How do sports casters (nbc, etc) report the odds to win for each team? (500 to 1, 6 to 1)
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they are basically reporting betting odds from the major bookies. ie all the people who bet for one side to win vs the other side.
if both sides have equal bets, then it’s 50/50. if one side has slightly more bets to win, then it might be 52:48, etc.
Bookies employ handicappers who are the people that actually come up with the odds. Using a combination of math and experience they work out the odds to ensure that most of the bets are split about 50/50 so that the group that loses mostly pays for the group that wins.
If a bookie notices that people are really betting on one outcome over the other they’ll adjust the odds to try and get it back even.
Two evenly matched teams will be a safer bet but also pay out less because its likely to go either way. But a real underdog gets bigger odds to entice people to bet on that unlikely outcome because if it does happen then you stand to make a ton of money off a small bet.
So sports reporters are just reporting the odds from whatever bookie they’re getting info from.
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