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How to bet on Sports

Sports betting can look and sound pretty intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be. With some basic Odditude you can understand everything you need to know but were afraid to ask about setting up your account, odds and types of bets.


Want to bet on your favourite sports? Read our beginner-friendly guides to betting on football, betting on baseball, betting on hockey.

Looking for more? PlayNow has got you covered with everything you need to learn how to bet and calculate the odds.

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Odds

Odds are simply a way of determining what is likely to happen in any given event and how much you will potentially get if you're right. The odds you'll see on PlayNow.com when you first arrive, are decimal odds.

Decimal odds

Decimal odds are sports betting's easiest to understand and calculate. They work the same no matter which team you pick. The lower the value, the more likely the outcome. The higher the value, the less likely the outcome.

Calculating your potential payouts

To figure out your potential payout of a $10 bet on Kansas City at 1.36 odds, simply multiply your bet by that decimal value to get $3.60 plus your original $10 back for a total potential payout of $13.60. Want Detroit at 3.25? Since that is less likely to happen, your $10 bet multiplied by 3.25 will get a potential payout of $22.50 plus your original $10 bet.

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American odds

American odds may be what you see when you're watching the game or on social media from betting experts. In addition to value, American odds feature positive and negative values.

Understanding +'s and -'s

The plus sign indicates the team that is less likely to win or the underdog for the game. The minus indicates the team likely to win, or favourite. The lower the negative value, the higher the implied probability.

Calculating your potential payouts

American odds are generally calculated using $100 values, so a little simple math is involved if you are starting small (don't worry PlayNow.com does all of this math for you). Want to see your potential payout on the underdog? Divide your $10 bet by 100 and them multiply by 230 for your potential payout of $23 plus your original wager back. How about the favourite? Flip the calculation by taking your $10 bet, dividing it by 280 and multiplying it by 100 for a potential payout of $3.57. Easy right?

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Understanding favourites

In sports betting, we often talk about favourites and underdogs based on their predicted chances of winning. Favourites are expected to win and come with shorter odds. Betting on them to win, your potential payout will be, you guessed it, smaller.

Understanding underdogs

Underdogs are the opposite. They are not expected to win, so they have higher odds and a potential larger profit if they do win. In decimal odds anything less than 1.90 indicates a favourite, while anything greater is an underdog. While in American odds, underdogs usually have that + sign, there can be cases where you have the favourite at –115 and the underdog at –105.

Pick 'ems

A pick 'em scenario is when both teams are seen as having equal chances of winning and the bookmaker can't decide who the favourite is - so it's your pick. It means they are close to even for both, say if both teams had 1.90 in decimal odds or both were -110.