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🎓 Lesson 4: Odds as a Price

🎯 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will:

  • Understand the relationship between odds and payout
  • Be able to calculate the payout of a bet given the odds

🧭 Introduction

                 When you place a bet, you’re obviously hoping it wins. If it does, you receive a payout and that’s what almost every punter is really looking forward to. But what exactly is a payout, and how do you calculate it? 🤔

💰 What Is a Payout?

                 The payout of a bet is the total amount of money you get back if the bet wins. That includes your original stake plus your profit.

  • Payout = Stake + Profit
  • Profit = Payout – Stake

❓ How Do You Calculate The Payout From Decimal Odds

                 Given the decimal odds of an outcome, you can calculate the payout of a bet on this outcome by multiplying the odds by your stake:

Payout = Odds × Stake

This is the direct relationship between odds and payout, the odds act as a multiplier.

  • Higher odds = higher potential payout (and higher profit)
  • Lower odds = lower potential payout (and lower profit)

💡 But Remember higher odds also mean a lower probability of winning.

🧮 For Example

                 A bet priced at 20.0 odds might only have about a 5% chance of winning. Out of 100 bets at those odds, you’d expect to win only about 5 times, but each win would pay 20× your stake.

                 The good news is that almost all bookmakers automatically calculate the payout for you, so you don’t have to do the math yourself. But understanding the formula gives you a clear picture of how your stake, odds, and potential returns fit together.

🔁 Recap

  • Payout is the total return on a winning bet: your stake plus your profit.
  • You can calculate it with: Payout = Odds × Stake.
  • Odds act as a multiplier for your payout: higher odds increase potential profit but decrease the chance of winning.
  • Bookmakers display the payout automatically, but knowing the relationship helps you quickly gauge your risk and reward.

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