Types of Casino Odds

Casino odds are an important factor in any gambler's consideration when placing bets on any and all casino games in order to optimize their play and have the best chance of winning money.

There are three main types of odds and different casinos and bookmakers, depending on the country and the casino, apply one of these types of odds.

The first type of casino odds is Fractional Odds that are mainly applied in the United Kingdom and around various British territories. They are often referred to as British Odds or UK Odds.

When offered UK Fractional Odds the player gets their original wager back together with the Fractional odds payment that the wager was placed under. It is important to understand that how to read them: 4/1 means you will be paid 4 for every bet of 1 and 1/4 means you will be paid 1 for every bet of 4.

The second type is Decimal Odds that are mostly used in Australia and Europe. They tend to show the wager odds plus the original bet so a 4 to 1 wager might be shown as 5, including in it the player's original bet of 1. A wager of 1 to 4 will be shown as 1.25.

The third type is Moneyline Odds and they are mostly used in the United States and often referred to as American Odds. They are marked in two different ways. The first is using a minus sign before the figure. This is done when the odds refer to the amount that a player needs to wager in order to win $100. For example -$25 means that a player will need to wager $25 to win $100 and it’s the same as 4 to 1 using the Fraction Odds.

The other way is marking them with a plus sign that signifies what the player will win for each $100 wagered. For example a +$50 wager means that a player will win $150 when placing $100 wager. This compares to a 1 to 2 using Fraction Odds.

Players will be able to see such bets displayed in Las Vegas casinos when making sports bets. Usually the team that is favorable for the win will have the plus sign displayed next to its odds and the team least likely to win will have the minus sign displayed next to its odds.