On a price screen, "How do betting odds work in soccer?" comes down to two numbers. Betting odds are a price and a forecast in one number. A short explanation covers most of it: the odds say how much a winning stake returns, and they hint at how likely the book thinks the outcome is. What does not show on the surface is the margin, which is why reading odds well means looking past the payout to the chance behind the price.
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A working definition of betting odds: the ratio between what a bet returns and what it risks, set by the book before the event. How odds work in betting follows from that. Short odds mean a likely outcome and a small return, long odds mean an unlikely one and a large return. What betting odds mean for a bettor is a trade: more potential payout always comes with less chance of collecting it, and the book's cut sits inside both sides of the trade.
The same numbers read differently by sport. In horse racing, betting odds work across a large field, so each runner carries a long price and the chances across the field add up well past one hundred per cent. In soccer, a match has three outcomes, home, draw and away, and the draw takes a share of the probability. A moneyline in sports with no draw simply names a winner, with a favourite at short odds and an underdog at long ones.
Only when the real chance of the outcome is higher than the chance the price implies; the size of the number alone says little.
Short odds point to a likely outcome and a small return, while long odds point to an unlikely one and a large return.
A price on who wins outright, with the favourite at short odds and the underdog at a long price.
A race has many runners, so each carries a long price, and the chances across the whole field add up well past one hundred per cent.