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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
James Hicken

How do bookies work? Odds, margins and risk explained

Bookmakers do more than just set odds (Rebecca Naden/PA) - (PA Archive)

A bookmaker sets the odds on the possible outcomes of an event, accepts bets across those outcomes and builds a profit margin into its prices. That margin, known as the overround, means the bookmaker can make money across a market, regardless of the result.

We’ve taken a look at how betting sites operate behind the odds, from pricing risk to managing liabilities, for anyone who wants to understand how bookmakers work before placing a bet.

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