Key takeaways
- To convert fractional odds to decimal, divide the left number by the right number and add 1, so 11/4 becomes 3.75.
- Decimal odds include the stake and fractional odds do not, so 5/1 and 6.0 describe exactly the same return.
- The trickiest prices on the traditional ladder are 13/8 at 2.625, 15/8 at 2.875, 85/40 at 3.125 and 100/30 at about 4.33.
- Betting exchanges use decimal odds with small price steps, so an exchange can show 3.75 where a bookmaker shows 11/4.
- Over ten seasons, British and Irish runners at 5/1, or 6.0 in decimal, won 14% of 37,169 runs.
How do you convert fractional odds to decimal?
Divide the first number by the second and add 1: 11/4 is 11 divided by 4, which is 2.75, plus 1, giving 3.75, and evens is 1 divided by 1 plus 1, giving 2.0.
The added 1 is the stake. Fractional odds show profit only, so 11/4 means £11 profit for every £4. Decimal odds show the total return for every £1, stake included, so 3.75 means £3.75 back for each £1 staked. Both describe exactly the same bet: £4 at 11/4 returns £15, and £4 at 3.75 returns £15.
For odds-on prices the method is the same. 4/6 is 4 divided by 6, which is 0.667, plus 1, giving 1.67. 1/2 becomes 1.5 and 2/5 becomes 1.4. A decimal price below 2.0 is always odds-on, exactly 2.0 is evens, and anything above 2.0 is odds-against, which makes decimal odds quick to scan down a long list of runners.
What is the full fractional to decimal conversion table?
The chart below covers the traditional racing price ladder from 1/5 to 100/1, with each price's decimal equivalent and the chance it implies before any bookmaker margin is removed.
Bookmakers traditionally move along this ladder in fixed steps. When converting prices back from an exchange, pick the nearest step on the ladder. The implied column shows the chance each price represents before the margin is removed, which is why the implied chances of every runner in a race add up to more than 100.
| Fractional | Decimal | Implied | Fractional | Decimal | Implied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/5 | 1.20 | 83.3% | 9/4 | 3.25 | 30.8% |
| 2/9 | 1.22 | 81.8% | 5/2 | 3.50 | 28.6% |
| 1/4 | 1.25 | 80.0% | 11/4 | 3.75 | 26.7% |
| 2/7 | 1.29 | 77.8% | 3/1 | 4.00 | 25.0% |
| 1/3 | 1.33 | 75.0% | 100/30 | 4.33 | 23.1% |
| 4/11 | 1.36 | 73.3% | 7/2 | 4.50 | 22.2% |
| 2/5 | 1.40 | 71.4% | 4/1 | 5.00 | 20.0% |
| 4/9 | 1.44 | 69.2% | 9/2 | 5.50 | 18.2% |
| 1/2 | 1.50 | 66.7% | 5/1 | 6.00 | 16.7% |
| 8/15 | 1.53 | 65.2% | 11/2 | 6.50 | 15.4% |
| 4/7 | 1.57 | 63.6% | 6/1 | 7.00 | 14.3% |
| 8/13 | 1.62 | 61.9% | 13/2 | 7.50 | 13.3% |
| 4/6 | 1.67 | 60.0% | 7/1 | 8.00 | 12.5% |
| 8/11 | 1.73 | 57.9% | 15/2 | 8.50 | 11.8% |
| 4/5 | 1.80 | 55.6% | 8/1 | 9.00 | 11.1% |
| 5/6 | 1.83 | 54.5% | 17/2 | 9.50 | 10.5% |
| 10/11 | 1.91 | 52.4% | 9/1 | 10.00 | 10.0% |
| Evens | 2.00 | 50.0% | 10/1 | 11.00 | 9.1% |
| 11/10 | 2.10 | 47.6% | 11/1 | 12.00 | 8.3% |
| 6/5 | 2.20 | 45.5% | 12/1 | 13.00 | 7.7% |
| 5/4 | 2.25 | 44.4% | 14/1 | 15.00 | 6.7% |
| 11/8 | 2.38 | 42.1% | 16/1 | 17.00 | 5.9% |
| 6/4 | 2.50 | 40.0% | 20/1 | 21.00 | 4.8% |
| 13/8 | 2.63 | 38.1% | 25/1 | 26.00 | 3.8% |
| 7/4 | 2.75 | 36.4% | 33/1 | 34.00 | 2.9% |
| 15/8 | 2.88 | 34.8% | 40/1 | 41.00 | 2.4% |
| 2/1 | 3.00 | 33.3% | 50/1 | 51.00 | 2.0% |
| 85/40 | 3.13 | 32.0% | 100/1 | 101.00 | 1.0% |
Over ten seasons to 2025, British and Irish runners starting at 5/1 won 14.0% of 37,169 runs, against an implied chance of 16.7%.Live from data/win-rate-by-odds · Sample: 37,169 runs at 5/1 · Window: Jumps 2016/17 to 2025/26; Flat 2016 to 2025
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Win rate by Betfair SP band
| Jumps | 1.01 to 1.99 | 2,156 | 1,302 | - | ||
| Jumps | 2.0 to 2.99 | 4,523 | 1,766 | - | ||
| Jumps | 3.0 to 3.99 | 5,497 | 1,574 | - | ||
| Jumps | 4.0 to 5.99 | 11,446 | 2,350 | - | ||
| Jumps | 6.0 to 7.99 | 9,680 | 1,441 | - | ||
| Jumps | 8.0 to 10.99 | 10,930 | 1,175 | - | ||
| Jumps | 11 to 15.99 | 13,309 | 1,045 | - | ||
| Jumps | 16 to 20.99 | 8,241 | 455 | - | ||
| Jumps | 21 to 50.99 | 19,937 | 677 | - | ||
| Jumps | 51 to 100.99 | 8,290 | 121 | - | ||
| Jumps | 101 or bigger | 15,692 | 51 | - | ||
| Flat | 1.01 to 1.99 | 2,700 | 1,641 | - | ||
| Flat | 2.0 to 2.99 | 6,838 | 2,734 | - | ||
| Flat | 3.0 to 3.99 | 9,640 | 2,752 | - | ||
| Flat | 4.0 to 5.99 | 21,468 | 4,335 | - | ||
| Flat | 6.0 to 7.99 | 19,395 | 2,779 | - | ||
| Flat | 8.0 to 10.99 | 21,485 | 2,375 | - | ||
| Flat | 11 to 15.99 | 26,092 | 1,947 | - | ||
| Flat | 16 to 20.99 | 16,194 | 946 | - | ||
| Flat | 21 to 50.99 | 39,787 | 1,343 | - | ||
| Flat | 51 to 100.99 | 15,565 | 221 | - | ||
| Flat | 101 or bigger | 20,372 | 89 | - |
Betfair SP is available from March 2024 only, so this table covers 1 March 2024 to the last results date, excluding runs without a BSP (most of January and February 2026).
Additional research statistics and historical returns are in the RaceWatch app.
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How do you convert 100/30, 13/8 and 85/40 to decimal?
100/30 is 100 divided by 30, which is 3.33, plus 1, giving 4.33; 13/8 is 1.625 plus 1, giving 2.625; and 85/40 is 2.125 plus 1, giving 3.125.
These awkward fractions exist because the traditional ladder needed steps between the round prices. 100/30 is the same as 10/3 and sits between 3/1 and 7/2. 13/8 sits between 6/4 and 7/4, and 85/40 between 2/1 and 9/4. On screen, 2.625 and 3.125 are usually rounded to 2.63 and 3.13, which makes almost no difference to a normal stake.
How do you convert decimal odds back to a fraction?
Subtract 1 from the decimal price and turn what is left into a fraction: 3.75 minus 1 is 2.75, which is 11/4, and 2.38 minus 1 is 1.38, closest to 11/8.
Many exchange prices do not match a ladder step exactly. A price of 2.62 or 2.64 sits either side of 13/8, and 4.3 is just below 100/30. When you need a fractional equivalent, choose the nearest traditional price and remember the decimal figure is the precise one. For comparing value across bookmakers and exchanges, decimals are easier because a bigger number always means a bigger return.
Why do exchanges show decimal odds and bookmakers show fractions?
Exchanges use decimal odds because they need fine, evenly spaced price steps for people to match bets against each other, while British bookmakers keep fractions because the traditional ladder is how racing has always been priced.
An exchange price moves in small increments, such as 0.02 between 2 and 3, so the market can settle between two fractional steps. That is why you might see 3.75 on an exchange when a bookmaker offers 11/4, or 3.8 when the nearest bookmaker price is still 11/4. Betfair SP is also returned in decimals, and the table on this page shows how often horses won in each Betfair SP band since March 2024.
Is it easier to compare prices using decimal odds?
Yes. With decimal odds a bigger number is always a bigger return, so comparing 3.75 with 4.0 is instant, whereas comparing 11/4 with 3/1 or 85/40 with 9/4 needs a moment's arithmetic.
Decimals also make the maths of multiple bets simple: multiply the decimal prices together to get the return on a double or treble. For a £10 double at 2/1 and 6/4, multiply 3.0 by 2.5 to get 7.5, so the bet returns £75. The same sum in fractions is much harder to do in your head.
Does rounding odds change the amount a bet returns?
Only slightly. Bookmakers settle fractional bets at the exact fraction, so 13/8 pays 2.625 times the stake, while a displayed decimal of 2.63 would pay a fraction more.
On a £10 bet at 13/8 the difference between 2.625 and 2.63 is five pence. The difference that matters is between prices, not rounding: taking 3/1 rather than 11/4 on a winner at £10 returns £40 instead of £37.50. Over many bets, consistently taking the better price has a far bigger effect than any rounding convention.
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Questions people ask
What is 11/4 in decimal odds?
11/4 is 3.75 in decimal odds. Divide 11 by 4 to get 2.75, then add 1 to include the stake, so £4 at 11/4 returns £15.
What is 5/2 in decimal odds?
5/2 is 3.5 in decimal odds, worked out as 5 divided by 2 plus 1. A £10 bet at 5/2 or 3.5 returns £35 including the stake.
What is 100/30 as a decimal?
100/30 is about 4.33 in decimal odds, the same as 10/3 written with bigger numbers. It sits between 3/1 and 7/2 on the traditional price ladder.
Do decimal odds include the stake?
Decimal odds include the stake, so 3.0 returns £3 for every £1 staked. Fractional odds show profit only, so the same bet at 2/1 wins £2 profit per £1.
What is the nearest fractional price to 2.38?
The nearest fractional price to 2.38 is 11/8, which is exactly 2.375. Exchanges show it as 2.38 because they use decimal steps.
Keep reading
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