If a gambler aims to make a profit then he/she must be aware of “value” when it comes to weighing up odds and chances of success.

So what exactly is value? Value occurs when the odds you are receiving are more than the perceived chance of success. A coin toss, for example, gives exactly a 50% chance of heads or tails, so evens would be exact odds for success. If you could, in some way, secure better odds than evens then that would represent “value”.

Another good example is roulette. In roulette the identical factors are at play with every spin – the same numbers, the same wheel, etc. There are no other influential factors that will affect the chances of any given number coming up. The odds on offer are based on facts, and so the house can work their edge into the game and secure a small, but accumulative, edge on each spin.

In sports betting, though, the odds that are on offer are as a result of the opinion of the human odds makers who interpret a multitude of influential factors when compiling the odds : which team is in form, the course and going for horses, which golfers are playing well, etc.

Now, when human opinion comes into the reckoning, that’s when value can occur, because odds makers are trying to price up a huge number of sporting and other events and can’t spend as much time on any one sport or event as a gambler can if he chooses to.

That’s why differences in odds can be seen on all sports betting, and that’s why – if you can evaluate the information you have at your disposal – you have the chance to spot the value.