This each way calculator shows what an each way bet (e/w for short) returns if the runner wins, only places or runs unplaced, beside the same money on the win. Type the stake on each half, the win price, the place price or fraction, and the places paid.
A placed runner can still lose money: two stakes go out, one stake times the place price comes back, so any place price under $2.00 loses money.
How to use the calculator
- How the place leg is priced: Place odds, or Fraction of win odds, as NSW on-course rules and many golf markets use.
- Stake entered as: Each way, the amount on one half, or Total, which it halves.
- Win odds are decimal; the odds converter converts another format.
- Place odds takes the place price; in fraction mode it takes 1/5, 1:5 or 0.2 and refuses a price.
- Places paid: how many places this market pays, not always three.
- Dead heat is None unless there was a tie; then pick For first or For the last paying place and say how many.
Outlay is both stakes; Break even place price is what a placing must pay to get them back, and reads Place price from the fraction in fraction mode. Returns counts both halves with the stakes in, Profit takes off the outlay, and Places paid names the middle row. Anything half typed, or a price under $1.01, shows nothing.
Working out an each way bet by hand
In dollars and decimal odds:
- outlay = 2 x stake each way
- return if it wins = stake x win odds + stake x place odds
- return if it places without winning = stake x place odds
- return if it is unplaced = 0
- profit = return - outlay
- place odds from a fraction = (win odds - 1) x fraction + 1
The fraction multiplies the profit part of the price, not the whole price, because the stake comes back either way. At a fifth of the odds, an illustrative $21.00 gives (21 - 1) / 5 + 1 = $5.00, not 21 / 5 = $4.20. Dividing the whole price understates it by 1 - fraction at any price: 80c at a fifth (5.00 - 4.20), 75c at a quarter.
A worked example against a win bet
Illustrative prices, not a real race: $15 each way at $6.50 and $2.10, three places paid, outlay 2 x $15 = $30.
| Result | Working | Returns | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | 15 x 6.50 + 15 x 2.10 | $129.00 | +$99.00 |
| Runs 2nd or 3rd | 15 x 2.10 | $31.50 | +$1.50 |
| Unplaced | nothing | $0.00 | -$30.00 |
The Win only returns column puts the same $30 on the win alone: 30 x 6.50 = $195.00. So on a win each way gave up (195.00 - 30.00) - 99.00 = $66.00, and on a placed run it makes $1.50 where the win bet loses $30.00, $31.50 better off.
Each way is a half-size win bet plus a half-size place bet, so the place half must stand alone. At an illustrative $1.55 to place on a $2.45 runner it returns 15 x 1.55 = $23.25 on the $30.00 outlay, only shrinking the loss.
On average, each way minus the same money on the win is worth stake x (place chance x place odds - win chance x win odds), counting a win as a placing. Each way betting strategy works through that line; the odds comparison board shows how prices differ.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Every result here is arithmetic on the prices you typed, not a view on the race, and there is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Place terms and field size
Place terms in horse racing betting are not one national rule. Racing NSW's Rules of Betting bind NSW on-course bookmakers. Eight or more starters when the bet is made pays each way at a quarter of the win odds for three places, five to seven at a third for two (BR 17), so a later scratching cannot change those terms; use Fraction of win odds for those.
Under the tote rules Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) adopted in 2010, the field at final scratchings decides instead: eight or more runners pays three places, five to seven two, four or fewer no place pool. Online bookmakers set their own place terms and paid places, so the calculator asks for them.
Dead heats
The Australian Rules of Racing split a dead heat's prize money (AR 213) but do not settle bets. Racing NSW's Rules of Betting pay half a ticket's face value for a dead heat for first or for the last paying place (BR 16). Western Australia's Rules of Wagering divide the return by the number tied in a two-runner dead heat (r 58(2)), set their own figures for bigger ties (r 58(3)), and RWWA's fixed-odds rules divide any dead heat by the number tied (r 62S).
They agree on a two-way tie for one paying place. The calculator uses one pro rata line, so check your bookmaker's terms:
- dead heat return = stake x odds x (the smaller of the places left at the tie and the runners tying) / runners tying
On the prices above, three tying for third collect a third each: 15 x 2.10 / 3 = $10.50, a loss of 30.00 - 10.50 = $19.50, where BR 16's half, read literally, would pay 15 x 2.10 / 2 = $15.75. Under that line, two tying for first split one winning place, so the win half halves while the place half, with three paid, stays whole; a two-runner tie for a place above the last paying place changes nothing.
A bigger tie can spill past it, which the tool does not model. Dead heat rules has the rest.
Typing in a deduction
The calculator has no deduction box, so a late scratching is typed in as a shorter price. Win and place deductions are separate figures, so one bet's halves can be cut by different amounts. At Eagle Farm on 21 September 2019, after a 3:57 pm scratching, Racing Queensland's stewards ordered 0c in the dollar on the win and 1c on the winner's place.
Tip: Type each price less its own deduction, on whichever reading your bookmaker's terms use. On the face-value reading in the NSW Rules of Betting (BR 14(4)), an illustrative 10c off $8.00 gives 8.00 x 0.90 = $7.20; on winnings only, 1 + 7.00 x 0.90 = $7.30. In fraction mode, switch to Place odds and type both deducted prices. Scratchings and deductions has the rules and the deductions calculator both readings.
Each way mistakes and their cost
- Reading the stake as the total. $10 each way is a $20 bet, so staking your budget doubles it.
- Assuming three places. With two paid, a third placegetter returns nothing: the bet above loses $30.00 instead of returning $31.50.
- Assuming a dead heat rule. The rule books above bind only the bookmakers they cover, not every online account.