William Hill, for example:
- Offers 25/1 on the TUV winning North Belfast – which is a bit odd since the TUV aren't even standing there,
- Puts Gerry Adams at only 1/500 in West Belfast (as against Paddy Power's 1/750),
- Has Sinn Féin and Rodney Connor level-pegging in FST (at 5/6 apiece) – and offers 50/1 against the TUV taking the seat – again, though, the TUV aren't actually standing!
- This is getting repetitive – TUV at 100/1 in Foyle, but, you guessed it … they aren't actually standing there! (Maybe William Hill sees every independent candidate as a TUV candidate?
- Newry and Armagh – yes, that's right, Willie Frazer is probably the mystery 'TUV' candidate on 50/1 (still better odds than the Alliance candidate, though)
- Ciaran McClean is probably the 'TUV' candidate in West Tyrone (on 100/1), but who is the mystery 16/1 'TUV' outsider in Upper Bann (whose odds are better than the SDLP's, even though he or she doesn't actually exist. How embarrassing for Dolores Kelly.)
5 comments:
It's an academic point as only an idiot would bet at these odds but 1/500 is actually a much better price than 1/750 '(Gerry Adams at only 1/500 in West Belfast (as against Paddy Power's 1/750)'. With the former you only have to stake £500 in order to win £1 if Gerry is elected while with the latter a stake of £750 is needed to win £1. Of course if the unthinkable happens and Gerry's brother's activities manage to unseat him then you would have lost £500 and £750 respectively.
Whether a larger price is better all depends on whether the betting is 'on' or 'against'. If 'on' then the larger the price, the worse the odds.
So 'Offers 25/1 on the TUV winning North Belfast' should read 'offers 25/1 against'. Something priced at 25/1 on is considered pretty much a certainty.
New times, New approach,
Thanks. I'm struggling against my complete ignorance of betting. I suppose any bet with a greater LH number than the RH one (e.g. 25/1) should be a bet 'against' the outcome, whereas the opposite (1/750) is a bet 'on' something? Does that make sense?
Think of it as a fraction that tells you how much you'll win as a proportion of your stake.
If you stake £10 at 1/500, you make
1/500 x 10 = £0.05 profit.
If you stake £10 at 25/1, you make
25/1 x 10 = £250 profit.
So they're both a bet "on" a certain outcome happening, just with a huge difference in returns.
Incidentally, there are some bookies that *do* let you bet against an outcome as well, but that's for another day.
Horseman,
Yes, that's right, provided the specific term 'on' isn't used as it has a particular meaning in betting, viz that the price should be reversed. If there is felt to be one chance in seven of a bet's success then that can be expressed as 6/1 (against). The 'against' is implicit, so if it is omitted it still means a price of 6/1. However if the term 'on' is used (say 6/1 on) then the price on offer is actually 1/6.
Hope that makes sense!
1/750 is you giving the bookies 750/1 that nobody would beat Adams. In this case you are acting as the bookmaker and Paddy Power is the punter.
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