Betting odds is undoubtedly the essence of sports betting. They make betting attractive to the players. The process of calculating odds is not an easy task, especially for little experienced oddsmakers . It is as easy as ABC for the experienced workers; however, they should take into account many factors affecting their value. Setting odds requires unusually high skills:

• Knowledge of the sport
• Knowledge of the theory of probability and statistics
• Analytical thinking
• Resistance to stress
• Fluency in English
• Availability at any time of the day

The task of the person working as a sports analyst is to establish the chance (percentage) of each of the potential outcomes of the match. The process of setting betting odds can be divided into several stages:

 1 - Calculation of percentage ratio (hypothesis - 11 % margin)

 PR - 100 % * 1 / M

PR - 100 % * 1/0. 11

PR - 100 % * 90.09 %

Explanation:

PR - percentage ratio

M - margin

 2 Calculation of the probability

Barcelona - 0.5 x 90.09 % = 45.04 % (chances of Barcelona’s victory)

Draw - 0.33 x 90.09 % = 29.73 % (chances that the match will end in a draw)

Real Madrid - 0.28 x 90.09 % = 25.23 % (chance of Real Madrid’s victory)

 3 Setting odds

 The formula:

 O = 1/PP

Explanation:

O - odds

PP - the result probability percentage minus our margin (11%)

 O = (1/PP) x 89 %

OBarcelona = 1 /0,5 x 89 % = 1.78

ODraw = 1/0.33 x 89 % = 2.69

OReal = 1/ 0.28 x 89% - 3.17