This hedge bet calculator works out the stake that closes out a bet you already hold, from its stake and price, the price you can hedge at and your commission rate. It sizes that stake for the same result either way, a free roll, or an amount of your own.
Australian law allows online bets on a sport only before the game begins (Interactive Gambling Act s 8A(3), defined in s 10B). Every hedge here goes on before the start: the first ball for sport, the jump for racing. Whether to hedge at all, and what it costs in margin, is covered in hedging bets.
How to use the hedge calculator
- How you are hedging: lay this selection, or back the other result.
- What to size it for: equal profit, free roll, or your own stake.
- Original stake: what is on the open bet.
- Original odds: the price you took, $1.01 to $10,001, or a multi's combined price.
- Lay odds, or back odds on the other result: the price available now.
- Commission %: what your exchange charges on net winnings. Empty is 0%, which is what a bookmaker hedge pays.
- Your hedge stake: with Your own stake picked, any amount from $0 up.
Lay stake (Hedge stake when you back) is the bet to place, beside its liability, the Worst result and the Cash out that matches. Backing, that second tile reads Money committed: your stake plus the hedge stake.
Anything it cannot read turns its box red and blanks the answer: an original stake not above $0 or over $1,000,000, a price outside $1.01 to $10,001, a rate at 100% or more, or text such as 1e3. An empty box blanks the answer without turning red, and a sub-cent hedge is called out in the result line. Rounding to the cent can leave the two rows a few cents apart, more at a long hedge price, and the tool prints the gap.
It reads the open bet as a cash bet, so it sizes too big for a bonus bet whose stake is not returned: the bonus bet converter is the tool for that. A dead heat, a scratching or an abandoned leg can settle differently at your bookmaker and on the exchange, so recheck both rows.
The hedge stake formulas
Per $1 of hedge stake:
| Hedge | Won if the hedge comes in | Lost if it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Back the other result at H | (H - 1) x (1 - commission) | 1 |
| Lay the selection at L | 1 - commission | L - 1 |
Call those columns win and risk:
- equal profit stake = original stake x original odds / (risk + win)
- free roll stake = original stake / win
- liability = hedge stake x risk
- if your bet wins = original stake x (original odds - 1) - hedge stake x risk
- if your bet loses = hedge stake x win - original stake
Backing with no commission, risk + win is 1 + (H - 1) = H, so the stake is the return over the hedge price; laying, it is L - commission. With illustrative prices, $20 at $4.00 returns $80, and the other result at $1.40 takes 80 / 1.40 = $57.14: 60 - 57.14 = $2.86 if the bet wins, 57.14 x 0.40 - 20 = $2.86 if it loses.
Risk: Betting involves risk. That $2.86 needs the whole $57.14 accepted at $1.40 before the start, and there is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for support.
A worked hedge on a $5 multi returning $155
Example: illustrative prices. A $5 four-leg multi at $31.00 has three legs home and one to run, so it returns $155 if the last leg wins. That leg lays at $2.40, with no commission.
equal profit lay stake = 155 / 2.40 = $64.58, and liability = 64.58 x (2.40 - 1) = $90.41
| Result | Open bet | Lay $64.58 at $2.40 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last leg wins | 5 x 30.00 = +$150.00 | -$90.41 | +$59.59 |
| Last leg loses | -$5.00 | +$64.58 | +$59.58 |
The rows differ by a cent because 155 / 2.40 is $64.583... and a bet slip takes $64.58. Left alone, the multi pays +$150.00 or -$5.00. The tool hedges the last leg only: with two or more legs to run, hedging a multi works an earlier-leg hedge.
Risk: Betting involves risk. The $59.58 needs the whole lay matched at $2.40 before the last leg starts. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Equal profit, a free roll or a partial hedge
Laying the worked multi at $2.40:
| Lay stake | If the leg wins | If it loses | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 | +$150.00 | -$5.00 | the open bet |
| $5.00 (free roll) | 150 - 5.00 x 1.40 = +$143.00 | 5.00 - 5 = $0.00 | stake back |
| $30.00 | 150 - 30.00 x 1.40 = +$108.00 | 30.00 - 5 = +$25.00 | partial hedge |
| $64.58 (equal profit) | +$59.59 | +$59.58 | same either way |
A free roll lay is the stake itself at no commission. Anything between that and $64.58 leaves something on both rows; above $64.58 the lay outweighs the open bet, so a losing leg pays more than a winning one. Lay betting explained covers liability from the start.
Those rows assume the price has shortened. A lay above the price you took locks in a loss instead: $10 at $2.50 laid at $3.00 takes 25 / 3.00 = $8.33 for -$1.66 or -$1.67, so the Worst result tile goes below zero.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Each row needs the whole lay matched at $2.40 before the start, and a part-matched lay hedges only that part. See responsible gambling for support.
Where commission changes the stake
Commission is charged on net winnings in an exchange market, so it touches only the winning side of the hedge. At an illustrative 5%:
| Rate | Lay stake | Liability | Leg wins | Leg loses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 155 / 2.40 = $64.58 | $90.41 | +$59.59 | +$59.58 |
| 5% | 155 / 2.35 = $65.96 | 65.96 x 1.40 = $92.34 | 150 - 92.34 = +$57.66 | 65.96 x 0.95 - 5 = +$57.66 |
A higher rate means a larger stake and 59.58 - 57.66 = $1.92 less locked in. The box takes a percentage, so a 5% account types 5; typed as 0.05 it would mean a twentieth of 1%. A bookmaker hedge pays none, and how to green up covers two bets inside one exchange market.
The cash out figure that matches your hedge
A cash out offered before the start settles the open bet for one amount, so its profit is that amount less your stake. An equal profit hedge locks in one figure instead, the worse of its two rows:
matching cash out = original stake + what the equal profit hedge locks in
On the worked multi that is 5 + 59.58 = $64.58, so a cash out above $64.58 pays more than a hedge can lock in, and one below it pays less. A free roll is not one figure to weigh: it pays $0.00 or +$143.00, so a $64.58 cash out beats one row and loses to the other. How a bookmaker reaches the offer is covered in how cash out is priced.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A cash out figure can be re-quoted and a lay has to be matched in full, so the comparison holds only at prices you can get. See responsible gambling for support.
Hedging mistakes, and what each one costs
With illustrative numbers on the worked $155 multi:
| Mistake | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Liability typed as the stake | $64.58 as a liability lays 64.58 / 1.40 = $46.13, for 150 - 64.58 = +$85.42 or 46.13 - 5 = +$41.13 | Check the slip shows a stake |
| Commission left at 0% on a 5% account | $64.58 goes on where $65.96 balances, so the losing row falls to 64.58 x 0.95 - 5 = +$56.35 | Type your own rate |
| One result backed in a three-way market | Backing the other team at an illustrative $3.60 takes 155 / 3.60 = $43.06, and a draw loses both: 5 + 43.06 = $48.06 | Cover every result but yours, or dutch them |
What B337 shows before you hedge
B337 places no back or lay bets on an exchange, so the open bet and the hedge both go on in your own accounts. Its Terminal shows prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports, beside Betfair back and lay, read on a repeating cycle rather than tick by tick, so a price on screen can trail the bookmaker's own. Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners, and B337 is not affiliated with them.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A hedge is in place only once the lay is matched, or the bookmaker bet accepted, at the price shown; an unmatched lay at the jump leaves the open bet alone. See responsible gambling for limits and support.