Bookmaker’s margin: how to calculate yourself in a bookmaker’s office
Each player should be able to calculate the margin of the bookmaker. After all, your winnings depend on it! We are figuring out how to calculate the BC margin.
Novice betting players, when choosing a bookmaker, usually pay attention to everything except the betting margin. What is the bookmaker’s margin, how to calculate it and why you need to calculate it, we will analyze in this article.
What is the betting margin
Margin translated into Russian means «difference, advantage». The bookmaker’s margin is the amount of commission that bookmakers put into the coefficients. The bookmaker earns on margin at any outcome of a sporting event by charging a commission on the amount of bets. It is this, and not the lost bets, that ensures the profitability of the betting business.
Margin distorts the net probability of an event embedded in the coefficient.
If you add up the chances of all possible outcomes of the match and do not take away the margin, then the sum of the probabilities will be more than 100%.
Imagine the situation. You are watching a tennis match between two debutants. No one knows the strength and experience of everyone, other factors are not taken into account. The probability of each winning in this case is 50%. Like, for example, the probability of heads or tails falling out when throwing a coin with an ideal center of gravity. Convert the odds into a coefficient using the formula: 1 / probability x 100 = 2.00. Or: 1 / 50 x 100 = 2.00.
There is no margin in this ratio
Bettor No. 1 will put 100 rubles on the first athlete, bettor No. 2 will put 100 rubles on the second athlete. Whoever wins, the bookmaker will not get anything: he will simply transfer 100 rubles from one betting man into the hands of another betting man.
Therefore, the bookmaker includes margin. He acts as an organizer in the dispute and wants to get his well-deserved commission. And the coefficients are decreasing. With equal chances, they can be 1.95 to 1.95, and 1.90 to 1.90, and 1.85 to 1.85, and even lower. And in this case, the bookmaker will receive 100 rubles from the loser and pay less to the winner.
What is the size of the betting margin
The margin varies from bookmaker to bookmaker. Moreover, for the same bookmaker, it differs depending on the type of sport, tournament, event, and even the bet that you are going to make.
It is customary to distinguish fundamental and low-margin bookmakers. The former set a high percentage of margin. The average is about 5-7%. Low-margin ones work with a margin of 1.5-3%. But this does not mean that the second type of BC will suit you more than the first. And here’s why.
Fundamental offices are aimed at a wide audience.
They offer a large selection of events with different betting variations on them. In return, the player is waiting for a high margin on unpopular markets, statistics. In most fundamental offices, the coefficients for top events are approximately equal to the coefficients of low-margin BC.
Low-margin offices are distinguished not only by low margins, but also by a limited supply of betting markets. Such offices attract professional players who play on the difference in coefficients for one event in different BC. For others, such an office will seem «bland» due to the lack of a wide line, bets on statistics and a good live.
Are there bookmakers without margin
No. But it happens that a bookmaker sets a coefficient without margin. This happens as part of special promotions for top matches. Usually, the coefficients are increased to the maximum only on the outcomes of the game.
Why be able to calculate the bookmaker’s margin
Understanding what the bookmaker’s margin consists of and how to calculate the margin allows you to adequately assess the bookmaker’s odds.
Knowing what the betting margin is will allow you to assess the profitability of your game. For example, with a bookmaker margin of 2.5%, the profitability level of the betting man will be about 7.5% of all bets with a passability of 52%. But if the margin grows to 5%, then the profitability of the player on bets will decrease to 3.5-4% with the same percentage of passability.
How to calculate the bookmaker’s margin
No special knowledge is needed to calculate the margin. The betting commission in the market can be calculated using a fairly simple formula. In a sports event of two outcomes , the formula will be as follows:
Margin = (1 / coefficient #1 + 1 / coefficient #2 — 1) x 100
For example, let’s take again the standard two-outcome — the outcome of a tennis match. The coefficient for player No. 1 is 1.66, for No. 2 — 2.20. We substitute it into the formula. Calculation: (1/1,66 + 1/2,20 — 1) x 100 = 5.6%.
Margin calculation in a market with three outcomes is complicated by an additional arithmetic operation. Formula: margin = (1 / coefficient No. 1 + 1 / coefficient No.2 + 1 / Coefficient No.3 — 1) x 100.
To calculate the three outcomes, let’s take a football match with the coefficients: the victory of the first is 1.66, the victory of the second is 4.33, the draw is 3.75. The margin of the bookmaker is: (1/1,66 + 1/4,33 + 1/3,75 — 1) x 100 = 9.8%.
You can also use the calculator service
It is enough to enter the coefficient K. of a possible outcome — and you will know the margin in the market.
When playing in a bookmaker’s office, you should understand that the bookmaker has already provided himself with earnings thanks to the margin in coefficients. A bookmaker makes a profit at any outcome of a sporting event. The ability to calculate the margin will help you choose profitable events and increase your chances of winning in the BC.