Guide on How to Read Football Odds for New Players
With the desire to help football betting players have a smoother experience, especially for new members who are new to online betting and may not understand how to read football odds. In this article, wintips will share how to read football odds and learn about football betting tips!

Understanding how to read online football odds is essential for any online betting player. Because when entering the world of football betting, understanding how to view betting odds is crucial. Specifically, you need to grasp it accurately and in detail. Only when you understand this crucial aspect can you proceed with placing bets. Football betting has become an increasingly attractive form of entertainment for players due to the potential profits it can bring, helping you become wealthy very quickly. In addition to traditional betting forms, you can now also bet online. However, a question that many people raise is whether betting on football online is safe. To answer this question, let's explore through the following article together.
Important factors about football odds
When entering the world of football betting, the first thing you need to do is to understand the factors and rules commonly defined in the majority of today's odds tables. Additionally, you also need to understand and update information such as: match time, names of the two teams participating, and the types of bets on the bookmaker's odds table.
Each player needs to pay attention to and understand the following important points:
The home team will be written above, while the away team will be written below.
In case you see an additional symbol (N), it means the football match is on neutral ground.
Some bookmakers use symbols to mark the team in red. This means that the bookmaker meaning evaluates this team as stronger.
For columns showing odds: Handicap Betting, Over/Under (O/U), and 1×2. There are also odds tables with 2 in 1 ratio.
Explanation of abbreviations on the bookmaker's odds table:
FT.HDP: Full Time Handicap. This is a type of Asian handicap bet for the entire match.
FT.O/U: Full Time Over/Under. This is a type of Over/Under bet for the entire match.
FT.1X2: Full Time 1×2. This is a type of bet on the outcome of the entire match.
1H.HDP: First Half Handicap. This is a type of Asian handicap bet for the first half.
1H.O/U: First Half Over/Under. This is a type of Over/Under bet for the first half.
1H.1X2: First Half 1X2. This is a type of bet on the outcome of the first half.
How to Read Asian Football Odds Online
Reading live football odds
On the odds table, after identifying the Asian odds column and the 2 in 1 odds, players need to know how to read the odds in football betting as follows:
Draw odds
This type of bet is quite common for matches with little difference between teams, and it has a 0 handicap.
It's similar to draw odds 1, draw 2. When players choose to bet on the upper team or the lower team, and that team wins, the player will win money. If the result is a draw, the player will get their bet amount back.
Half-ball draw odds (0 – 0.5; 1/4)
This type of bet means the upper team will handicap the lower team by less than half a ball. And it usually has a symbol of 1/4 or 0.5. If the player chooses to bet on the upper team and that team wins, the player will win money, and vice versa.
In the case of a draw, if you bet on the upper team, you will lose half of your bet. If you bet on the lower team, you will win half of your bet.
Half-ball handicap odds (0.5; 1/2)
With this bet, the upper team will handicap the lower team by half a ball. However, there will be no refund.
When players bet on the upper team and that team wins, they will win the amount according to the football ratio provided by the online bookmaker. If the result is a draw, those who bet on the lower team will win their bet.
Half-one handicap odds (0.75; 0.5/1; 3/4)
This bet requires the match to win by a difference of 1 goal or more. If you choose to bet on the upper team, you need to note the following:
In the case of winning by a margin of 1 goal, you will win half of your bet. If you bet on the lower team, you will lose half of your bet.
In the case of winning by a margin of 2 goals or more, the upper team wins. Betting on the lower team will lose the bet.
In the case of a draw, betting on the upper team will lose money. Betting on the lower team will win the bet.
Is online football betting safe?
Legality of football betting
As mentioned above, football betting can help you become wealthy very quickly, so running a football betting business is considered a highly profitable form and is allowed to operate in many countries. Therefore, almost all leading bookmaker in the world are headquartered in countries such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, rather than Vietnam. This is because in Vietnam, in previous years, football betting was considered an illegal form of gambling.
However, when the market opened, playing professionally through football betting was loosened by the state to attract investment into this potential market. Despite that, there are still some somewhat strict regulations to limit inflation. According to an article from Vnexpress electronic newspaper dated March 2, 2017:
"From March 31, when Decree 06/2017/ND-CP takes effect, for the first time, business activities in horse racing betting, dog racing, and international football betting are legalized, but participants and organizing units must comply with strict conditions. Because this is a conditional business activity, not encouraged for development and must be closely controlled by the competent state management agencies.
Accordingly, only qualified enterprises are allowed to operate betting businesses. After completing the investment registration procedures, enterprises must apply for a Certificate of eligibility for betting business.
For international football betting businesses, the Government will allow one enterprise to be piloted within 5 years. Pilot football betting businesses must have a minimum charter capital of VND 1,000 billion and meet other requirements.
Vietnamese and foreign individuals must be 21 years of age or older to participate in betting with a minimum of VND 10,000, and a maximum of one million dong per day for each product. Betting must take place at the permitted business point to be considered legal."
However, one fact you need to know is that you will only be able to bet on matches within the framework of FIFA. Therefore, players will not be able to bet on matches in the top leagues in Europe.
Issues with online betting
You should know that playing online betting means all your transactions are done online. Therefore, choosing a reputable bookmaker is crucial because all your bets will be much safer. Currently, some of the best reputable bookmakers in the market include 188BET, M88, K8, W88, KUBET, FB88...
Another crucial thing is that you need to recognize fraudulent bookmakers in the market to ensure you avoid being scammed. Identifying such bookmakers is very simple; it could be extremely attractive promotional tricks such as cash bonuses, and ensuring high winning chances...
Calculating online betting money
When looking at Asian football odds, we often see both positive (0.82) and negative odds (– 0.97). So what do these numbers mean in terms of reading football odds?
Positive odds: If you bet on a type of odds with positive odds, your Winning amount=Bet amount * Positive odds. For example: if you bet 100k on a handicap (0 – 0.5) with odds of 0.89, if you win, you will win 89k. If you lose, you will lose the entire bet amount.
Negative odds: If you bet on a type of odds with negative odds, if you win, you will win 100% of the betting amount. If you lose, your Loss amount=Bet amount * Negative odds. For example: if you bet 100k on a handicap (0-0.5) with odds of – 0.97, if you win, you will win 100k. If you lose, your Loss amount=100k * (- 0.97)=97k.
Above are some information about online betting odds and basic guidelines on how to read football odds supported by Wintips. Hopefully, after this article, you will no longer feel confused when participating in online football betting. Wish you all the best of luck and big wins!