Fixed Odds Betting Online

When it comes to online sports betting, there are many different types of bets that can be placed on each sporting event. As well as offering sports betting, many sportsbooks also offer financial betting, election betting and betting on international events. In most of these cases, punters will be offered fixed odds betting. But what exactly is fixed odds betting and how does it differ from the other types of bets available online? In the notes below, we are going explore the ins and outs of fixed odds betting, how it works and why it is so popular.

Understanding Odds

Before we delve into exactly what fixed odds means, we need to understand the concept of odds. For those punters who have been around a while, knowing the odds is the first step towards placing a successful bet. Odds are used to determine the price of a wager. Sports betting websites will either have odds on or odds against. Odd on means the amount you can win minus your original stake. Odds against means the amount you can win is greater than your steak. Odds can be expressed as a decimal for example, 1.5 or fractional for example, 2:1.

What Fixed Odds Means

As we mentioned earlier, fixed odds betting is the most popular type of sports betting found online. Almost all sports betting companies will offer fixed odds betting on their most popular sports. What fixed odds means is that when the wager is placed, both the punter and the betting site agree on the odds then and there. If the bet does win, the agreed upon odds will be paid out even if the odds changed at a later date. A good way to understand this is to look at a real life example.

A Good Example

In the lead up to the American presidential elections, popular sports betting sites had Hillary Clinton as the outright favourite to win the presidency while Trump was not yet elected as head of the opposition party. The betting odds against Trump winning were incredibly high. One punter decided to get in on the action and place a massive bet that Trump would go all the way. As the bet was fixed odds, the punter would either stand to lose a lot of money or rake in a good profit.

When Trump was elected as head of the party, the sports betting odds suddenly changed. Then when Trump started winning state votes, the odds dropped even further until the betting effectively shut down as the result was a forgone conclusion. Having placed a fixed odds bet, the punter cashed in with the insanely high odds that were offered months before.

Other forms of Fixed Odds Betting

Fixed odds betting is also used with live or in-play betting. While live betting has been removed from the online platform, it can still be used with telephone bets.  The only difference between standard fixed odds betting and live betting is that punters can actually place bets during the event. In such cases, sports betting sites will offer a whole new range of bets such as who will score next, what the final score will be or who will be substituted out.