Your payout is your stake plus your profit, and your profit is your stake times the decimal odds minus one. Everything else is just a different way of writing that. American odds, decimal odds, and fractional odds all encode the same thing: how much you win per dollar risked. Convert the price to a profit, add back your stake, and you have your total return. Once you see payout as stake plus profit, you never have to guess what a bet pays again.
Your return is your stake plus your profit. Positive odds pay a bigger profit slice than your stake; negative odds pay less.
Profit versus total return
These are two different numbers and mixing them up is the most common mistake in reading a bet slip. Profit is what you win, the money that did not exist before. Total return is what lands back in your account, which is your profit plus the stake you put up. A $100 bet that wins $150 has a profit of $150 and a total return of $250. If a payout tool shows $250, that already includes your original $100 back. Always know which number you are looking at.
The one formula behind every payout
Decimal odds make the math obvious, so convert to decimal first and everything falls out:
- Total return equals stake times decimal odds.
- Profit equals stake times decimal odds, minus your stake. Same as stake times the decimal odds minus one.
To get decimal odds from American odds, there are two cases. For a positive price, decimal equals the odds divided by 100, plus 1. For a negative price, decimal equals 100 divided by the size of the odds, plus 1.
Working +150, minus 110, and a decimal price
Plus 150 on a $100 stake. A positive price is how much profit you win per $100 risked, so plus 150 pays $150 in profit on $100. In decimal that is 150 divided by 100 plus 1, which is 2.50. Total return is $100 times 2.50, so $250. Profit is $250 minus $100, so $150. The plus number is telling you the profit directly.
Minus 110 on a $100 stake. A negative price is how much you must risk to win $100. In decimal, minus 110 is 100 divided by 110 plus 1, which is about 1.909. Total return is $100 times 1.909, so about $190.91. Profit is about $90.91. That is the standard price on a point spread, and it is why laying a spread wins you a little less than even money.
A decimal price of 2.40 on a $50 stake. Total return is $50 times 2.40, so $120. Profit is $120 minus $50, so $70. No conversion needed, because decimal odds are already the payout multiplier.
A quick way to sanity-check any price
Even money is decimal 2.00, which is plus 100 or minus nothing: you double your money, so profit equals stake. Anything above 2.00 is an underdog that pays more than your stake in profit. Anything below 2.00 is a favorite that pays less than your stake in profit. So before you calculate anything, you already know the rough shape of the payout just from where the decimal price sits relative to 2.00. If a favorite at minus 200 seems to be promising more than half your stake in profit, something is off.
Let a tool carry the arithmetic
You do not have to run these by hand every time. Drop the price and your stake into the betting calculator and it returns both profit and total return, in whatever odds format you are reading. If you are handed a price in one format and think in another, the betting odds converter switches American, decimal, and fractional back and forth so you can line up two prices on the same scale before you decide which bet actually pays more.
The short version
Payout is stake plus profit, and profit is stake times decimal odds minus one. Turn any American price into decimal, multiply by your stake, and subtract the stake to see the profit. Plus 150 pays $150 on $100, minus 110 pays about $90.91 on $100, and a 2.40 decimal pays $70 on $50. Keep profit and total return separate and the slip never surprises you.
Betting payouts FAQ
How are betting payouts calculated?
A payout is your stake plus your profit, and profit is your stake times the decimal odds minus one. Convert the price to decimal, multiply by your stake for the total return, then subtract the stake to isolate the profit. For example, a $100 bet at decimal 2.50 returns $250 in total and $150 in profit. American and fractional prices give the same answer once converted to decimal.
What is the payout on a $100 bet at plus 150?
A $100 bet at plus 150 pays $150 in profit and $250 in total return. A positive American price is the profit per $100 risked, so plus 150 wins $150. Written as decimal odds that is 2.50, and $100 times 2.50 is $250 back, which is your $150 profit plus your original $100 stake.
What is the difference between profit and total return?
Profit is only the money you win, while total return is your profit plus the stake you originally risked. A winning $100 bet at plus 150 has a profit of $150 and a total return of $250. Payout calculators often show total return, which already includes your stake, so check which figure a tool is displaying before you compare bets.
Once you know what a price pays, the price itself is what decides how much of that payout is real profit and how much a house margin quietly takes. On BettorEdge community odds you set your price against other real bettors with no vig skimming the return. Open BettorEdge and get this price for real, peer to peer.
Take the spread at a fairer number.
Standard -110 juice is the house tax on every spread. On BettorEdge you set your line against other bettors and keep more of every win.