What does Even money mean?
This text is based on our personal experiences and represents our
opinions.
When you look at market prices for a sporting event, it is more than feasible that
you will see a selection marked as Evens. What does Even money mean to you the punter? One basic way to look at the value of evens is this.
Imagine a betting line, which is the starting point of where a bookmaker wants to represent odds.
The further above that line you get, the more profit you would win as the odds against get larger and larger, the further they get from the Evens line. Similarly, the further below the line you get, the less value for money you are going to receive, as the odds are going to get less and less than Even money. You see,
Even money is when you place a stake and your winnings will match that stake exactly. So, if you bet £10 on Evens, you would win £10 profit. If you bet £100 you would win £100 profit, which equates to Even money. This naturally is not as generous as odds of 2/1 which would double your stake, but it is better than odds of 1/2 where you would need to bet twice as much to win the same profit as a 2/1 bet.
Don’t overlook a good bet on Even money at your online bookmaker, because
there is a lot of value in it to be taken.
Whatever stake you lay on Evens money, that is what you will receive back as profit. One other way to look at Evens money, is to take its decimal odds equivalent which is represented as 2.00 with your bookmaker. You can break down the decimal version of Evens as (1 unit for profit + 1 unit for the return of stake). It is important to remember that with decimal odds, you are calculating the total amount of profit and return of winning stake coming back to you, whereas fractional odds only show you the value of your profit and doesn’t include the return of stake in the math. So, if you are looking at 2.00 (decimal Even money) and place a £10 bet on that, you would receive back in your hand £20 (10 x 2.00). That is £10 profit and £10 stake return. Remember with fractional odds, you have to add on the return of stake yourself, as £10 stake multiplied by Evens is simply £10 (then plus the £10 stake coming back).
There is a feeling of parity when betting with Even money, because the bookmaker is split. If you are feeling confident of an outcome, then consider that if you someone offered to match whatever was in your pocket if you guessed the outcome of a flip of a coin, then it’s really not bad money at all. Even money does get overlooked, simply because it looks understated, and in a way it doesn’t feel like you are gunning for good profit, but you are when using the option wisely.
It is naturally better than betting on odds of 1/2 where you would need to stake £20 to win just £10. As with any betting advice,
put it all into perspective on the day with your betting strategy, and remember that
Even money, getting the same amount of profit back as your stake, is really not a bad shout at all.
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