There’s no doubt that most Brits who bet tend to do so casually. Football betting is especially popular, with competitions like the English Premier League attracting huge interest from fans who enjoy having a stake in the action.

However, when you start betting on sports, there are a number of variables to consider. Navigating these and the available betting markets can be challenging, especially if you’re new to online wagering.

Fortunately, there are some tools and features that can help you to improve your picks and wider betting strategy. These include tools like a betting calculator, which allows you to work out your potential returns by selecting your bet odds and entering your stake. These can include straight and each-way wagers, or Dead Heat and Rule 4 conditions. As well as this, we’ll explore some more in detail below.

Odds and Betting Calculators

Many helpful tools revolve around odds and betting calculations. When you initially compare odds, you can initially use widgets to convert them into a format you’re familiar with. Some external conversion tools also reveal implied probability values, which can be derived from odds and tell you how likely an outcome is to occur. 

For example, let’s say that you want to bet on the EPL outright market ahead of the 2025/26 season. A bet on favourite Liverpool unlocks odds of 13/8, which imply a 38.1% probability of success.

However, if you wanted to pick Unai Emery’s Aston Villa to win the league as an outside bet, you could do so at odds of 50/1. These odds would create a higher potential return, but they also imply a much lower probability of just 2.0%.

You can then input the relevant odds for each selection, before calculating both your potential returns and profits. By balancing this information alongside your chances of winning, you can create a more effective strategy overall.

The Use of Odds Boosts

As a casual sports bettor who wagers recreationally, your main focus may well be to minimise the risk of loss. So, other helpful tools include accumulator insurance, which allows such bets to pay out even if one of the incorporated legs loses.

If you want to bet at optimal odds, you should also keep your eyes peeled for odds boosts. These can be applied to selected and qualifying markets, while they allow you to unlock longer odds without compromising your chances of winning.

Odds boosts will usually be marginal, so you may see a qualifying event priced at evens instead of 1/2. To provide context, markets with even odds imply a 50% probability of success, whereas an original outcome priced at 1/2 has a 66.7% chance of winning.

What’s more, a winning £1 stake placed at odds of evens will return £1 exactly. Conversely, the same bet staked at 1/2 will return just £0.50, so there are clear advantages to be unlocked here.

These tools and features can all be used to bet more effectively and strategically. However, it’s also important that you wager responsibly at all times as a casual bettor, by setting a conservative bankroll that covers a finite period of time.