What are closing odds?
Why the last price before kick-off is the most informative number in football betting markets.
Closing odds are the last prices a bookmaker offers before a match kicks off. By then the market has absorbed team news, line-ups, injuries and the weight of money from thousands of bettors, so the closing price is widely treated as the market's best estimate of each outcome.
Why SameOdds uses them
Opening odds can move a lot. Closing odds are the most settled view, which makes them a fair basis for comparing matches. SameOdds stores Bet365 closing 1X2 odds for 85,238 matches and lets you find every match that closed at exactly the same three prices.
Across all matches
Over the whole database home teams won 43.8%, 25.9% of matches were drawn and away teams won 30.3% (90-minute results).
What closing odds cannot tell you
They summarise expectations; they do not see the future. Even a 1.20 favourite loses or draws regularly. Use past results as context, not as a prediction.