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Bookmaker margin calculator

Enter every price in a market and see how much the bookmaker keeps. The lower the margin, the more of the money staked comes back to bettors over time.

Enter at least two prices to see the margin.

Turn each price into a probability by dividing 1 by the decimal odds, then add them up. A market with no margin totals exactly 100%. A real one totals more, and the difference is the bookmaker's cut. The payout figure is what the market gives back to bettors; the margin is what it keeps.

How it works

Turn each price into a probability by dividing 1 by the decimal odds, then add them up. A market with no margin totals exactly 100%. A real one totals more, and the difference is the bookmaker's cut. The payout figure is what the market gives back to bettors; the margin is what it keeps.

Worked example

A match priced at 2.10, 3.40 and 3.60 has an overround of 104.81%, a payout of 95.41% and a margin of 4.59%. Another bookmaker pricing the same match at 2.20, 3.50 and 3.50 keeps less, and across a season that gap matters more than any single winning bet.

Common questions

What counts as a good margin?

On a main football market anything under 5% is competitive and under 3% is very good. Smaller competitions and less popular markets almost always carry more.

Can the total come out below 100%?

Yes, if you take the best available price for each outcome from different bookmakers. That is an arbitrage, and the calculator says so when it happens. Bookmakers restrict accounts that do it repeatedly.

Why is the margin different from the overround?

The overround is the implied probabilities added up. The margin is the share of money staked that the bookmaker expects to keep, which is 100 minus 100 divided by the overround. On a 105% book that is 4.76%, not 5%.

Other calculators

These figures are arithmetic on the prices you enter. They are not a prediction, and they do not change the chance of your bet coming in.

Our tip record

Win rate

52.4%

108–98

206 settled tips since Mar 2026.

By market

  • Home win58.6%41–29
  • Away win37.5%15–25
  • Over 2.5 goals56.0%14–11
  • Under 2.5 goals33.3%2–4
  • Both teams to score57.4%35–26
  • Both teams not to score25.0%1–3
  • Overall52.4%108–98

Covers the markets listed above, won and lost. Unplayed and ungradeable tips are excluded, not counted as losses. Past results are not a guide to future ones.