got an interview at william hill in 2 weeks, can anyone dumb down betting for me?

im very good at maths
but one thing i have never bothered to understand or take an interest in is betting
i have no idea how it works, or what the odds mean
but iv got through to the interview stage at william hill so i need a kinda basic idea?

didnt really know where else to put this thread :s-smilie:

any help guys?

Reply 1

v-zero

Some questions would be helpful. Different odds forms: Decimal, Standard English... These are the most common.

e.g. A decimal odd of 3.0 would mean if you gave them £10, and won, you'd get £30 including your stake. However, the Standard English for this would be 2:1 , which expresses the ratio of profit to stake...

A lay bet is when you act as the bookie, essentially. You bet that and outcome will not take place, and you 'offer odds' in exchange for a certain stake...
A back bet is when you back an outcome to happen, the most common form of betting.

Back and Lay are almost the same, but not quite, in events in which there are only two possible outcomes.

Reply 2

ILoveHouseMusic

All you need to know is, the number on the right of standard english betting ?(fractional) is the money you bet, the number on the left is what you win. For example 2/1 - for every one unit put down, you will get two back.
8/13 - You have to put on 13 to get 8 back.

In sports betting (football, rugby etc) you rarely get something to 1 for results, more like 6/4 or 9/2, 3/7 etc. However first goalscorers and results and often horseracing will have fractional odds to one, for examples 7/1, 4/1 etc.

Main rule of betting? The bookie always wins :wink:

Reply 3

amberglover

haha awesome
its kinda sinking in :smile:

Reply 4

c|2iMiNaL

ILoveHouseMusic

You will also get your stake back. So with odds of 8/13. If you bet £13 you will get that back along with your profit of £8, providing that your selection wins. Or you'd obviously make a loss no matter the outcome.

Turning weird odds like 8/13 into decimal odds makes it much easier to calculate potential winnings. This is how you do it:

You do both numbers either side of the / divided by each other plus 1. So with odds of 8/13 it will be 8 divided by 13 + 1 = 1.62. So say I bet £63.45 using these odds. My potential return would be 63.45 x 1.62 = 102.50.

Reply 5

amberglover

c|2iMiNaL

You do both numbers either side of the / divided by each other plus 1. So with odds of 8/13 it will be 8 divided by 13 + 1 = 1.62. So say I bet £63.45 using these odds. My potential return would be 63.45 x 1.62 = 102.50.

ahah this is very helpful
thanks :smile:

Reply 6

Phonicsdude

Correct ^.

8/13 can also be read as 1.62/1 but in the UK we don't like decimals (whereas the sophisticated betters on the continent have a higher tolerance to this) so we write it 8/13.

Reply 7

c|2iMiNaL

Phonicsdude

Correct ^.

8/13 can also be read as 1.62/1 but in the UK we don't like decimals (whereas the sophisticated betters on the continent have a higher tolerance to this) so we write it 8/13.

Incorrect.

I think you mean 0.62/1. With the left of the slash being the profit for every unit you bet.

Another way to calculate is to do (numerator + denominator) divided by the denominator. I.e. (8+13)/13 = 1.62

Reply 8

DarkWarrior

if you win, you get your stake(money you've betted) back as well.
How did you get the job? do you have to be over 18?

Reply 9

Miss. B

OP I used to work in a bookies and they fully train you in how to understand bets and unless you are going to be managing the shop at any point then you'll hardly ever need to work out bets because the computer does it for you. The main thing to concentrate in the interview is customer service skills as you'll be serving all sorts of customers so you need to be confident in dealing with angry/upset people.

Obviously it's helpful to go to an interview with basic knowledge but don't bog yourself down with worrying about the bets, I went to my interview with no knowledge at all on betting and got the job (Corals) I focused on my 'excellent' customer servvice skills! good luck.

and yes to above you need to 18+ to even enter a bookies

Reply 10

El Scotto

amberglover

any help guys?

I worked there one summer, basically you'll be taking money of scumbags, the unemployed and random old people.

Your job will entail taking the money, and translating whatever the person has written into english then entering in onto the computer which works out everything for you.

the job is a doss.