Sports betting glossary

Decimal odds express the TOTAL return per £1 staked, including the stake itself — not just the profit.

The chance of an outcome implied by its price. Divide 1 by the decimal odds and multiply by 100.

Add up the implied probabilities of every outcome in a market. The excess above 100% is the bookmaker's built-in margin.

A bet where your own estimate of the outcome's chance is higher than the chance implied by the price.

When different bookmakers price the same market differently enough that backing every outcome guarantees a profit whatever happens.

The difference between the price you took and the price the market settled at just before the event started.

The favourite is the outcome with the shortest price and therefore the highest implied chance; a longshot is a long-priced outcome with a low implied chance.

A bet on whether a countable total — goals, points, cards, games — finishes above or below a line, rather than on who wins.

A single bet combining several selections where every leg must win.

Backing a team with the draw removed: win if your team wins, stake returned if it's a draw, lose if the other team wins.

A yes/no bet on whether both sides score at least once.

A single bet covering two of the three possible football results — home or draw, away or draw, or home or away.

Common in horse racing and golf: two equal bets in one — one for the win, one for a place.

Betting well before an event, often before the final field or fixture is confirmed — outright winners of a league or tournament, for example.

Betting on a match already underway, with prices continuously repriced as the game state changes.

Prices move as money arrives and as the match state changes, reflecting the market's changing opinion.

The stake is the amount risked; the potential return is stake × decimal odds and INCLUDES the stake back, so profit is the return minus the stake.

Closing a bet before the event finishes, for a value based on the current state of the market rather than the original price.

A void bet is one that no longer stands, so the stake is returned with no profit or loss — typically when a match is abandoned, a market's conditions can no longer be met, or a bet was accepted in error.