Fixed Odds Betting

Fixed Odds Offer Stability and Potential Long Term Profit

Fixed odds betting means, quite simply, that at the time you place your wager, the winning payout is known and will not change. Additionally, fixed odds bets are based on picking the actual winner of the contest, not using a point spread.

Unlike pari-mutuel wagering, where odds change continually depending upon the wagering pool and betting trends, fixed odds never fluctuate. Fixed odds wagers, which are also known as money lines, differ from point spreads and parlays in that the winner of either of the latter bets is determined not by which team wins or loses but by how well the gambler plays the spread.

Fixed odds bets are usually available on the major US sports of football, baseball, basketball and hockey. However, often all four of these sports also offer the chance to play the spread or run/puck line. Consider this hypothetical fixed odds money line in a game between Pittsburgh and Arizona. If you already know how fixed odds sports betting works click here for a chart of break even percentages and conversions.

Pittsburgh -257
Arizona +233

With the money line, the club that is listed as “minus” is the favorite, while the team that has the “plus” is the underdog. With the above line, you’d have to wager $260 on Pittsburgh to win $100. Thus, if you bet the Steelers and they win, as they did in XLIII, you’d get back your $260 plus a $100 profit (total return would be $360). The odds on Pittsburgh on the money line scenario were 7/18 (fractional odds) or 1.39 (decimal odds), which meant that a bettor could win $1.00 for every $2.57 wagered. It’s not a great payout, but no bookie in their right mind is going to give you a good payout on a heavily favored club.

If you went with the Cardinals the odds were long, paying well. With the money line at +233, you’d get $233 back for every $100 you bet. The odds on the Cards were 7/3 (fractional odds) or 3.33 (decimal odds). That’s a much better payout than you’d get on the Steelers, but that’s because Arizona was the long shot in the game.

Of course, if you took a spread bet in the big game and chose Arizona, you won. The Steelers were at -6.5, and although they won the game outright, they only won by four points. Pittsburgh did not beat the point spread but did win the money line wager.

Fixed odds wagers are attractive in that you’re betting on the actual outcome of the game. If you have a contest where it’s fairly clear who the winner will be, then it’s a good bet to make. However, there are a few problems with this type of wager.

First, wagering on the underdog in a money line scenario tends to be extremely attractive since the payout is always better than that given to the favorite. That means that bettors may try to outsmart the money line by determining which clubs will pull an upset. That can be a dangerous method of betting unless the gambler has really done his/her homework in determining the spoiler and can accurately determine the actual straight up winning percentage better than the bookmaker.

Second, bettors usually have to wager a lot on the favorite to win a little. Although the bet on the favorite is less risky, the bettor is risking a load of money. On moderately priced point spreads the team that wins the game straight up normally covers the spread the majority of the time so a bet against the points spread is often a much smarter wager.

Of course, some money lines don’t carry the same disparity as the Pittsburgh/Arizona game did. In a money line scenario where team A is at +105 and team B is at -125, the payout on the underdog is less appealing than it was on the Cardinals in the Super Bowl (a $100 bet yields a $105 profit). Also in our example, there’s less money to risk on the payoff on the favorite than there was on Pittsburgh (a $125 wager gets the gambler a profit of 100).

Playing a heavily favored team on the money line is part of a conservative risk reward betting strategy that, over the course of time, can payoff. At times, it can be safer than going with the point spread but be careful laying bridge jumper type prices as eventually one of those long shots will lose putting a big dent in your bankroll.

Fixed Odds Sports Betting Chart

Below you will find a table that gives you the correct conversions of the different types of fixed odds used in the sports betting marketplace. Different countries prefer different fixed sports odds formats but this chart states the equal odds between american odds (AKA moneylines), decimal odds, and fractional odds.

Break Even %	American Odds	Decimal Odds	Fractional Odds
99.00%	-9900	1.01	1/99
98.00%	-4900	1.02	1/49
97.00%	-3233	1.03	3/97
96.00%	-2400	1.04	1/24
95.00%	-1900	1.05	1/19
94.00%	-1567	1.06	3/47
93.00%	-1329	1.08	7/93
92.00%	-1150	1.09	2/23
91.00%	-1011	1.10	9/91
90.00%	-900	1.11	1/9
89.00%	-809	1.12	11/89
88.00%	-733	1.14	3/22
87.00%	-669	1.15	13/87
86.00%	-614	1.16	7/43
85.00%	-567	1.18	3/17
84.00%	-525	1.19	4/21
83.00%	-488	1.20	17/83
82.00%	-456	1.22	9/41
81.00%	-426	1.23	19/81
80.00%	-400	1.25	1/4
79.00%	-376	1.27	21/79
78.00%	-355	1.28	11/39
77.00%	-335	1.30	23/77
76.00%	-317	1.32	6/19
75.00%	-300	1.33	1/3
74.00%	-285	1.35	13/37
73.00%	-270	1.37	27/73
72.00%	-257	1.39	7/18
71.00%	-245	1.41	29/71
70.00%	-233	1.43	3/7
69.00%	-223	1.45	31/69
68.00%	-213	1.47	8/17
67.00%	-203	1.49	33/67
66.00%	-194	1.52	17/33
65.00%	-186	1.54	7/13
64.00%	-178	1.56	9/16
63.00%	-170	1.59	37/63
62.00%	-163	1.61	19/31
61.00%	-156	1.64	39/61
60.00%	-150	1.67	2/3
59.00%	-144	1.69	41/59
58.00%	-138	1.72	21/29
57.00%	-133	1.75	43/57
56.00%	-127	1.79	11/14
55.00%	-122	1.82	9/11
54.00%	-117	1.85	23/27
53.00%	-113	1.89	47/53
52.00%	-108	1.92	12/13
51.00%	-104	1.96	49/51
50.00%	+100	2.00	1/1
49.00%	+104	2.04	51/49
48.00%	+108	2.08	13/12
47.00%	+113	2.13	53/47
46.00%	+117	2.17	27/23
45.00%	+122	2.22	11/9
44.00%	+127	2.27	14/11
43.00%	+133	2.33	57/43
42.00%	+138	2.38	29/21
41.00%	+144	2.44	59/41
40.00%	+150	2.50	3/2
39.00%	+156	2.56	61/39
38.00%	+163	2.63	31/19
37.00%	+170	2.70	63/37
36.00%	+178	2.78	16/9
35.00%	+186	2.86	13/7
34.00%	+194	2.94	33/17
33.00%	+203	3.03	67/33
32.00%	+213	3.13	17/8
31.00%	+223	3.23	69/31
30.00%	+233	3.33	7/3
29.00%	+245	3.45	71/29
28.00%	+257	3.57	18/7
27.00%	+270	3.70	73/27
26.00%	+285	3.85	37/13
25.00%	+300	4.00	3/1
24.00%	+317	4.17	19/6
23.00%	+335	4.35	77/23
22.00%	+355	4.55	39/11
21.00%	+376	4.76	79/21
20.00%	+400	5.00	4/1
19.00%	+426	5.26	81/19
18.00%	+456	5.56	41/9
17.00%	+488	5.88	83/17
16.00%	+525	6.25	21/4
15.00%	+567	6.67	17/3
14.00%	+614	7.14	43/7
13.00%	+669	7.69	87/13
12.00%	+733	8.33	22/3
11.00%	+809	9.09	89/11
10.00%	+900	10.00	9/1
9.00%	+1011	11.11	91/9
8.00%	+1150	12.50	23/2
7.00%	+1329	14.29	93/7
6.00%	+1567	16.67	47/3
5.00%	+1900	20.00	19/1
4.00%	+2400	25.00	24/1
3.00%	+3233	33.33	97/3
2.00%	+4900	50.00	49/1
1.00%	+9900	100.00	99/1

Be sure to bookmark this fixed odds sports betting table so you always have it at your disposal. If you found this page useful consider linking to it from your website so more people can soak in this knowledge about fixed odds betting.