If we take a hypothetical example of a fictional football match between a league leading Manchester City, and say a struggling West Ham, you may see that Man City may be given odds of 1.1, while West Ham may be given odds of say 15.0.
Keep in mind that these odds are fictional, and are being used for the purpose of an example.
Now here, it is clear that the bookmakers have marked Man City as clear favourites to win the match up. It can almost be viewed as a sure thing. If you were to bet R100 on Man City to win, and they did, you’d only be making R10.
If however you decided to back West Ham, and place R100 on them to win, your potential winnings would be a whopping R1500.
But the likelihood of you seeing those winnings is quite low, because this fictional West Ham team isn’t doing so well, and is facing a hypothetical Man City that is on fire. So in the end, you may not want to risk losing your R100.