5	66.7%	£5
Draw	18/5	4.6	21.7%	£36
West Ham	13/2	7.5	13.3%	£65

With an total implied probability of 101.7%, the bookmaker who set those odds is guaranteed to make a profit of 1.7% assuming that they have the same amount of liability on all three selections. Of course, it rarely works out that the bookies manage to spread their liability evenly but you need to know that when you look at a betting market you’re not simply looking at a reflection of how the bookies think the event will pan out. There’s much more going on behind the scenes.

Armed with this knowledge of how the bookmakers set their odds, you can concentrate on finding value. That is, finding a bet where you believe the odds (and therefore the implied probability) is too big. If the bookies think that a side has a 50% chance of winning but you think they’ve got a better chance than that, that’s value.

The Difference Between Decimal and Fractional Odds

You will have seen above that we’ve spoken about both fractional and decimal odds. They are just different ways of conveying the same information but they do add another layer of complexity.

All the major online bookmakers will shows their odds as both fractions and decimals so it’s important that you understand just what they are showing and how to switch between the two. Thankfully, it only requires simple maths.

To go from a fraction to a decimal is as easy as dividing out the fraction and adding one. Here’s how that looks for odds of 2/1:

(2/1) + 1 = 3.o

And using our second example from above, 8/13, it looks like this:

(8/13) + 1 = 1.62

If you want to go from decimal odds to fractional odds is similarly simple. You just minus one from the decimal odds, turn that number into a fraction and reduce it down to it’s simplest form.

Let’s take decimal odds of 4.5, this is the equation:

4.5 – 1 = 3.5
35/10 -> 7/2

If the decimal price is 1.25, you convert it into fractional odds like this:

1.25 – 1 = 0.25
25/100 -> 1/4

Here’s a list of some of the most common fractional odds and their decimal equivalents (for a more in-depth list click here).

Fractional Odds	Decimal Odds	Implied Probability
1/10	1.10	90.9%
1/5	1.2	83.33%
2/5	1.4	71.43%
1/2	1.5	66.67%
1/1 (evens)	2.0	50%
3/2	2.5	40%
2/1	3.0	33.33%
4/1	5.0	20%
9/1	10.0	10%
100/1	101.0	0.99%

Key Terminology

When reading betting advice or searching for a value bet on the bookies’ websites you’ll come across some key terms relating to betting odds. To round up our article on betting odds, we’ve covered the most widely used terms to ensure you don’t get confused in your search for winners.

Stake – The amount of money that you place (or wager) on a specific bet.

Price – The price of a bet is simply another way of referring to the odds. You can either say that a football team can be backed at odds of 2/1or that their price is 2/1.

Odds On & Odds Against – Two of the key terms that you’ll hear when it comes to betting odds are ‘odds on’ and ‘odds against’. These terms refer to whether a price is greater or lower than evens. Any price above evens is known as odds against, while anything below evens is odds on.

Short and Long Odds – If something is described as being short odds it means the price is low. A long odds shot will provide you with a bigger win but is much less likely to win.

I know that in craps if you have a point of 5 you can take $5 in free odds which wins 6. Point of 5 or 9 $4 on odds wins $6. And on a 4 or 10 your free odds pays double. So what changes in a 3,4,5 game? Isn't it the same?

It's referring to how much you can bet. 3x 4x 5x your passline bet.

You can take up to 3x odds on the 4-10 (2-1)
You can take up to 4x odds on the 5-9 (3-2)
You can take up to 5x odds on the 6-8 (6-5)
Basically a $5 pass bet, with max odds on each number would pay $30.

So with a $5 bet you could only make a $15 odds bet on a point of 10? You couldn't bet free odds for less? And likewise you would have to bet $25 on free odds on a point of 6 (same $5 pass line bet)?

So with a $5 bet you could only make a $15 odds bet on a point of 10? You couldn't bet free odds for less?

You can bet anything you want between the minimum bet and the maximum.

You can bet less. If you want to play 2X odds at a 3-4-5X table, they won't stop you.
The 3-4-5X is the MAX odds for the table.

What Does 4 5 Odds Pay

.

4/5 Odds Mean

The MAX odds. I get it. Thanks everyone.

4 To 5 Odds Explained

4/5 Odds Explained