Odds Formats
Decimal, fractional and American are three ways of writing the exact same price — the format never changes the bet, only how it’s displayed. South African books quote decimal odds, but you’ll meet fractional on UK racing pages and American on US sports coverage, so it pays to read all three and convert on sight. Once you can move between them, no odds board anywhere will throw you.
Decimal odds, the South African standard
Decimal is the cleanest notation and the one you’ll use here. The number is your total return per R1, stake included. Odds of 3.20 return R3.20 for every R1, so a R100 bet pays R320 — that’s R220 profit and your R100 back. There’s no fraction to interpret and nothing to add on; the figure on the screen is the figure in your pocket.
That simplicity is exactly why SA and most of Europe settled on it. Higher number, bigger payout, longer shot — the relationship is obvious at a glance, and the implied chance is just one divided by the price.
Fractional odds, the old racing notation
Fractional odds are the traditional British style, still common on horse and greyhound racing. The fraction is profit over stake: 5/1 (“five to one”) wins R5 profit for every R1 staked, 5/2 wins R5 for every R2, and 1/1 is “evens” — equal profit to stake.
The catch is that fractional shows profit only, not your returned stake, which is where people misread it. To convert to decimal, divide the fraction and add one for your stake:
| Fractional | Working | Decimal | R100 returns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2 (odds-on) | 0.5 + 1 | 1.50 | R150 |
| Evens (1/1) | 1 + 1 | 2.00 | R200 |
| 5/2 | 2.5 + 1 | 3.50 | R350 |
| 5/1 | 5 + 1 | 6.00 | R600 |
Anything where the first number is smaller than the second — like 1/2 — is an “odds-on” favourite returning less than double your stake.
American odds, the moneyline
American odds, also called the moneyline, show up on US sports broadcasts and some international books. They run off a R100 reference point and split into positive and negative.
A positive number is the profit on a 100 stake. +150 means R150 profit on R100, so R250 back in total, which is decimal 2.50. A negative number is the stake needed to win 100. -200 means you’d risk R200 to win R100, which is decimal 1.50. Favourites carry the minus, underdogs the plus, and -110 is the bookmaker’s standard near-even price once the margin is added.
To turn American into decimal: for a positive number, divide it by 100 and add one (+150 → 1.5 + 1 = 2.50). For a negative, divide 100 by the number without its sign and add one (-200 → 0.5 + 1 = 1.50).
Reading a mixed board without tripping up
The trap isn’t any single format — it’s switching between them and forgetting whether your stake is included. Decimal includes it, fractional and American show profit alone. A quick sanity check settles it every time: convert whatever you’re looking at to decimal, then read the chance behind it.
You back every market at Scorebet in decimal, so in practice you’ll mostly be converting into decimal when you read a foreign page, not out of it. Get comfortable with the two conversions above and you can price a UK racing card or a US line in seconds, then compare it straight against the decimal price on the board in front of you.
One price, three costumes
None of this changes a bet. 3.50 decimal, 5/2 fractional and +250 American are the same odds paying the same money — the notation is just dress. Learn to undress it to decimal and you read every price the same way, which sets up the skill that actually matters: turning that price into the chance it implies, covered next in implied probability. When you’re ready to put a price down, the markets are live at Scorebet.
Frequently asked
Which odds format is best?
Decimal is the clearest for working out returns, because the number already includes your stake — a R100 bet at 2.50 returns R250, full stop. It's why South African and most European books quote decimal by default.
How do I convert fractional odds to decimal?
Divide the fraction and add one. So 5/2 becomes 2.5 + 1 = 3.50, and 1/1 (evens) becomes 1 + 1 = 2.00. The +1 is your own stake coming back with the winnings.
What does +150 mean in American odds?
A positive American number is the profit on a R100 stake, so +150 means R150 profit (R250 back in total) and equals decimal 2.50. A negative number, like -200, is the stake needed to win R100, equalling decimal 1.50.
Why does American odds jump straight from +100 to -100 with nothing in between?
Because both +100 and -100 describe the exact same bet — even money, decimal 2.00, where you risk R100 to win R100. The plus/minus sign only marks which side of even money a price sits on, so the scale flips at that single point rather than passing through a zero. There's no gap; the two notations just meet at evens.
Why can fractional odds like 10/11 be more precise than the decimal a book displays?
Traditional racing fractions come from a fixed ladder of values (4/6, 10/11, 5/6 and so on), and converting them to decimal often gives an awkward recurring number the book rounds for display — 10/11 is really 1.909..., usually shown as 1.90 or 1.91. Over many bets that rounding can shave or add a sliver of value, so on racing it's worth knowing the underlying fraction the rounded decimal came from.