If you are just starting out your online betting journey, it is very important that you understand what betting odds are.

Betting odds show the chances or probability of an event happening. Odds are usually expressed in numbers.

If a team is very likely to win a match, the odds on that team will be low. On the other hand, events that are not likely to happen always have bigger odds.

Betting odds are very crucial in online sports betting because they determine the amount of money we can win from our bets.

The higher the odds, the more our potential winnings.

This is why it is very important to choose a betting site that offers high odds.

Why are betting odds important?

Betting odds are amongst the key components of online sports betting. They are very important for many reasons, some of which include:

1. Betting odds tell us how likely it is for an event to happen
2. They determine the value of our potential winnings
3. A good understanding of betting odds helps us plan a betting strategy
4. Knowing about betting odds helps us maximize our winnings

Betting odds are very similar across betting sites, but there are little differences from bookmaker to bookmaker.

These variations may seem immaterial at first viewing, but they take on great significance in the long run, especially when you are investing big sums of money, or compiling your accumulators.

Hence, it is very important to go for the bookie with the best betting odds so that you can maximize your winnings.

Betting odds are presented in many different formats, but the most common formats are the fractional formats and decimal formats. Most betting sites in Nigeria use the decimal formats.

Decimal betting odds are very easy to understand.

With decimal odds, you can instantly compare odds between different events without having to do to any complex mathematics.

They make it very easy to compare betting odds between different betting sites. This is not the case with fractional odds, which may appear confusing especially to beginners.

Some betting sites allow users to switch between the different odds formats. So, if you are more comfortable with fractional odds, you will be able to make that selection on your bookmaker.

Betting odds are very simple to understand.

To show how betting odds work, let us use the example of an English Premier League match between Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Because Liverpool are the better team and are expected to win the match, they are given smaller odds. Aston Villa, on the other hand, are huge underdogs and are not expected to get the win. Hence, their odds are very high.

To place your bet, all you have to do is to click on the betting odds that match your predictions. For example, if you think Liverpool will win, click on 1.36. However, if you fancy the big upset, click on 8.02 for an Aston Villa win.

Your bets will be registered on your betslip usually at the right of your screen.

Once you have made your predictions, enter the amount you want to stake in the space provided.

Remember, betting odds determine the value of your potential winnings.

To get the value of your winnings, the simple formula is to multiply the odds by your stake.

So, if you stake N10,000 on a Liverpool win, your potential returns will be N13,600. If on the other hand, you wager that amount on an Aston Villa win, you will get N80,200 in the very unlikely event of a Villa victory.

Some betting sites like bet9ja add bonuses to your potential winnings, especially if you have included multiple events in your accumulator.

One of the reasons why we love football betting is that we are able to bet on a wide variety of options.

Not only do we get to bet on regular options like match results and goals, we can also wager on exciting markets like cards, corners, shots on goal and substitutions.

So, if you don’t like the betting odds for match results, you can always explore other options and find the markets that give you good value.

For instance, in the Aston Villa vs. Liverpool example above, you can see from the betting odds that there isn't much value in a Liverpool win

However, you can try out other betting options to get more value from Liverpool.

You can back the Reds to win the first half, or bet on them to score a certain number of goals or wager on how many corner kicks they will earn in the match.

The best betting sites have high football betting odds across a variety of markets, allowing punters to wager on a wide range of betting options.

Start placing bets with high betting odds

Now that you know which betting sites offer the best betting odds in Nigeria, feel free to sign up with any of the sites we have recommended and start maximizing those winnings!

Do you want to check out some other great bookmakers in Nigeria? Here is a list of the best betting sites that accept Nigerian players.