Decimal, Fractional and American Odds

What are They and How They Work?

Stake + profit = payout

The first thing to understand is the difference between payout and profit. When you put a bet you give your stake to the sportsbook. If you win the sportsbook will give you your stake back and pay you your profit. You can’t count getting your stake back as profit because it was yours to begin with.

If you bet 1 m฿ at even money and the bet wins

Decimal Odds

Decimal odds are the most common odds format in the modern era. Decimal odds are great because they are simple and let you do calculations easily.

Think of it like the metric system, it is superior but some old-timers and Americans stubbornly refuse to use it.

The odds will be your payout for every unit you stake.

• If the odds are 1.32 you will get back 1.32 m฿ for every 1 m฿ you stake.
• This payout includes your stake of 1 m฿ and profit of 0.32 m฿.

Here are a couple of examples of winning bets.

Also another example:

The odds of 2.00 are “even money” because if you bet 1 m฿ you will either lose 1 m฿ or win 1 m฿.

The 2 other main odds formats are inferior and less common than decimal odds; they are fractional odds and American odds. These odds types are outdated and sportsbooks that show one of these odds types will also have the option to display decimal odds instead.

Fractional Odds

Fractional odds are expressed as 2 numbers with a / in between like a fraction. Think of it as profit/stake. The first number is the amount you will profit if you stake the second number. This could also be expressed as the second number is the amount you would need to stake to profit from the first number.

Add both numbers together to see the payout you would get by staking the second number.

For example, fractional odds of 4/6 means you would win 4 m฿ by staking 6 m฿. So if you stake 6 m฿ and win, your payout will be 10 m฿. This is made up of your 6 m฿ stake and 4 m฿ profit.

Even money would be written as 1/1 but instead is called “evens”.

American Odds

American odds are either expressed as a negative (-) number or a positive (+) number.

Negative (-) numbers are used for bets of less than even money, such as a favorite to win. A negative (-) number is how much you would have to stake to profit 100 units. The odds of -220 means you would have to stake 220 m฿ to win 100 m฿. So if you staked 220 m฿ and won, your payout would be 320 m฿, made up of your 220 m฿ stake and 100 m฿ profit.

Positive (+) numbers are used for bets at greater than even money such as for an underdog. Positive (+) numbers are how much you will profit if you stake 100 units. Odds of +480 mean that if you stake 100 m฿ and win, you will profit 480 m฿. So your payout would be 580 m฿ made up of your 100 stake and 480 m฿ profit.

Further reading

For a more in-depth look at odds and if you are getting good value from your sportsbooks see Understand odds as probability with overround.