Odds format: Decimal

Pinnacle offers odds in two formats: Decimal and American. Decimal odds are the easiest way for bettors to calculate how much they could win if they bet correctly.

In essence, the lower the Decimal number, the higher the probability that the team will win. The higher the Decimal odds, the lower the probability of the team winning. If Newbee had odds of 1.600 and Team Liquid had odds for 2.500, then the bookmaker thinks Newbee is more likely to win the round.

You can calculate how much you’ll win on a Decimal bet by multiplying the Decimal odds by the amount you want to bet.

Decimal odds example

Here is an example of the Decimal Odds of an esports game on a Money Line market. This is the most common type of bet, in which you are choosing which of two teams will win the match. This might be the hypothetical odds for Newbee taking on Team Liquid:

Newbee 1.600

Team Liquid 2.500

If you bet €100 on Newbee, the potential return would be €160.00. This is calculated as:

This number includes your original €100 bet (also known as a stake), so the profit is €60.00.

If you placed a €100 bet on Team Liquid, the potential return would be €250: 

(€150 profit plus your €100 stake)

When using Decimal Odds for match winner bets, the amount you bet is also known as the amount “to Risk”. When you’re placing a bet, the bet ticket will show the potential win amount - i.e the potential return. 

You can also use the Decimal information to work out the probability of a certain outcome. You do this by dividing 1 by the decimal odds. For example: 

Newbee has a 62.5% chance of winning

Team Liquid has a 40% chance of winning

You’ll notice that these two probabilities, 62.5% and 40%, only add up to 102.5%. This is because the odds include a “bookmaker’s margin”. This is the amount of money the bookmaker is aiming to earn from taking bets – in this case, 2.5%. 

The lower the margin a bookmaker offers, the better value the customer is getting. Pinnacle prides itself on offering the best margins on the internet.

If you’re interested, you can learn more about how to calculate betting margins. 

Other types of bet – Outrights

In addition to Money Line bets, Outrights is another type of esports bet you can place at Pinnacle. This is where you bet on the outcome of the event, rather than an individual match. A popular Outright bet would therefore be “who will win The International?” in Dota 2. 

Outright bets can also focus on a specific variable within a match like “how many games will Team Liquid win?” 

The odds for these types of bet work in the same way as for traditional markets, but there can be multiple options - if the market is for who will win a tournament, there could be 10+ options.

Other types of bet – Handicap

One of the most interesting types of bet is the handicap, also known as “spread” bets. This is where bookmakers give the weaker team an advantage and the better team a disadvantage to “level the playing field.”

For example, if Team Liquid were less likely to win the game listed above an interesting bet might be - would Team Liquid win if they started with a 1-0 game advantage?

This is called a handicap bet and is typically written: Team Liquid (+1). If a team starts with a game deducted (like Newbee would in this instance), it would be written as Newbee (-1).

Because of the added handicaps, the odds are also likely to change. For example, with a +1 advantage, Team Liquid might now be 2.000, while Newbees chances of winning have drifted to 1.998.

Multiple bets

To increase potential winnings you can make what is known as Multiple bet (also known as an accumulator). A Multiple combines at least two individual bets on different events. To win, however, all of your bets must be successful, with the payout the combination of the odds of each of the component bets.

Multiple ways to bet

When placing a bet, you can choose how you want your wager to be calculated. You can choose how much to Risk (your bet amount), or how much you want to win. These are explained in more detail in the placing a bet guide.