Bookies odds

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

Wm. Hill offering 25/1.

 

[FriethBlade]

Without being boring the bookies bet to something called over round. Any outcome has a 100% chance of happening so the bookies odds will usually add up to something like 120% with the 20% being their profit margin. So evens is 50%, 2/1 is 33%, 4/1 is 20% etc. If you add all the odds up for a market where there is a single winner you will see it will normally come to over 120%. It becomes more complicated when there is more than one winner IE in the promotion and relegation markets.

The true idea of being a bookie is to try and take enough bets with a big enough spread so they don't care who wins but make their 20% profit.

However many of them will take a 'position' and lay more heavily those they don't fancy at longer odds and vica versa. Ultimately they tend to know what they are doing with the Geordie's, us and Pompey all pre season favourites on the books.