The short answer is betting lines tell you how much of your stake you'll win if you correctly predict the outcome of a sporting event. They're easy to read when you know how they work, and our guide on betting odds explained is here to explain exactly that, so let's get started. You don’t need to crunch numbers in a calculator or scrawl Einstein-style formulae across a giant whiteboard to get to the bottom of betting odds. Do you have to be a math genius to understand sports betting odds? The answer is no.