One of the first terms sports betting participants come to understand when they are dealing with fixed odds betting is the concept of getting the “best of it”. This is where you make a bet that has a positive expected value. For example, if you were to bet £10 at odds of 10 to 1, you would stand to make £100 on a particular outcome or getting “the best of it”. However, this type of gambling also depends on the type of bet being placed. A coin toss would be a good example of getting the best of it in your favour, but the odds go down if, for example, you are looking at placing a bet on whether a random card drawn from a deck of 52 will be a specific card, because your chances go down from 50% to 1 in 52, in which case you are getting the “worse of it”. These two terms are very important when dealing with fixed odds betting as they relate to sports betting, because they can influence your win/loss ratio.
Another important concept with fixed odds in sports betting is “laying the odds”, which is where you place a bet worth more than you stand to win. It is entirely possible that you could make the best of it and walk away with a win, but it depends on the risk factor. Usually the potential gains on laying the odds are far more than safer bets, given the associated risks.