How to read odds: decimal prices, favourites and the line

Key facts

Australian odds are decimal and include your stake: $3.75 returns $37.50 from a $10 bet, which is $27.50 profit.
The chance a price implies is 1 / odds: $3.75 implies 26.67%, $1.40 implies 71.43%.
Under $2.00 is odds-on: you risk more than you can win. $2.00 is evens.
On the TAB, you choose fixed odds or the tote by tapping the price in the Fixed or Tote column.
A line of -12.5 means your team must win by 13 or more. Half points mean a line bet cannot tie.

How to read odds in one step

Read an Australian price as "dollars back for every dollar bet". A price of $3.75 means a $1 bet returns $3.75 if it wins: your $1 stake plus $2.75 profit. To get your profit, take 1 off the price and multiply by your stake. A $10 bet at $3.75 makes (3.75 - 1) x 10 = $27.50.

Australian bookmakers and the TAB show decimal odds as standard, so this one rule covers racing, footy and everything else.

What odds mean in betting: a price table

Each price also carries a chance. Divide 1 by the price and you get the probability the bookmaker is implying.

Price	$10 bet returns	Profit	Implied chance	How punters describe it
$1.40	$14.00	$4.00	71.43%	Short-priced, odds-on
$1.85	$18.50	$8.50	54.05%	Odds-on
$2.00	$20.00	$10.00	50.00%	Evens
$2.60	$26.00	$16.00	38.46%	Odds against
$3.75	$37.50	$27.50	26.67%	Odds against
$8.00	$80.00	$70.00	12.50%	Longer odds
$15.00	$150.00	$140.00	6.67%	Outsider
$51.00	$510.00	$500.00	1.96%	Longshot

The implied chance is also your break-even rate. Back $3.75 shots all year and you need to win more than 26.67% of them to make a profit, before you even think about which ones to pick.

Favourites, odds-on and longshots

The favourite is the runner or team with the shortest price. Odds-on means a price under $2.00, where you risk more than you can win. Evens is $2.00 exactly: win $10 for a $10 bet. Odds against means anything longer than $2.00.

When a price gets shorter, say from $5.00 to $3.50, punters say it has firmed or shortened, and the implied chance has risen from 20% to 28.57%. When it gets longer, it has drifted. A shortening price means the market now implies a higher chance. It does not mean the runner has become a better bet: a shorter price pays less.

How to read odds in horse racing

A racing market on the TAB shows two prices for each runner: a fixed price and a tote price. You choose which one you bet by tapping the odds in the Fixed column or the Tote column. Both are per $1 and include your stake, but they work very differently.

Fixed odds are locked in when the bet is accepted. The TAB says the price is fixed at that point and will not change, subject to scratchings and dead heats.
Tote odds are an approximate dividend from a pool. They move with every bet until the race starts, and the final figure is only known after the race. Our tote vs fixed odds guide covers when each one tends to pay more.

The TAB's fixed odds flucs show a runner's opening price, its moves since, and the current price, with a green marker for a big shortening. From 15 minutes before the scheduled jump, it also flags market movers, whose odds have shortened, and drifters, whose odds have lengthened.

Scratchings matter to fixed odds. Tabcorp publishes a schedule of deductions for fixed odds racing that is set by price range: a win deduction of 80 cents in the dollar for a price of $1.01 to $1.16, 46 cents for $2.01 to $2.05, 8 cents for $10.01 to $11.00, and none above $51.00. The shorter the price in the schedule, the bigger the deduction.

How to read odds in sports betting

Footy markets use the same decimal prices, with a few extra symbols.

Market	What the slip shows	How to read it
Head to head	Team A $1.45, Team B $2.80	Pick the winner. $10 on Team B returns $28.
Line	Team A -12.5 $1.90, Team B +12.5 $1.90	Team A must win by 13 or more; Team B covers if it wins or loses by 12 or less.
Total points	Over 165.5 $1.87, Under 165.5 $1.93	Bet on the combined score being above or below the number.

The half point is there on purpose. The TAB's Victorian sports rules say a points start is set to half a point unless it says otherwise, so a line bet cannot finish level. Our guides to AFL betting and NRL betting go through every main market for each code, and player markets such as disposals and tries are covered in our prop bets guide.

Pundit tip: on a line bet priced $1.90 each side, you need to be right 52.63% of the time just to break even. Read a price as a chance first and a payout second.

Reading a whole market

One price on its own hides the bookmaker's margin. Add up the implied chances of every outcome and the total will be over 100%. Team A at $1.45 and Team B at $2.80 add up to 68.97% + 35.71% = 104.68%. The 4.68% over the top is the bookmaker margin, built in whichever team wins. Our implied probability calculator does this for any market and shows the fair price of each outcome. When your own estimate of the chance is higher than the price implies, you may have a value bet, and the expected value calculator shows what it is worth on average.

Fractional and American odds

You will see other formats on overseas racing and sport. Fractional odds show profit against stake: 11/4 is $2.75 profit per $1, the same as $3.75. American odds use $100: +275 is $275 profit on $100 (also $3.75), and -250 means you bet $250 to win $100 (the same as $1.40). The odds converter switches between all three.

Ready to put a price to work? Our step by step guide on how to bet on horses walks through a first racing bet, from choosing a race to confirming the slip.

Frequently asked questions

What does $3.50 mean in betting?

It means every $1 you bet returns $3.50 if you win, including your $1 stake. A $20 bet returns $70, which is $50 profit. The price implies a 28.57% chance.

What does odds-on mean?

Odds-on means a price below $2.00, where the profit is smaller than the stake. At $1.40 you win $4 for every $10 bet. The bookmaker rates an odds-on runner or team as more likely to win than not.

How do you read horse racing odds?

Each runner shows a fixed price and an approximate tote dividend, both per $1 and including your stake. The shortest price is the favourite. Fixed prices are locked in when you bet; tote dividends keep changing until the race starts.

What does +7.5 mean in betting?

It is a line bet with a 7.5 point start. Your team can lose by up to 7 points and the bet still wins. If the other team is -7.5, it must win by 8 or more.

Why do odds change before a race or game?

Bookmakers move fixed prices as money comes in and news breaks, and tote dividends change with every bet in the pool. On the TAB, runners whose odds shorten are shown as movers and those that lengthen as drifters, from 15 minutes before the scheduled start.