If it’s your first time trying out any kind of gambling, you’re likely to have a lot of numbers thrown at you without much guidance as to what they mean. Odds are shown differently across different types of games and events, so how exactly do we get to things like 90% or 2/1?
Casino Games
Although it is quite a broad category, including everything from slot games to poker tables and roulette wheels, the odds of casino games are always somewhat controlled by the operator. For table games, the odds of a specific result, such as red or black on a roulette wheel or a blackjack in a hand of blackjack, are often hard-wired into the game itself thanks to decades of use.
With slot games like Book of Ra or Big Bass Bonanza, the odds of a particular result are programmed into the game, although the actual results are always entirely random. The best way to see the overall winning odds of a slot is to look at its Return-to-Player percentage. The RTP is the average amount of a player’s bets they can expect to get back, although the number can be much lower or higher depending on luck.
Lotteries
Although they aren’t often considered gambling in the same vein as casinos or betting, lotteries remain the most popular and most widespread kinds of gambling out there. The specific mechanics of how a lottery works varies from country to country and organization to organization, but the common feature is that players buy a ticket and contribute to a prize pool with it.
This means that typically, the prize fund and number of participants in a lottery can rise and fall between events. Generally, the larger a lottery prize pool and the more people that are involved, the lower the winning odds become. Unlike casino games where odds are posted in advance, it’s common for lottery odds to only be shown on the day or even hour of the draw once new entries have been stopped.
Sports Betting
Compared to the previous two examples, sports betting has far more complex odds simply due to the number of variables in play. Right up to the start of a match or event, things like weather, injuries, and expert analysis can affect predictions of results, meaning that odds posted today for a game next week are likely to go through multiple changes before it starts.
One of the first lessons you learn about making sports bets is to do as much research as you’re able ahead of time, as past form and habits are very often helpful in predicting the future. With that said, don’t be surprised if the odds posted on a website suddenly shift as experts learn critical news. One important detail to remember, however, is that once your bet is locked in, later changes in the odds no longer matter.
The most critical thing to remember is that, while these odds are always determined by experts and analysts, in the end they remain as just odds. In the same way that it’s possible to get heads on a 2-sided coin 1000 times in a row, the actual outcomes may look very different from any prediction.
