A sportsbet is a sports book that accepts bets on a wide variety of sports events. These events can range from major leagues like the NFL and MLB to more obscure competitions such as Latvian handball and MMA. Unlike traditional bookmakers, many sportsbets allow bettors to place bets online. This is a big change, as most sports betting was only available through black-market bookies and state-legal establishments. Intermittent scandals such as 1919’s Black Sox and mid-century college basketball match fixing kept a stigma around sports gambling and convinced most sports leagues to keep it limited.

Betting odds reveal an oddsmaker’s opinion of the probability that a specific event will happen, as well as how much you can win if your bet is successful. These odds are then translated into a potential payout, which includes your original wager and your profit (the amount above the returned wager). Betting odds also include vigorish, which is essentially the house’s cut of every bet placed.

Odds calculators are useful tools for sports bettors that want to understand how to make more informed betting decisions. These tools let you input your stake & the current odds in American, Decimal or Fractional format to quickly calculate the potential payout for your bets.

Sportsbet offers a large selection of betting markets and features, including a Same Game/Race Multi Builder function, statistics, insights, tips, speedmaps, a blackbook and Bet With Mates. However, these extras don’t mean a lot when the odds offered aren’t competitive enough. This is a concern given the brand is owned by Dublin-based Flutter, which has over 50 global licenses and shifts most of its profits offshore.