Bookmaker odds: English, European and American. We talk about their similarities and differences, as well as about the advantages and disadvantages in the article.
Bookmaker odds: types and methods of calculation
The betting odds of a bet is a number that reflects the bookmaker's opinion about the likelihood of an event. Based on the coefficient, the winnings on the bet are calculated if it plays.
Different countries use different forms of displaying quotes, and it does not hurt to know about this for everyone who wants to be “in the know”. What types of coefficients exist, what do they mean and how to calculate the coefficient yourself? We tell.
As you know, the progenitors of modern bookmakers for many centuries have been successfully operating on almost all continents, therefore, a great variety of methods for presenting odds have come down to our time.
Types of betting odds
In practice, the best betting sites use only the three most popular types of odds presentation: English, European and American versions. Their similarities and differences, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, will be discussed in the article.
English coefficient
It is believed that the birthplace of bookmakers as independent companies specializing in accepting bets in the industrial volume is England. It is quite logical that this country gave the betting world its own kind of odds. British odds remain extremely popular in our time, than they are more indebted to British gambling establishments, faithfully honoring the traditions of their ancestors.
Almost all modern British bookmakers offer English odds in their line by default. English odds have a fractional notation, for example, 20/4. This quote displays the ratio of the amount of net winnings to the size of the bet. That is, with a bet of 4 pounds, your net winnings (minus the amount of the bet) will be 20 pounds.
How to calculate such a ratio? The English quote 20/4 is similar to the usual coefficient 6.0. In order to translate the English coefficient into the decimal form traditional for us, it is necessary to divide the indicator in the numerator of the fraction by the indicator in the denominator, and then add one to the resulting number.
The translation of the British coefficient into the European one is carried out according to the formula:
ke = kb +1, where ke is the European coefficient and kb is the British coefficient.
Example: 20/4 = 20 : 4 + 1 = 6.
European coefficient
European odds were born when the betting business began to gradually migrate from the UK to neighboring France, from where it subsequently rushed at a hurricane pace throughout Western Europe. At first, only British offices functioned on the territory of Western European countries. After a certain time, the British began to have worthy competitors in the face of French and German gambling establishments.
Most of the new offices found the calculation using the English coefficient unnecessarily complicated. So the European, familiar to us, or, as it is also called, the decimal coefficient, was born. At the moment, the European coefficient is mandatory (though not always by default) in all bookmakers in the world without exception, and in many of them it is the only one. The European coefficient is written in decimal form – these are traditional values for us 2.0; 4.3 etc.
European quotes are used by all online bookmakers in Russia. How to calculate the coefficient? If the size of your bet (in rubles) is multiplied by the coefficient, we will get the amount that the bookmaker will have to pay in case of winning such a bet.
American coefficient
The most rare and difficult to understand are American betting odds, which appeared in the United States a few years after the country’s independence.
The American coefficient quickly took root in local gambling establishments. The main distinguishing feature of American coefficients is the presence of a “+” or “-” sign in front of the digital indicator. This sign allows you to determine which team is the favorite. A sign of the status of the favorite is the – sign.
Let’s try to deal with American quotes and calculate the coefficient using the formula:
ke = 100 / (-kam) +1, where ke is the European odds and kam is the American negative.
Let’s take the coefficient -105. This quote shows that you have to bet $105 to get a net win of $100. The analogue of this coefficient in the European system is 1.95.
Now consider an example of a positive coefficient, which is calculated by the formula:
ke = 100 / kam +1, where ke is the European odds and kam is the American positive.
Let’s say we want to bet on +110 odds, which means that to make a profit of $110, you need to bet $100.
This is how it is, the American system – senseless and merciless. Fortunately, in our time, only a few bookmakers resort to such a presentation of odds, and even those always offer English and European odds as an alternative.
Reasons for changing the coefficients
At the beginning of the article, we wrote that any coefficient reflects the bookmaker’s opinion about the probability of an event. Therefore, the main reason for changing the coefficients is the emergence of new information that changes the opinion of analysts about probability. Before the match, this can be data on players’ injuries, and in live, the odds change literally with every event that happens on the field: attack, violation, corner, etc.