— William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II, Act I, Scene 1 lines 181–2. The sixteenth-century polymath Cardano demonstrated the efficacy of defining odds as the ratio of favourable to unfavourable outcomes. Implied by this definition is the fact that the probability of an event is given by the ratio of favourable outcomes to the total number of possible outcomes. A certain number of points given beforehand to a weaker side in a contest to equalize the chances of all participants.

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Understanding Horse Racing Odds
by Trevor Whenham

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Betting on horse racing can be very intimidating to people that don't understand how it all works and what all the numbers mean, but once you learn the basics of understanding horse racing odds it really couldn't be simpler. If anything, it may even be easier than other forms of sports betting to understand because of the transparency - you know exactly how much is being bet on each horse at any time, so you can easily spot trends and opportunities.

The first thing you need to know is how to read the prices. Horse racing odds are presented in two different ways at the track depending on where you look. The first way is as simple odds - 6/1, for example. Just as in other sports, that means that you would make a profit of six dollars for every dollar bet. People often get confused and that think that the total payout would be six dollars, but you get your initial bet back as well. You also need to remember that the minimum bet at any track is two dollars, so your profit will be at least twice the listed odds. When the odds are presented in this way they are rounded down, so your actual profit will usually be higher than the posted odds - 6/1 may actually pay out $6.30 in profit for every dollar instead of just six dollars.

The other way that odds will be presented is as the payout on a $2 bet. These are the odds that are listed on the big tote board in the middle of the track as well as in other places depending upon the track. If the listed price is $14.20 then that means that you will make that much on a $2 bet if your horse wins. Obviously, you can multiply that by any amount to figure out the payout if you bet a different amount - a $20 win bet would pay $142.00, for example. It's important to remember here that the listed prices aren't profit, but that they also include the two dollars you have bet. If you are more comfortable with straight odds then converting the posted prices is simple. It takes just three steps to get the approximate odds - drop the cents, subtract two dollars and divide by two. $14.20 = (14-2)/2 = 6/1. The prices on the tote board will change for the last time soon after the race starts to reflect the last second bets, and that final price is the payout you are guaranteed if your horse wins.

People who aren't familiar with the tote board will often look for where the payouts are listed for place and show bets. They are very difficult to find because, well, they aren't there. It's impossible to determine what the place and show prices will be until you know what three horses end up in the money. The place and show prices will be lower if the favorites all end up coming in, and higher if the longshots have a good race. With experience you will get pretty good at anticipating approximate payouts before the race, and very accurate at predicting them after the race is over but before the results are posted, but there is no way to know for sure what the prices are before they are posted.

The single biggest key to horse racing odds are that they are determined by what is called a pari-mutuel system, which is just a fancy French term for mutual betting. That means that the odds are determined by the bettors. When you look at a program you will see odds listed for every horse, but those are just the morning line odds that have been set by the track handicapper. Though they are usually fairly accurate they are just a guide and they ultimately have no impact on the final odds on a horse. Instead, the odds are set by the amount of money that is bet on each horse relative to how much is bet on each other horse. The more money the public bets on a horse, the lower the odds will be.

Because the odds are determined in this way, they will change throughout the betting period before the race. In many cases the odds will change a lot. It is not uncommon to see a horse that ends up as a longshot start off as the favorite if someone makes a large bet on him to win right when betting opens. Conversely, a favorite can look like a real bargain at the start of betting - he may be 30/1 20 minutes before the race, but end up at 2/1 by post time. The biggest thing to remember, and the biggest mistake novice bettors make, is that your payout will not be whatever the odds are when you make your bet. It will be whatever the odds are when the race starts. Every time I go to the track I inevitably hear novice bettors express frustration that the horse they thought was 20/1 ends up at 3/1. This is different than sports betting where the odds are locked in when you make your bet. Because of that it is important to not only look at where the odds are at the time, but to get an idea of where they are likely to end up at post time.

Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to understand once it is explained to you. We will explain what betting against the spread means below.

What is Betting Against The Spread?

For each NFL game the oddsmakers set a number of points in which the favored team is favored by. Bettors can then either choose for the favored team to win by more than the number of points set, or bet on the underdogs to lose by less than the number of points they are underdogs by or win the game straight up. For example, the spread could be set on the favored team at 6.5 points. This would mean in order for a bet on the favored team on the spread to win they would need to win by more than 6.5 points (7 or more) in order to win the bet. It also means that a bet on the underdog team would win if the underdogs lost by less than 6.5 points (6 or less) or won the game outright.

Why Odds Change

Example of NFL Spread Bet

Below is an example of what NFL spread betting would look like:

Matchup

• TeamsSpread
• Dallas Cowboys -2.5
• New York Giants +2-5

The negative (-) sign indicates that the Cowboys are the favorites, while the positive (+) sign indicates that the New York Giants are the underdogs. With the spread set at 2.5 points, a bet on the Cowboys would mean that they would have to win by more than 2.5 points (3 or more) in order for you to win that bet. A bet on New York would mean that the Giants would have to either lose by 2.5 or less points (2 or less) or win the game outright in order for your bet to win.

Here is another example with a screenshot taken from 5Dimes.eu during Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season:

Here you can see that the Rams are +3.5, while the Cowboys are -3.5. So for this example the Cowboys are 3.5 point favorites, while the Rams are underdogs of 3.5 points. If you were to bet on St Louis you would need them to lose by 3 or fewer points or just win the game outright. If you were to bet on Dallas you would need the Cowboys to win by 4 or more points.

If the Cowboys were to win by 3 points, lets say 30-27, any bets on the Rams +3.5 would win. Even though the Rams didn’t win the game they covered the spread of 3.5 points.

Now if the Cowboys were to win by 4 points, lets say 31-27, the Cowboys have covered the spread and anyone who wagered on Dallas would win their bets.

Other NFL Spread Betting Information

You may often notice that the spread is sometimes set at an even number such as 3, 6 , 10, etc. In this case if the favored team won by the exact amount set for the spread the bet would be pushed, and all bets would be returned. For example, if the Patriots were 3 point favorites and they won by a FG (3 points) than this would results in a push, meaning no matter which side you bet on you would get your money returned to you.

The most common NFL spreads are usually set between about 2.5-10.5 points, but you will also almost always have games each week with spreads lower than 2.5 and higher than 10.5. In the event that the oddsmakers feel the game doesn’t need a spread, it would be set at 0 or what some call a pick’em (both teams are given even odds to win for this type of bet).

The odds given on the spread are usually -110 unless otherwise noted. It is not uncommon to see one side of the spread being -105, with the other side being -115. If you don’t see any odds listed for each side of NFL spreads you are supposed to assume the odds are -110 on each. Not sure how to read NFL betting odds? Check out our Sports Betting Odds guide.

Now that you know the basics of NFL spread betting you’ll want to check out our Sports Betting Strategy guide which has some great NFL strategy articles written by a professional bettor.