Bookmaker's margin

The bookmaker's margin is an integral cog of the machine that drives the mutual betting industry. Thanks to this „ "the betting operators are doing pretty well, regardless of the individual big wins. It is the margin and the various treatments associated with it that are the secret of bookmakers ' success and, as you can easily guess, it does not favor the players themselves, which is why bookmakers prefer not to mention it. So we'll take a look, what is the bookmaker's margin and how does it affect the amount of betting odds and the so-called payout . We will also check, how to calculate the margin and what factors determine its amount . After all, it is worth knowing for which bets a low margin is most often offered.

What is a bookmaker's margin?

The bookmaker's margin is the element that allows bookmakers to make money on the organization bookmakers . If you thought that the bookmaker makes money on the wrong bets of individual players, then you were wrong. In order for betting to be profitable, bookmakers must impose a certain type of Commission, i.e. fees for placing a bet . This fee is precisely the margin of the bookmaker and the players bettors , they come into contact with it every time they place a bet with a bookmaker (an exception can only be a specific promotion with a bookmaker of the 0% margin type).

The scheme of action is thus: bookmaker it allows players to place bets and gives them a chance to win, and in exchange for this service it charges everyone a fee. The bookmaker's margin is a constant and basic source of revenue for the bookmaker's company, and the more bets players place, the greater the bookmaker's revenue . For typers, on the other hand, margin is necessary because it has a direct and obvious negative impact on the amount of courses offered . Im margin at the bookmaker the higher it is, the smaller the win goes to the player, because the value payout it also decreases. Let's take a closer look at how the bookmaker's margin affects these factors.

How bookmaker's margin does it affect courses?

Theoretically betting odds they should reflect the probability of a specific event occurring in a given match. If we take into account all possible outcomes, the probability calculations should give a sum that gives exactly 100%. For example, in a football match between Team X and Y, analysts can estimate that the odds for individual outcomes are: 42% - win Team X, 30% - draw, 28% – win team Y. respectively, the odds should be for these events: 2.38 (win X), 3.33 (draw) and 3.57 (win Y). However, in reality the bookmakers ' odds offer will be understated in relation to these calculations how much depends on the margin. For example, a bookmaker can put odds: 2.10 (win X), 3.20 (draw) and 3.40 (win Y), and then the probability calculated from the odds will exceed 100%. A little further we will check how to calculate the exact amount of margin, but the general rule is simple: the higher the bookmaker's margin, the lower the odds and unfortunately-lower winnings .

How bookmaker's margin it affects payout ?

The bookmaker's margin also negatively affects the value payout , which indicates, how much of the money played is actually involved in the game and how much is returned to the players on average . Payout it is expressed in percentage points and we calculate it by subtracting from 100% of the imposed margin. High payout it is equivalent to high betting odds. And again, the higher the margin, the lower payout that is, putting their own resources it is for player becoming less profitable. For example, with a margin of 10%, the payout is 90%. This means that in a situation where the RO$bet is proportional, the general typer will receive a refund of 90% of the total bets, while the bookmaker will earn on his service 10% of the amounts deposited – and this is regardless of what the outcome of the meeting will be.

All this makes it worthwhile to know which bookmakers usually have the lowest margin and look for attractive odds in the first place with them. But first you need to know how to calculate the bookmaker's margin.

How to calculate the margin at the bookmaker?

Let's see how to calculate the margin at the bookmaker, using our example. The odds placed by the bookmaker for the match between teams X and Y are: 2.10 (Win X), 3.20 (draw) and 3.40 (win Y). If we now turn it the other way, that is, from the betting odds we calculate the probability for individual events, it turns out that we get the following values: 47%, 31% and 29%. After adding these values, we get a sum equal to 107% and we already know what margin the bookmaker imposed on this meeting. Its value in this case is 7%, the bookmaker's margin is the difference between the sum of probabilities calculated from Odds and 100% . The margin at the bookmaker is calculated according to the following formula (here the version for 3 possible results A, B and C):

bookmaker's margin = {(1 / Course A) x 100 + (1 / Course B) x 100 + (1/course C) x 100} – 100

Using this formula, betting odds for individual types are given in decimal format, i.e. the one used by legal bookmakers in Poland. Of course, you also need to take into account the calculation all possible outcomes of the event . For 2-way bets (e.g. a tennis match), the amount of margin will be calculated taking into account the odds for winning one and the other side of the competition, and for 3-way bets (type 1X2), it is also necessary to take into account the draw result. In the case of bets with an even greater number of possible outcomes (e.g. a bet on who will win a World Ski Jumping Championship medal), the calculations can be quite lengthy. However, you can also use a ready-made tool for such calculations, i.e. find in internet special betting Margin Calculator .

What matters bookmaker's margin ?

The margin of the bookmaker can take very different values, starting from the level of about 2%, and ending with several percent in the case of not very popular event markets. Its amount depends on many factors that are not limited to the specifics of a particular bookmaker. The most important is certainly the type of sports discipline, League rank (e.g. first, second, etc.), prestige of the event, number of possible outcomes of the bet, type of market (e.g. 1X2, handicap, under/ over ), whether the bet belongs to the pre-event or live offer and whether it is placed on a single, accumulative or system coupon. Below we discuss the basic relationships associated with the amount of margin.

Betting popularity and the bookmaker's margin

The general rule is that the high popularity of the bet promotes a low margin , so the most attractive meetings that arouse the interest of many players, with a high probability will be charged a lower margin. The bookmaker wants to attract as many typists as possible to its offer, because as we have already mentioned, its profit results from trading. An attractive margin here is the result of competition between individual betting operators. With bookmakers operating in Poland, we can expect the lowest margin for football matches, the best leagues, for example, the English or Champions League, and events such as the World Cup. On the other hand, in the case of more niche sports, less significant leagues and events, and less popular markets, you can risk saying that the margin will be higher from the slot machine.

Number of results and bookmaker's margin

The bookmaker's margin increases with the increase in the number of possible match decisions (or any other event). For example, the bookmaker's margin will be lower for a 2-way bet (e.g. under / over ) than for a 3-way bet (e.g. a bet on a home win or a draw or a away win) placed on the same meeting. It is easy to explain why this is happening. Since the bookmaker wants the most proportional distribution of bets (and, in principle, their rates), it is easier to achieve this goal in the case of bets with fewer possible outcomes, which means that such a bet is less risky for him.

An example of a bet with a large number of results, which is accompanied by a high bookmaker's margin, is bet on the winner a sports tournament or in the case of special bets, for example, on the winner of a TV show or presidential election. As for the specifics of different types of bets, it is also worth noting that a low margin is usually offered for asian handicap betting .

Offer pre-match / live a bookmaker's margin

In the case of the type of offer bookmaker a lower margin is imposed on live betting this is due to their growing popularity. Live bets have it to themselves that they can arouse huge emotions, and if we compare the sum of the bets placed on the same meeting with the offer pre-match and live, it will often turn out that it was the latter that generated many times more turnover. There is a question of risk and here the pre-race bets again fall unfavourably, because in their case there are many unknowns. In live betting, on the other hand, the bookmaker reacts to the events on the pitch and quickly changes the odds offer in order to get their way.

Single and multiple bets and bookmaker's margin

The bookmaker's margin is always lower for a simple bet than for an accumulator bet and this is due to the way the coupon rate is calculated. If the total price of the ako coupon is as much as the product of the odds of individual bets placed on it, then the AKO coupon margin is the product of the margins imposed on these bets . For example, let's assume that we bet on 1 coupon 4 bets and that the margin for each of them is, for example, 5%. Unfortunately, the margin of such an accumulator bet will not remain at the level of 5%, but will be as high as 20%! As it turns out, the more events on the coupon, the greater the bookmaker's margin, and this increase is really significant.

Specificity of the bookmaker and its margin

It must be remembered that each individual bookmakers they have own strategies how high will they be raised? margin. Z akłady bukmacherskie for example, on slag, they may have a lower margin with a given bookmaker than bets on other sports with comparable popularity, since this operator pays special attention to attracting players betting on "black sport". Such a bookmaker will probably also be distinguished by a very wide range of bets on slag races, probably it will also sponsor some teams or slag tournaments. Therefore, if we are going to bet on a particular sport, it is definitely worth to find out in advance which legal bookmakers offer best margins for this sport or league .

Bookmaker margin promotions

Bookmakers offer plenty promotion different types – we are interested in those that are related to the topic of margin. First of all, you can sometimes meet promotions, which consist in offering bets on selected, attractive matches for which the bookmaker no margin at all (margin of 0%). Thanks to this, the odds for the event are much higher, which is supposed to increase the interest of players in placing bets with this bookmaker. Of course, any betting promotion is primarily a lure for players. Regardless of whether the betting operator proposes a tax-free game (which in practice involves an increase in winnings by 14%), freebets , cash-back is deposit bonuses , its purpose very often there is an increase in the number of players betting on a given event. However, if we are confident in a particular bet, nothing prevents us from betting on it, using the 0% margin promotion or another and thus getting a chance to make more profit. However, it is worth checking the terms of the promotion in advance, especially bonus trading issues.

However, the issue is different multi-bet promotions that increase winnings . Most often, they consist in the fact that the more bets a player adds to his coupon, the Greater his winnings will be (for example, 3 bets are a win by 5%, 4 bets – by 10%, 5 bets – by 15%, etc.). However, remember that multiple bets have a much larger margin than single bets, so the promotion itself means exactly that the bookmaker increases the winnings by reducing the horrendous margin of the BET as . A completely separate issue is the fact that hitting the accumulator bet is quite unlikely, and the chances of this decrease with the number of bets added to the coupon. However, returning to the promotion itself, in the light of these explanations, it turns out to be much less attractive than the passwords of the type suggest „ win up to 50% more!”.

Bookmaker's margin-summary

The margin at the bookmaker is the everyday life of players, but as much as possible you can and even should look for such offers for which this margin is the lowest. By placing bets with a low margin, we increase our payout i if we win, we gain more . Regardless of the outcome of the bet, we pay less for the bookmaker service itself and we choose the operator that has the most competitive offer.

Each time calculating the margin at the bookmaker would of course be burdensome and does not really make much sense. On a daily basis, it is enough to simply compare exchange rate offers, choosing the most attractive offers. However, it is worth know which bookmaker usually has the lowest margin and be aware of what type of betting features are conducive to low margins . Sometimes it may even turn out that we will bet the same result with the same bookmaker at a much better rate, choosing the right option. For example, if we are going to type a frameless match result, the bookmaker's lower margin is likely to be for the bet under / over 0.5 goal and higher for the exact score type bet. Knowledge of such nuances translates into tangible profitability of bets placed .