Football Coupon

waterman3

if i put a pound on an accumulator and say the estimated win was £4,000, does that mean the odds of it coming up are 4,000/1?

TerryTorque

Yes, although if I was being pedantic if 4,000 was the return this would include stake and make the odds 3,999/1.

geordie_joe

waterman3 wrote: »

if i put a pound on an accumulator and say the estimated win was £4,000, does that mean the odds of it coming up are 4,000/1?

No, that is the odds the bookie sets, the real odds of it happening are higher than that.

Bookies do not take chances, they are in it to make a profit so set the odds so that they will make a profit.

Now, suppose the real odds were 4,000/1 and 4,000 people each place a £1 bet. The bookie would get in £4,000, but one punter would win £4,000, so how much is the bookie left with?

Now suppose the real odds are 5,000/1, but the bookie set the odds at 4,000/1. Now it will take 5,000 people betting £1 to get a winner. But now the bookie gets in £5,000 and pays out £4,000.

In short, the bookie always sets the odds lower than they really are so that he/she will make a profit.

HappyMJ

waterman3 wrote: »

if i put a pound on an accumulator and say the estimated win was £4,000, does that mean the odds of it coming up are 4,000/1?

There is usually an "overround" of 10% on each leg. That 10% is multiplied at each step to become a lot more. You can figure it out by adding up all the odds on all the results and calculating it yourself. A 7 way accumulator would then have an overround of 100%. The real odds being around 8,000/1. The bookie would take 8,000 bets at £1 and return £4,000 to the lucky winner if there is one making 50p on each £1 bet. On individual bets most punters wouldn't place just £1 on a top team to win £1.50...they'd place at least £10 and the bookie would make about 50p on each £10 bet. Those 50p's all add up.