Decimal odds: total return and profit

For a standard winning cash bet, total return equals stake multiplied by decimal odds. Profit equals that return minus the stake. Fees, tax, bonus conditions and exceptional settlement rules are outside this simple calculation.

Our example uses a stake of 24 units and decimal odds of 2.75. The illustrative total return is 24 × 2.75 = 66 units. Subtract the original 24 units and the profit is 42. Calling the full 66 profit would count the original stake as new money.

If that cash bet loses, the stake is lost. Neither the 66-unit return nor the 42-unit profit is money already earned. Keep this distinction when reading a calculator result or a bet slip.

American odds explained, with fractional and decimal conversions

Fractional odds a/b express the profit relative to the stake. Convert them to decimal odds with 1 + a/b. In the example, 7/4 becomes 1 + 7/4 = 2.75. A winning 24-unit stake earns 24 × 7/4 = 42 units in profit, matching the decimal calculation.

Positive American odds show the profit on a winning 100-unit cash stake. At +175, that stake earns 175 units in profit and returns 275 including the stake. Convert a positive price A to decimal odds using 1 + A/100: +175 becomes 2.75.

Negative American odds show the stake needed to earn 100 units in profit if the bet wins. At −200, a 200-unit stake earns 100 profit. Using A for the positive magnitude, the decimal conversion is 1 + 100/A, so −200 becomes 1.50. An 80-unit winning stake at that price returns 120, including 40 profit.

  • 7/4, +175 and 2.75 express the same price before any deductions.
  • 1/2, −200 and 1.50 express another equivalent price.
  • A minus sign in American odds does not mean a negative return.

Calculate implied probability from odds

Convert decimal odds D into an implied percentage with 100/D. At 2.75, that gives approximately 36.36%. Our calculator uses the same arithmetic for standard prices.

The result describes the price, not a measured chance of this particular event. It is also the break-even win rate in a simplified repeated-bet calculation at constant odds, with no fees or other adjustments. A displayed percentage alone cannot tell you whether the underlying assessment is accurate.

Bookmaker margin: add the implied probabilities

For our fictional two-outcome market, suppose both outcomes have decimal odds of 1.90 and exactly one can win. Each price implies 100/1.90 = 52.63%. Adding the unrounded values gives approximately 105.26%, or 5.26 percentage points above 100%.

That excess is the overround in this simplified complete market. It is not a prediction that every player will lose precisely 5.26% of their stake, and it is not a forecast of the operator’s realised profit. Stakes, outcomes and changing prices matter. A market with a possible draw needs the draw price included before this addition makes sense.

Try the odds calculator

In the Canada Bet Guide odds calculator, enter decimal 2.75 and stake 24; then switch to fractional 7/4 or American +175. Each should show the same illustrative return. Try −200 with stake 80 to check the second example.

The tool handles a single standard price. It does not price accumulators, each-way deductions, exchanges after commission, free-bet stake rules or cash-out offers. Those need the exact product terms. No conversion removes the possibility of losing the cash stake.

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