Soccer fans can now enjoy placing football bets directly from the comfort of their own home. Thanks to Parimatch, you can access the broadest range of soccer wagers in Africa via our intuitive Android/iOS sports betting app and a desktop betting platform. The problem is that if you don’t know how to read soccer bet odds, you’re going to struggle to place any wagers at all.
But don’t worry! We’ve put together this handy guide to show you how to read soccer odds in football using one of the best soccer betting sites, Parimatch. To understand everything better, it makes sense to compare the explanations to real-life examples always available on our website.
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Contents
What Are Soccer Bet Odds?
Betting odds are a numerical representation of the likelihood that something you bet on will happen. In sports, the betting odds usually refer to the likelihood or probability that a team will win or a goal will be scored.
The more likely something is to happen, the higher the probability. Betting odds show you how high the probability is for something to happen.
If it’s more likely that something will happen — let’s say a well-known strong team wins — the financial reward on a wager is low. In this circumstance, the odds are low. If you wager on something far rarer, however, the payout will be higher. The odds will be higher.
Now, to understand how to read soccer odds, you need to distinguish between “chances” and “odds.”
If the chances of something occurring are 25%, then there would be a 1-in-4 chance of the event happening. This would be written in maths as ¼ or 1:4.
Sports betting odds can be written in different ways, including the most widespread decimal, fractional, and American odds. Below, we’ll talk about these soccer odds systems in detail.
But maybe you need to learn the basics first? Here is our ultimate guide on how to bet on soccer.
How to Read Soccer Odds on Parimatch?
By default, at sportsbook Parimatch, we use decimal soccer bet odds that are the most simple to read. However, in the Parimatch app, you can set up the format to your liking if you are more familiar with fractional, American, or Hong Kong odds.
How do you read soccer betting on the best online sportsbooks, Parimatch? It’s simple. You’ll find betting odds explained below.
Here is an illustration of soccer bet odds for a match between Gibraltar and San Marino. Gibraltar has lower odds, namely 1.31. San Marino, at the same time, has higher odds of 8.60. The odds for a draw are 4.90.
The odds can help you determine the presumed probability of each team winning. To present the likelihood of each outcome as a percentage, you need to divide 100 by the odds. In this case, the probability of Gibraltar winning is over 76%, while the likelihood of San Marino becoming a winner is about 11%.
This way, soccer bettors know that Gibraltar is a favorite — a stronger team that has more chances to win this match. San Marino’s higher odds indicate it is an underdog in this game — they are more likely to lose. The difference between odds demonstrates how significantly one of the teams is believed to dominate the match.
You can also figure out your potential winnings after a correct wager. To determine that, you need to multiply your bet sum by the odds and then detract your wager from the result. For instance, if you bet 10,000 TZS on Gibraltar, your profit will be 3,100 TZS. The odds are low, so your gain is not that big. Meanwhile, with a winning bet on San Marino, you can get a cash amount of 76,000 TZS. However, this situation is less likely.
We hope that by now, it’s getting easier for you to understand how to read football odds. Now let’s see how this decimal system works compared to fractional odds or American odds you might have seen before.
What Are the Betting Odds Formats?
Decimal odds
Decimal odds are represented by a single digit with up to 2 decimal places. This is by far the easiest concept to get to grips with, and decimal betting is straightforward. Let’s look at an illustration.
If there is a 25% chance that Manchester United will beat Wolverhampton Wanderers, then the decimal odds will be written as “4.00”. The chances that the Wolves will score more goals against Man U are, therefore, 75%, making the odds “1.33”.
Further, we’ll look at more examples of decimal odds so that you can totally get used to them.
Fractional odds
Take the same example as above. There is a 25% chance that Man U will beat Wolves in the upcoming game. In fractional odds, this is shown as 3/1 or 3:1. This means 3 against 1. If there were 4 chances, the ratio would be 3 of those chances against Man U and only 1 chance for Man U: 3/1.
American odds
American odds are written like -200 or +200. The minus sign “-” means the team is the favorite, and a plus sign “+” makes it the underdog. If the number has a plus sign, this is how much you would win if you bet $100. If the odds have a minus sign, then this is how much you would need to bet to win $100.
How Do Decimal Odds Work?
To become even more confident about betting with decimal odds, let’s practice with another soccer example:
- This is a 3-way bet, also known as a football 1X2 bet or a win/draw/lose bet. As you can see, there are three options on the Parimatch platform, “1” refers to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ win, X refers to a draw, and “2” refers to Southampton FC’s win.
- In this case, the odds that the Wolves will win are 1.83, meaning there’s a 56.6% chance. A win for the Wolves on a 10,000 TZS bet would mean a payout of 18,500 TZS, making a profit of 8,500 TZS.
- A draw has odds of 3.55, which is a likelihood of 28.2%. A 10,000 TZS bet on this result would fetch 35,000 TZS, making a tidy profit of 25,000 TZS.
- A win by The Saints, on odds of 4.50, means a 22.2% chance. If The Saints did pull through, however, your 10,000 TZS bet would return you 45,000 TZS, making you 35,000 TZS profit!
How to Calculate Probability in Soccer Using Odds
Sports odds are a solid indicator of how likely an event is to occur. By giving certain occurrences the specific odds shown, sportsbooks are making a statement about the likelihood of an event unfolding. As we’ve already discussed, when we look at soccer odds, the higher the number, the less likely it is to occur. This is true in reverse — the lower the number, the more likely something is to occur.
To understand how probable an occurrence is, you need to take your soccer betting odds and work backward. Take the soccer example below:
The chance that the Urawa Red Diamonds will beat Oita Trinita is 2.03. Take 100, divide it by 2.03, and there’s a 49.3% chance that the Urawa Red Diamonds will win. The chance of a draw is 29.85%, and the chance of Oita Trinita winnings is 28.99%.
How to Calculate Your Winnings From Soccer Wagers?
The decimal odds system is the most simple way to work out your money won from any correct wager that you place.
To work out how much money you’ve won, you need to take your stake and multiply it by the odds. Then minus your stake from the total, and you have your profit.
For example, if your bet was 30,000 TZS and the odds were 1.54, you’d have a 65% chance to win. If you did win, your payout would be 46,200 TZS. This is the total figure of your stake and your profit.
Next, minus your 30,000 TZS stake from the total amount, leaving 16,200 TZS profit.
Take this soccer game between FC Porto and FC Famalicao:
If you were to bet on FC Porto as the winner, the odds are 1.24, giving you an 80% chance of winnings. If you were to place a 10,000 TZS bet on this match and you won, you’d receive 12,400 TZS as a payout. Minus your stake, you have a profit of 2,400 TZS.
Imagine you bet on FC Famalicao to win. With odds of 10.00, you have a 10% chance of winnings. If FC Famalicao did win, however, you’d get paid 100,000 TZS, making a profit of 90,000 TZS.
When you feel confident about reading soccer bet odds, it’s time for you to study football betting strategies. We’ve compiled a guide for you so that you can be more successful in your predictions.
What Is the Difference Between Betting Odds and Betting Markets?
While betting odds are numbers that represent how likely something will happen, betting markets are categories of sports wagers you can place. At Parimatch sportsbook, we pride ourselves on being the most diverse betting platform in Africa and in the world. Offering the widest range of online sports betting options, we never miss a football match — no matter where it is in the world.
Now that you know how to read soccer odds, you’re ready to explore various betting markets like football 1X2 bets, double chance bets, and others. Here are a few popular ones to start with:
- 1X2 bets
While some soccer tournaments, leagues, and cups demand a winner, often, there is room for a draw in soccer. These sports bets are represented as 1X2. The “1” refers to the home team winning, while the “2” refers to the away team winning. “X” represents a draw.
- Double chance bets
In a soccer match, where the outcome can be a win, defeat, or a draw, you can bet on two out of three such outcomes. For example, you can predict that team B will win or there will be a draw. If any of these events happen, your bet will win.
- Handicap bets
Handicap betting means that one team is given a handicap. This handicap means points are “deducted” from their score. In other words, for a team to win, they must beat the other team, even with their handicap deducted from their final score. In soccer, there is a special market called “Asian handicap.”
- Total bets
Total betting invites you to bet on the total number of goals that might be scored before the match ends. Sometimes called over/under betting or under/over, totals betting requires that you bet on whether the total number of goals is over or under the number given by the sportsbook.
There are many more types of bets you can place on Parimatch. Learn about them by reading our article on soccer betting markets.
Are Odds Different in Pre-Match Soccer Betting and Live Soccer Bets?
When you bet on a soccer match before it has started, this is called a pre-match wager. This, as the name suggests, means you bet on how you think the match will turn out before it starts.
With pre-match betting, the soccer odds are fixed. All bets are taken 2 hours before the games begin. No matter what happens throughout the game, the odds that you have bet on will stay the same.
Take this soccer game between Crystal Palace and Manchester City:
If you were to bet 10,000 TZS on the underdog, you’d be betting on 11.00 odds that Crystal Palace will win. Placing your wager before the game, if Crystal Palace wins, you’ll take home 110,000 TZS. No matter what happens during the game, if Crystal Palace wins, you get that figure.
Live betting works differently, as the live odds can change throughout the game depending on the action. Imagine, for example, that Gabriel Jesus, Man City’s striker, is sent off in the first half. While the odds for betting on Crystal Palace’s win were 11.00 before, the live odds may go down. This is because it’s now easier for Crystal Palace to make more goals scored, and therefore this result is more likely.
Take the scenario that if you bet 10,000 TZS on a pre-match bet on Crystal Palace, you’d get a return of 110,000 TZS. However, once Jesus is sent off, the odds drop to 8 as Crystal Palace now has a 12.5% chance of winning. Those who place live soccer bets at this moment will only get an odds of 8 and a potential return of only 80,000 TZS.
Of course, this works the other way too. Soccer fans that place live bets watch the action that occurs on the screen and bet according to what’s happening. Where pre-match bets rely on a team’s previous behavior and gameplay, live betting allows you to take into account what’s happening on the day.
Did you know that apart from betting on real-life football, you can also bet on simulated virtual football? How’s that? We explain it in our virtual soccer betting guide.
Why Is Parimatch One of the Best Soccer Betting Sites to Bet on?
Parimatch gives you all the advantages you would expect of top bookies, such as a diverse array of soccer bets and competitive odds. However, on top of that, Parimatch’s browser-optimized betting platform and IOS/Android sports betting app provide added convenience so you can place bets on soccer from the comfort of your own home, on the bus to work, out with friends, or wherever you are!
Learn more about why the Parimatch app is the best for online soccer betting in 2023.
Still not convinced? Here’s what the best of sportsbooks Parimatch has to offer:
- Best range of soccer matches in Africa;
- Broadest array of betting options;
- State-of-the-art betting app;
- Secure money;
- Simple deposit and withdrawal;
- Compassionate customer service is available 24/7.
Soccer Bet Article Summary
Learning how to read soccer odds is integral to betting successfully. When we look at betting odds, we see the likelihood that an event will occur in a sporting event, according to the sportsbook.
In soccer, bets can be placed on all kinds of events, from the team winning to the number of goals scored, to the first scored goal, to the number of corners in the match. These different events have varying likelihoods that they will or will not occur. Soccer odds are the mathematical representations of this when it comes to placing a soccer bet.
Bear in mind that not all bookmakers have the same odds. This is because bookmakers know about some matches better than others, so their odds reflect how they interpret the potential events that could occur when two teams meet.
As for the best of sportsbooks, Parimatch, we always offer the most competitive soccer betting odds on our online betting platform. Thanks to our in-depth knowledge of global soccer, we provide the best soccer betting odds across Africa.
If you’d like to enjoy our broad range of soccer bets, head to our official website today or download the Android app for soccer betting straight from your smartphone.
FAQ
How do you read soccer odds ratio?
When reading the soccer odds ratio, focus on the (-) and (+) signs. So, if you are looking at the odds for the team, a number with a minus sign in front means the favorite team, while the plus sign represents the underdog team. For example, if you see a plus sign in front of a number, that represents how much you win if you bet a certain amount. If you see a minus sign in front of the number, that shows how much you need to bet to win a certain amount.
How do you calculate soccer odds?
For instance, there is a soccer match between teams A and B. Team A has low odds of 1.31 while Team B has higher odds of 8.60, while the odds for a draw are 4.90. Now, to figure out the probability for each outcome to occur, you have to divide 100 by each odd. This makes the probability of team A winning 76% while team B will be 11%. So, the higher the odds, the more likely the team is to lose, making it an underdog (it is a less strong team).
How do you read odds numbers?
Bookmakers typically use standard decimal odds to read odds numbers. Decimal odds are presented in decimal formats. For instance, in a match between team Bob and team Dick, team Bob may have odds of 1.22 while team Dick has odds of 8.78. This means that team Bob, typically with a stronger standing in the league, is more likely to win (thanks to the lower decimal odds), while team Dick is less likely to win (due to the higher decimal odds).
How to read soccer odds 1×2?
Soccer odds 1×2 are the most common betting options for soccer games. The “1” refers to the home team winning, the “x” refers to a draw, and the “2” refers to the away team winning. At Parimatch, the odds are presented in decimal format and represent the payout ratio for a winning bet.
For example, if the odds for a home team win are 2.50, then a 10 TZS bet would return 25 TZS if successful. You can use an odds converter to help you read soccer odds.