Sports betting odds and American Football
The first step, an introduction
As the global populous following American football is ever growing, the possibilities in internet sports betting have kept pace. Whilst American Football has been big in Japan for decades and the Japanese audiences are quite knowledgeable about American Football, European and UK audiences in particular are not that familiar with the extensive terminology of the game. A difficulty in understanding some of the”Americanisms” in football isn’t restricted to just the game itself. The UK and European audiences are increasingly enjoying the Super Bowl and experiencing all the brouhaha and flamboyance of the event; betting on sports in Europe and the UK on the Super Bowl is also on the increase as its living in its hey-day. In the following articles the details and mechanics of the betting system and odds will be explained in greater depth.
UK and European odds
Depending on where you are in the world, the odds system will differentiate itself. In the UK and U.S you will probably see the odds as a ½ ratio or as a1:2 fractions whilst in Europe it is more common to use a decimal system. UK odds of ½ would be expressed as 1.5 in Europe. Whilst someone in the UK can place a bet on any American Football game in a betting shop, if they want to indulge themselves in some live action, because of the time differences, they'll more likely than not have to use an online sports betting website. Obviously, using the internet for placing sports bets makes it very easy and quick to find the best odds and UK based sports bettors will quickly be able to shift between fractions and decimal odds. On a American sports betting website the odds will, mainly show up as I e -200, which is of course a big step from the conventional European style , How does it transform to our style of odds.
The Americanised odds
If you are a stranger to the system, you will most probably fall into a bit of confusion as to how it operates. However, in actual fact UK or European betting odds of fractions and decimals are exactly the same as the American style of betting. Now pretty well anyone can see the correlation between ½ and 1.5, but how on earth do you connect those two to the American odds of -200? The way that American sports betting odds, often referred to as money line odds, work for favourites and underdogs is different and is centred around the 'magic' $100. First of all let's consider placing a sport bet on your favourite American Football team to win. Odds for betting on a favourite are always prefixed with a - (minus sign). If you see odds of -200, that means in order to win $100 you have to bet $200! Hang on - don't be scared away at that thought as you get back $100 in winnings plus your original $200 stake, or if you prefer a $300 payout. Now can you see a connection with a UK ½ bet? It’s sure you can already guess how betting on the underdog works? Suppose you expect your favourite American football team to go down big team next week-end, being the underdogs the odds against them will be prefixed with a + (plus sign). So, being your favourite team you still want to back them to win, what would sports betting odds of +200 mean? Here if you bet $100, and your team actually triumphs over the opposition, you'd win $200 - and again your total payout is $300. So, it really is quite simple if the odds are prefixed with a '-' you'll be risking more than you could win, whereas a bet prefixed with a '+', means you're risking less in the hope of making a big win. As a last pointer of direction, if the letter PK show up with the odds for an game of American football, It means that there are no favourite leading the bet, you can pick the bet without the point spread, This whole system has its absolute climax when it comes to Super Bowl and the chance to make very special bets, with sometimes extremely different payouts or outcomes.
Does the question mark remain?
One shouldn’t worry too much if the American betting system still doesn’t make much sense you can find loads more information on them by visiting just about any sports betting website. Alternatively you could always download one of the 'betting odds conversion calculators' off the internet. If you want to watch a game of NFL, following your favourite team, or even place big special bets on a Super Bowl game, you can do it now easily online with a few clicks on the mouse, the best online sports betting sites have ready converters between the different odds system, so you as a spectator can enjoy as much as possible without having to worry about how you place your bets.