What Are Betting Odds? Decimal Odds Explained

Odds express how much a bet pays and how likely the bookmaker thinks it is. In decimal format — the standard at Skorsky — the number is your total return per unit staked: odds of 2.00 double your money, 1.50 returns 50%.

Odds imply a probability

Every price maps to an implied probability: 2.00 implies 50%, 4.00 implies 25%, 1.25 implies 80%. Add up the implied probabilities across all outcomes of a match and they exceed 100% — the extra is the bookmaker’s margin, built into every market.

Finding value

A bet has value when you believe the true probability is higher than the odds imply. The tighter the margin a bookmaker runs, the more value stays with you. This is the foundation of every other betting market — start here before accumulators or handicaps.