Horse betting odds are something that everyone who participates in horse betting online should understand. The horse betting odds that you get from bookmakers reflect the betting market perception of how big (or small) a chance your horse has of winning its race. Horse betting odds also determine how much of a profit you will make if your bet is successful.

Horse betting odds are generally presented in one of two ways: as fractional odds or as decimal odds. Most bookmakers allow you to choose which type of horse betting odds you want to see displayed, so let’s take a quick look at how they differ.

Fractional Odds
Fractional horse betting odds present the odds as fractions such as 1/1, 2/1, 5/2 and so on. The left hand side of the fractional odds tells you how many units profit you will make if you stake the number of units on the right hand side of the odds. For example, if the fractional odds are 6/1 and you bet £10, you would make £60 profit if your horse wins the race in question.

Calculating exactly how much profit you stand to make from a particular bet with fractional odds is quite simple, even when you have seemingly complicated odds such as 13/8. All you have to do is divide the left hand side of the odds by the right hand side, add 1 and multiple the result by your stake. This tells you what your total return from the winning bet will be, so if you deduct your original stake you would be left with the amount of profit you have made.

For example, if you place a bet of £12 on a 13/8 winner, you would get a return of 13 divided by 8 = 1.625 + 1 = 2.625 x £12 = £31.50. You staked £12 so your total profit in this scenario is £31.50 - £12 = £19.50.

Decimal odds
Decimal horse betting odds present the odds as decimal figures such as 2.00, 3.00 and 3.50. You will notice that the fractional odds described a moment ago only reflected the potential profit, and that we had to add 1 point to take into consideration our returned stake. Decimal odds automatically include the returned stake, so in order to calculate how much profit a winner would give you, all you have to do is multiply the decimal horse betting odds by your stake and then deduct your stake.

For example, if you place a bet of £10 on a winner at decimal odds of 3.50, you would get a return of 3.50 x £10 = £35 - £10 = £25.

Generally speaking, the lower the odds offered about a horse, the more chance it has of winning (according to the betting market makers and the betting public). You should still use horse racing form as your main guide to picking winners, but do consider looking at the odds as well to confirm the relative strength of your selection. If the market agrees with you (and the horse is among the first five in the betting) then a bet might well we worthwhile. However, if your selection is not among the first five in the betting, exercise caution and keep stakes to a minimum.