How Odds Work Across Different Types of Gambling
We often use gambling as a catch-all term to cover every kind of game of chance, but when you start looking into the details of each, there are many differences and nuances that get missed. Putting down a bet in poker is nothing like placing a bet on a football team to win, for example. For those new to betting as a whole, trying to filter through all the different types can be tricky.
Below is our full breakdown of the main differences between each type of betting and some of the key terms and concepts you'll need to navigate through all of them.
Slots
Starting with the most straightforward form, slots form the backbone of both online and physical casinos. The system is simple: place your wager, hit the spin button, and see the results. While some slot machines have special extra features that can affect how the process looks, this remains the fundamental core of all slots.
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As for the odds themselves, they can change between each slot both on the different symbols and also the game as a whole. For example, the symbols in a game may range from 2:1 chances at the lowest end to something like 50:1 or more at the rarer end. All of these odds are then combined to give something called the RTP of the slot.
If you go onto the review site VegasSlotsOnline and choose any slot title, you will see RTP listed as a key piece of info for every game. It stands for 'Return To Player' and indicates to the player how much of their wager they can expect to have returned at the end of a playing session on average. For instance, 200 wagered on a game with a 94% RTP would have an average return of 188, although in reality, the number can be much higher or lower based on chance.
Table Games
When compared to slot games, table games are a lot more difficult to nail down. For some games like roulette, they work in a similar way to slots in that it's fundamentally all based on chance with little room for strategy. For blackjack, player choices do have slightly more weight on the outcome but the chances of drawing specific hands are locked in like a natural blackjack always having around a 1.2% chance.
Poker is where things become far harder to work out. Here at NicerOdds we've previously covered the very statistical nature of poker but that only tells half the story. The main difference is that in a regular game of Texas Hold'em or stud poker, you also have other players to factor in, who are capable of breaking all the statistics. It is possible, although more difficult, to work out the chances of getting a specific hand in poker but working out the exact chances of winning a certain round with that hand is almost impossible.
Sports Betting
With sports bets, the system is entirely different from the others in that odds are not ever fixed at one point. The most important factor to remember is that sports betting is heavily affected by real-life events and changes according to that. For example, if there is an upcoming Premier League match and suddenly the news breaks on a site like PremierInjuries that the favourite side have just lost a star player to injury, the odds for that team to win will lengthen in response.
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This means that compared to other kinds of betting, timing is a much more important aspect to consider. If a bet is placed at odds of 4/1 and events later change that to 3/1, the bet at 4/1 is still valid and suddenly more valuable. When you then add specialist and combined bets into the mix, sports betting becomes far more driven by research and preparation, something which isn't possible for slots or most table games. There is still nothing guaranteed but the amount of player interaction is far higher.
For all of the above, there are also areas in between that operate differently. It's possible to bet on poker from the outside in the same manner as sports betting, for example. However, if you can nail down these systems it goes a long way to helping you through the starting steps of betting.