Decimal odds are the total a winning bet returns for every $1 you stake, with your stake already counted in. On an illustrative price of $3.50, a winning $10 bet returns $35: the $10 you staked plus $25 profit. Australian bookmakers quote prices in this form, so one multiplication gives you the return: stake x odds.
The number also tells you how likely the market rates the outcome. Divide 1 by the price and you have the chance it implies: 1 / 3.50 = 0.286, or 28.6%. The smaller the number, the likelier the outcome and the smaller the payout, and any price under $2.00 pays less profit than you staked. How betting odds work takes the same number on to margins, fair prices and payouts.
How to read decimal odds in a market
Every selection in a market has its own price, and the shortest one belongs to the favourite, the selection the market rates most likely to win. With illustrative prices for a two-way head to head that cannot end in a draw:
| Selection | Price | $20 comes back | Of which profit | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team A | $1.53 | $30.60 | $10.60 | 65.4% |
| Team B | $2.55 | $51.00 | $31.00 | 39.2% |
Working for Team B: 20 x 2.55 = $51.00 back, $31.00 of it profit, and 1 / 2.55 = 39.2%.
Read each price as dollars back per dollar staked. Team A is the favourite, so a winning bet on it pays less; Team B pays more because the market thinks it is less likely to win. A price written $2.55 and one written 2.55 are the same price.
The two implied chances add up to 104.6%, not 100%, because the bookmaker's margin sits inside both prices. That is why a price is the market's view of the chance with something added, not the true chance, and bookmaker margin shows how to measure what was added.
Decimal odds calculation: return and profit at $3.50
Every fixed-odds single comes down to two lines:
- return = stake x decimal odds
- profit = stake x (decimal odds - 1), or the return less the stake
With an illustrative price of $3.50:
| Stake | Return if it wins | Profit if it wins | Result if it loses |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | $35.00 | $25.00 | -$10.00 |
| $25 | $87.50 | $62.50 | -$25.00 |
| $40 | $140.00 | $100.00 | -$40.00 |
| $100 | $350.00 | $250.00 | -$100.00 |
Working for the $25 row: 25 x 3.50 = $87.50 comes back, and 87.50 - 25 = $62.50 of it is profit.
Running the sum backwards
The same formulas answer the other questions you might ask of a price:
- stake for a target profit = target profit / (odds - 1). To make $60 profit at $3.50, stake 60 / 2.50 = $24, which returns $84.
- stake for a target return = target return / odds. To get $200 back at $3.50, stake 200 / 3.50 = $57.14. Stakes round to the cent, so that bet returns $199.99.
- odds needed for a target profit = 1 + target profit / stake. To make an illustrative $45 profit from a $15 stake, you need 1 + 45 / 15 = $4.00 or longer.
- break-even chance = 1 / odds. A $3.50 price has to win 28.6% of the time, two bets in seven, just to break even.
Implied probability turns any price into that break-even chance, and the bet calculator handles singles with each way and dead heat settings.
Odds-on, even money and odds against
$2.00 is the dividing line. At exactly $2.00, even money, a winner's profit equals its stake.
A price under $2.00 is odds-on: the market rates the outcome more likely than not, and a winning bet makes less profit than you staked. A price over $2.00 is odds against. With illustrative prices and a $10 stake:
| Price | Description | Profit on a $10 winner | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.30 | Odds-on | $3.00 | 76.9% |
| $1.70 | Odds-on | $7.00 | 58.8% |
| $2.00 | Even money | $10.00 | 50.0% |
| $2.60 | Odds against | $16.00 | 38.5% |
| $6.50 | Odds against | $55.00 | 15.4% |
Working for $2.60: 10 x (2.60 - 1) = $16 profit, and 1 / 2.60 = 38.5%.
A short price is not a safe bet. At $1.30 you risk $10 to win $3, so one loss costs more than three wins earn (3 x $3 = $9). The price has to win 76.9% of the time, about 10 bets in 13, just to break even.
A long price is not good value just because it pays more either: $6.50 makes $55 profit on a $10 winner because the market expects it to lose about 85 times in 100.
Why decimal odds include the stake
A decimal price is the whole payout per dollar, stake and profit together. That one choice makes three sums simple:
- The return is a single multiplication. Fractional odds count the profit only, so 5/2 means $5 profit for every $2 staked, and you have to add the stake back to get a return: 5/2 + 1 = $3.50.
- Multis multiply directly. Two illustrative legs at $1.80 and $2.50 make a 1.80 x 2.50 = $4.50 double, so $10 returns $45 if both win. In fractional odds you would add 1 to each leg, multiply, then take 1 off again, and how a multi bet works takes the idea further.
- The implied chance is just 1 / price, because the price is a total return per dollar.
Bonus bets are the exception. A bonus bet usually pays back only what it wins, not its own stake: winnings = bonus x (odds - 1). With illustrative numbers, a $40 bonus bet at $2.65 pays 40 x 1.65 = $66, where a $40 cash bet at the same price returns 40 x 2.65 = $106.
How a particular bonus bet pays is set by that bookmaker's terms. A bonus bet that loses pays nothing, and bonus bets explained covers the rest.
Converting decimal odds to fractional and American odds
Every other format converts through the decimal price:
- fractional odds = decimal odds - 1, written as a fraction: 3.50 - 1 = 2.50 = 5/2
- American odds, for $2.00 and up: (decimal odds - 1) x 100, so (3.50 - 1) x 100 = +250
- American odds, below $2.00: -100 / (decimal odds - 1), so $1.25 becomes -100 / 0.25 = -400
With illustrative prices:
| Decimal | Fractional | American | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.25 | 1/4 | -400 | 80.0% |
| $1.80 | 4/5 | -125 | 55.6% |
| $3.50 | 5/2 | +250 | 28.6% |
| $6.00 | 5/1 | +500 | 16.7% |
| $13.00 | 12/1 | +1200 | 7.7% |
Odds-on prices turn into fractions below 1/1 and negative numbers in American odds, since a winner there profits less than its stake. The odds converter moves between the formats as you type and shows the implied chance beside each.
Price differences: compare them as a ratio
Ten cents is worth far more on a short price than on a long one, because what matters is how much more a winner returns as a share of what it returns already. With illustrative prices for the same bet at two bookmakers:
| Two prices | Gap | Extra on a winning $100 bet | Extra as a share of the return |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.40 and $1.50 | 10c | $10 | 7.1% |
| $3.50 and $3.70 | 20c | $20 | 5.7% |
| $9.50 and $10.00 | 50c | $50 | 5.3% |
| $9.50 and $9.60 | 10c | $10 | 1.1% |
Working for the first row: 1.50 / 1.40 = 1.071, so the longer price returns 7.1% more on the same winning bet. On the last row, 9.60 / 9.50 = 1.011, about 1.1%. A bet's expected return is its chance x its price, so the same share is also how much its average return rises, whatever the true chance. Line shopping turns that sum into a habit.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A better price changes only what a winner pays, never how often the bet wins, and the price on offer can move before your bet is accepted. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
When a winning price pays less than stake x odds
A fixed price is locked in when the bookmaker accepts the bet, but a few events change what a winner pays:
- A dead heat. Under Western Australia's Rules of Wagering (r 58), the payout is split by the number of runners that tie, so an illustrative $10 at $3.50 that dead-heats two ways for first returns $35 / 2 = $17.50, a $7.50 profit. Online bookmakers write their own dead heat terms, which dead heat rules compares.
- A late scratching. When another runner is withdrawn late, the Stewards can cut winning fixed-odds bets struck before the withdrawal by a set number of cents in the dollar. The Racing NSW Rules of Betting take it off the ticket's face value (BR 14), so an illustrative 14c deduction turns a $35 return into 35 x 0.86 = $30.10. A bookmaker that deducts from the winnings only would pay 10 + 25 x 0.86 = $31.50, and scratching deductions covers both methods.
- A void or refunded bet. You get the stake back and nothing more.
- A tote bet. A tote dividend is also a return per $1, stake and all, yet nobody knows it until it is declared after the result, so the approximate shown before the race can change. Betting odds types explains how tote, starting price and exchange prices differ from fixed odds.
Note: The rule numbers above were checked in October 2026 and come from racing rule books. Your bookmaker's own terms decide how it settles dead heats and deductions, so read them before you rely on a figure.
Mistakes people make reading a price
With illustrative prices:
| Mistake | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the number as profit per dollar | $10 at $3.50 makes $25 profit, not $35 | Take 1 off the price before you multiply |
| Plugging a fraction into a decimal sum | 3/1 looks like $3.00 but is $4.00, so $10 returns $40, not $30 | Add 1 to the fraction first |
| Adding multi legs instead of multiplying them | Legs at $1.50, $1.60 and $1.70 make $4.08, not $4.80, so $10 returns $40.80, not $48 | Multiply the prices |
| Calling an odds-on price safe | At $1.30, a single $10 loss cancels more than three $3 wins | Weigh the price against the chance |
| Comparing prices in cents | 10c is 7.1% more return at $1.40, but 1.1% at $9.50 | Divide one price by the other |
| Expecting a bonus bet's stake back | $40 in bonus bets at $2.65 pays $66, not $106 | Use bonus x (odds - 1) |
| Reading a tote approximate as a price | The dividend is declared after the result and can differ from the approximate | Treat an approximate as an estimate |
Reading decimal prices side by side on B337
On B337's Terminal, decimal prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports sit in columns, one bookmaker to a column, and the best available price on each runner or selection is picked out. Comparing two prices as a ratio then means reading along a row rather than opening one bookmaker after another. The columns follow the market, because not every bookmaker prices every race or game.
Those prices are collected on a repeating cycle rather than tick by tick, so one can lag the bookmaker's own: check it in your bookmaker account before betting. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds. B337 is software rather than a bookmaker, so it takes no bets and sets no prices.
Risk: Betting involves risk. The longest price on a row is still a bet that can lose, there is no guarantee of profit, and a bookmaker's terms allow it to restrict accounts and void bets.