Single Bet Calculator
Single Bets Explained
A Single Bet Explained
Whether you bet online or via a betting app, it is highly likely that when you find a sporting bet you want to bet on, the first bet you will see is a single bet.
Positioned at the top of a betting tree due to its popularity, a single bet contains just one line which means that when you place a single bet, you are only concerned with betting on one outcome and it’s usually for a team or player to win a particular tournament or match.
Single bets can be placed across individual and team sports, and the amount of outcomes that a bettor can choose to bet on will vary from sport to sport.
Single Bet Examples
One of the most popular sports to bet on is football. With matches taking place daily all over the world, 70% of all sports bets that are placed are on football.
In football betting, if you want to bet a single bet, you will have three outcomes to choose from - Team A to win, Team B to win or for a draw to take place.
Each outcome will have one set of odds applied to them and in a single bet you can only bet on one of these outcomes to take place.
Let’s use an international fixture between France and Poland as a further example.
As the above shows, the first option that can be bet on is for France to win, the second option is the draw and the third is for Poland to win.
Across various sportsbooks, single football bets are usually laid out in this fashion.
If you think France are going to win, the bettor would select the odds for France which would automatically load it into the betting slip. From here they would enter their stake and place their bet. In order for that bet to win, France have to win the game. If France win, your bet wins. If a draw or Poland victory were to occur, your bet would be classed as a loser.
The bet works in exactly the same way if you were to bet on Poland. If Poland were to win and you backed them, your bet would be a winner. If France were to win or a draw were to happen your bet would be a loser.
If you think the game could be cagey and you think a draw could be on the cards, you can back that as an option. If either team were to win the game, the bet would lose but any form of draw would result in your bet being a winning one.
Football is quite rare when it comes to single betting as betting on the draw is a viable option. In most other sports that are popular for single betting such as tennis, you can only bet on player A or player B to win the match. If you bet on a particular player and the other player wins, your bet would be a loser.
Betting on a Team or Player to Win a Tournament
The other kind of popular single bet is betting on a player or team to win a tournament or sporting event. For example it could be on what team you think could win the Premier League, or what player you think could win Wimbledon.
Usually a bet like this is placed before the tournament starts and all of the favourites will be listed in the order of their odds.
Once you have found the team or player you want to back and place a bet on them. The only way that bet will win is if your selection goes onto win the tournament outright.
Due to the length of time that some of these bets can last for, these bets can sometimes take months to be resolved. The odds of your bet will never change once your bet has been accepted by your bookmaker and you will only ever be able to win back the returns that were stated when your bet was first placed.
How are Single Bets Calculated?
As we have already demonstrated in our examples above, when it comes to placing single bets, there is usually one team or player that is placed as the favourite and one team or player who are regarded as the underdog.
The positioning of a favourite provides bettors with a better understanding of who the bookmaker thinks will prevail. The shorter the odds of the favourite, the smaller your returns will be if you back them.
If we use the example above of France taking on Poland, we can see that France have been allocated odds of 1/4. This means that if we bet £10 on them to win, we would only see a return of £2.50 This would give us a total return of £12.50 and an overall profit of £2.86.
Poland on the other hand are positioned as heavy underdogs. Their odds are 12/1, meaning that if we bet £10 on them to win we would see a profit of £120 and an overall stake of £130 returned.
Usually when it comes to working out your potential returns, once you enter your stake into your betting site or app, the returns will automatically be generated. There are also a great variety of online betting calculators that can help you determine your odds.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Placing Single Bets
Advantages
- Quick and easy to place
- Only one outcome needs to take place in order for bet to win
- Outcome isn’t reliant on other players or teams winning
- Can be placed across a huge range of sports
- A great bet for a huge variety of betting stakes.
Disadvantages
- Returns can be limited
- If your team or player loses your bet is over, there are other bet types which allow more flexibility with how you spread risk.