Cricket is known to be the second-most popular sport in the world. With over 2.5 billion fans spread across the globe, the sport just proves how interesting it is.
Along with the popularity of cricket comes the popularity of sports betting. Whereas lots of other sports to be betted on, cricket has proved itself to be one of the sports that people place their bets on.
Betting has come a long way. Way back into the past, bookmakers had emerged, taking bets manually from the bettors who wish to gain a profit by predicting the possible outcome of a game. As time progressed, the world had developed with technological advancements and almost every activity was digitized. Betting, of course, couldn’t simply be left behind in the past.
Technology has indeed improved a lot of human activities. With betting being digitized comes the emergence of sports sites that allow sports fans to keep up with the latest updates of their favorite teams and players. Also, these sites feature online betting that allows the fans to place their bets as they monitor the changing of odds real-time.
Cricket, along with football, basketball, tennis, and boxing had been the most betted sports upon the occurrence of online betting. One thing that the fans loved about online betting is that aside from giving real-time updates, it also provides different offers per website. Each site offers the bettors different payout options and bonuses that are helpful on their initial bets. Aside from that, online sports betting sites allow its bettors to bet in the comfort of their own home.
Now that you have an overview of cricket’s popularity and the ease of online betting, you may want to know about the importance of cricket odds in making an online cricket bet.
What are cricket odds?
Cricket odds determine the probability of what is most likely to be the end result of a match. Regardless of the kind of cricket being played, there are odds that are helpful in predicting the outcome of the game.
In an online cricket betting site, you have the option to change the odds format on what you think is the easiest for you to understand. On websites like Betwala, the cricket odds may be shown in a Decimal, American/Moneyline, Indonesian, Hong Kong, or Malay style. Aside from cricket odds, you can check out Betwala for some cricket news as well.
How do cricket odds work?
Stating that cricket odds determine the possibility of a game’s outcome, here is a simple example of how you’ll know the probability of your favoured team to win.
To know the probability of you winning a bet, we’ll make use of the decimal format of cricket odds and follow this formula:
Probability = 1/decimal odds
For example, you would want to bet for the West Indies on the upcoming T20I Series between the West Indies and Ireland. For sure, you wouldn’t want to place your bet so easily without knowing your chance of winning. So, given the odds of 1.2 for the West Indies and 4.9 for Ireland, let’s see your chances of winning if you opt to bet for the West Indies. Following the formula stated above, the computation will look like this:
Probability = 1/1.2
Probability = 0.83333
Multiplying the answer by 100, you’ll discover that the chance of the West Indies is about 83.33%. Is it worth betting for? Definitely.
If you don’t want to solve for the probability each time you bet, you can simply compare the cricket odds. In the decimal format as well as in the Moneyline, Indonesian, and Hong Kong formats, the team with the smaller cricket odds is the most likely to win. On the other hand, it is in the Malay format that you’ll have to look out for the greater cricket odds before betting.
Now that you have a better grasp of knowing the probability of game outcomes, let us move forward to how you’ll earn a profit.
How does a cricket bet pay off?
If you win a bet, you’ll obviously make a profit out of it. Surely, you’ll get to take home some additional amount aside from just taking back your bet.
To get an idea of how much profit you’ll be taking home after you win, we follow this formula:
Profit = (Stake x Odds) – Stake
Following the same example earlier, you are about to bet on the West Indies team on their match against Ireland. With the cricket odds being 1.2, you know that you have a greater chance of winning. In a situation where you are in India, you decided to bet £10. Let’s know how much you’ll be making with that £10 bet. Following the formula, the computation to know your profit will look like this:
Profit = (£10 x 1.2) – £10
Profit = £12 – £10
Profit = £2
If the West Indies really win the game against the Ireland team, you’ll be taking home a total of £12. With the amount that you put at stake coming back to you, you even get to have a £2 profit.
To succeed in betting, you must also know how to make use of the odds properly. After learning how your cricket bets pay off, you must then learn about the value of your bets.
What are value bets?
You should only bet if there is a value to it. Knowing the value of your bet will help you make better assessments of the outcome compared to that of the bookmaker or the betting site where you place your bets.
To know the value of your bet, you must have researched or estimated your own probability of winning. By knowing your probability to win, you can have a hint if the odds that are being offered to you are of a good value.
Here is a formula that can help you learn more about the value of your bets:
Value = (Decimal odds x assessed probability) -1
This time, let’s use a different example. Saying that you’ll want to bet for the upcoming match between South Africa and England. Upon looking at the odds, you discover that South Africa has 1.97 while England has 1.88. Without computing for the probability, you then decided to opt for South Africa because you feel that their chances of winning will be around 55%. Let’s see if betting for South Africa is worth it. Applying the formula, we will get:
Value = (1.97 x 0.55) -1
Value = 1.0835 – 1
Value = 0.0835
Having garnered a value that is greater than zero, your value is to be considered as a value bet. Solving for the probability of the 1.97 odds, we will only get a 50.76% chance that South Africa will win against England. With your estimated probability of 55%, you had placed a value of 8.35% in the bet that South Africa will be winning against England.
Your bet is to be considered as a value bet if the value that you got with the formula is higher than zero. Also, it is considered to be a value bet if you feel that your chance to win is greater than what the bookmaker believes in.
With that, we hope that we made you understand how the cricket odds work in sports betting transactions. Next time that you wish to bet, take the time to consider all the factors before you place in your money.
