How do betting odds work? | Number Hub (Ep 17) | Head Squeeze

Mathematical comedienne Timandra Harkness trots through the odds of betting on a winning horse.

 
 
 
 
 

Number Hub: Stand up mathematicians reveal the mind boggling stats and figures that make up the modern world. Find out your chances of winning the EuroMillions, how many molecules of your urine is in any given pint of water in the world and what are the chances of your sudden death.

[kvitlim]

@4:00 16820 pound reward for 10 pound risk ;). For those who complain about her not explaining probability, *PAY ATTENTION* at @2:47 : "Favorite Fillie's got a 2:1 ... that means she's got a 1/3 chance of winning i.e. 33.33%."

[MultiMarty]

it's more important to know how good the horse actually are.bookies manipulate the odds to throw off the punters.knowledge of the horse and jockeys are essential to getting a winner.

[willmilner]

your not explaining how odds work just how to bet

[willfeav]

it's not sure because there would be other horses in the race, the odds would be structured so that it's impossible to arrange your bets to get a sure win - otherwise the bookies would never make money!

[glen-andrewthomson]

You did not correctly weight the bets.. it should be:
46.55
12.70
2.75
If you are going to outlay $62

[thCstudio]

I'd have a better chance playing poker (Texas Holdem) than betting at the race tracks.
the odds of winning the first round with 2 aces is 2/45

[TheChsenOne]

OBJECTION!
The odds of the first card being dealt to you being an Ace are 4 in 52. The odds of your second card being an Ace, given the fact that your first card was an Ace, are 3 in 51. Thus, your odds of being dealt pocket Aces are about 0, 45%. Doesn't sound that great, does it?

[mosteanuv]

The race tracks get rich of ideas like yours !

[teundilles]

In this example, she picks three horses out of the pack, so there are more than three horses in this example. It would not be a good strategy. In fact, betting on horses is in general not a very good idea to make money.

[kingdoug]

You would make more money selling your system to gamblers, than making bets.

[googleboughtmee]

What about when they refund losing bets and an italian runs around screaming KAMMY

[misterjohnson]

this video would be better without the filler. just an explanation of how betting odds work would suffice.

[Prich]

Or $200 from $124, or $1000 from $620, more you put in, more you get out :)

[moppettshow]

Betting odds aren't probabilities.

[TheThirdGerman]

I missed that, sorry. Well yes, in that case you won't lose.

[MasterDeroy]

ill go with the £62 - £100 bet... and REPEAT!

[darkflow]

seems to me like this only shows why it would be a stupid idea to bet on a sport that you know nothing about

[ianclark]

Whilst this is great, I think portraying gambling as beatable by betting on all the probabilities, summing to greater than one, is a little silly in explaining how betting odds work. Also (really anal) - keep the exclamation mark out of the equation - 1/1683! are long odds indeed!

[nickrich]

Timandra is fun but gambling is not, its stressful

[actigene]

interesting. still, a sure $100 from $62 is a pretty good return on investment.