arbitrage calculator

WHAT IS ARBITRAGE BETTING?

Timeform provide you with betting odds from all the biggest bookmakers.  With so many bookies accepting bets on a range of horse races and sporting events there will always be a variation in the odds on different betting markets.

This variation can provide punters with an opportunity to guarantee a profit by placing bets on opposing outcomes with two different betting companies. This is called an arb bet.

An example of arbitrage betting would be if Betfair were offering odds of 3/1 on Roger Federer to beat Rafael Nadal, and Paddy Power were offering odds of 3/1 for Nadal to win the same match, a punter could place £10 on Federer to win with Betfair and £10 on Nadal to win with Paddy Power. They would be guaranteed a return of £40 and make a £20 profit no matter what the outcome was.

ARBITRAGE BETTING ON THE BETFAIR EXCHANGE

Arb betting is more common on the Betfair Exchange than traditional bookmakers as punters can choose to lay an outcome on the exchange. This provides an opportunity to back a selection with a traditional bookie and lay it on the exchange. If the odds are right it would be a completely risk free bet.    

THE ARBITRAGE CALCULATOR

Not every betting market provides punters with an opportunity to make an arb bet and on most events the odds on opposing outcomes won’t be equal.

The arbitrage calculator tells you if there is an arb betting opportunity and recommends how much should be staked on each selection.

By entering the total stake and the odds of each selection, the tool will calculate how you should divide your total stake between the two individual bets to give you the highest possible return, and what the potential payout and profit could be.

No matter whether you prefer to see odds in fractional or decimal odds, the tool allows you to change the settings so you can see the odds type of your choice.

FRACTIONS VS DECIMALS

For a great number of horse racing fans, the use of fractions is the traditional way of viewing the odds for the runners and riders, but the use of decimals is something which has grown significantly across recent years, too. The concept operates on the straightforward notion that you simply multiply a stake by the decimal shown and the outcome will be your total winnings. For example, if you place a £1 bet on a horse with odds of 4.00, you will get a return of £4.

While the use of decimals may seem very simple in that respect, it is worth bearing in mind that the concept offers up one fundamental difference in comparison to the use of fractional odds. When it comes to decimal odds, your stake is always factored into the return that you calculate but this is not the case when following the fraction method. In terms of the latter, if you put £1 on odds of 4/1 you will receive £4 in profit but also get your £1 stake back too – so £5 in total. As such, the fraction allows you to work out your winnings, but you will also need to factor in that your stake will also be returned to you as well.