Fixed odds means the price is set when the bookmaker accepts your bet, so you know what a winning bet returns before the race or game starts: return = stake x odds. A $40 bet at an illustrative $2.75 returns $110, which is $70 profit plus your stake, and that figure holds whatever the price does after you bet.
Racing NSW's reference manual, last updated March 2025, describes fixed odds betting as the operator offering odds against each runner's chances, and lists on-course bookmakers, the NSW TAB and corporate bookmakers as the operators that offer it. Fixed price betting means the same thing. The other ways a racing bet is paid are set out in horse racing betting.
The price is locked when the bet is accepted
Once your bet is accepted, the price on it stays put while the market keeps moving. With illustrative prices, a $40 bet struck at $2.75 in the morning against the same bet struck at the jump:
| Price at the jump | Your $40 at $2.75 returns | $40 at the jump price returns |
|---|---|---|
| Firms to $2.40 | $110.00 | $96.00 |
| Drifts to $3.20 | $110.00 | $128.00 |
Taking the early price comes out ahead if the runner firms and behind if it drifts, and you only learn which after you have bet. The price that counts is the one on the accepted bet, not the one you saw when you opened the bet slip, and a bookmaker can decline a bet or cut the stake.
How fixed odds differ from other price types
- Tote: your bet goes into a pool and is paid a dividend declared after the result, so the return is unknown when you bet. Fixed odds vs tote compares the two on worked prices.
- Starting price: the official price at the jump, where a bookmaker offers it, so it is unknown when you bet too.
- Exchange: the price you are matched at against another punter, less commission on net winnings in the market.
Odds types explained sets every price type side by side.
What can still change a fixed-odds return
- A late scratching. Winning fixed-odds bets struck before another runner is scratched can be paid less a deduction the Stewards declare in cents in the dollar, and rule books and bookmakers apply it differently. With an illustrative 12c deduction on $40 at $2.75, the face-value reading in Racing NSW's BR 14(4) pays $110 x 0.88 = $96.80, while a bookmaker that deducts from winnings only pays $40 + $70 x 0.88 = $101.60. Scratchings and deductions covers both readings and how the deduction is set.
- A dead heat. The rule books that cover it pay half the return in a two-way dead heat for first, so $40 at $2.75 returns $110 / 2 = $55. Online bookmakers set their own rule, and dead heat rules works through ties for a place as well.
- Your own runner scratched: the stake is refunded, unless the bet was all in.
Fixed odds in sport
Sports bets are fixed odds too: a head to head, line, total or player bet is struck at the price on your ticket, so $40 at an illustrative $1.85 on a head to head returns $74 if your team wins. Online, betting on a sport with an Australian provider closes when the game starts (Interactive Gambling Act, s 8A(3) and s 10B). Ties have their own rules. Under the NSW Bookmaker Declared Betting Events Betting Rules, bets on other results lose if a tie or draw price was offered (clause 5.1.7), and a multi's legs are adjusted one by one for a tie (5.1.9). Those rules cover NSW-authorised bookmakers; others set their own tie and draw terms, so check your bookmaker's.
Seeing a fixed price across bookmakers
A fixed price exists before the result, so the same $40 at $2.75 can be set against another bookmaker's $2.90 (illustrative), which would return $40 x 2.90 = $116. The Terminal shows racing and sports prices from 40+ bookmakers side by side, with exchange back and lay prices beside them. Its prices are read on a repeating cycle and can trail a bookmaker's own, so confirm the price in your account before you bet. Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners. B337 is not affiliated with them.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Locking in a price fixes what a winner returns, not whether it wins, and a deduction or a dead heat can still cut the return. See responsible gambling for limits and support.