How to calculate sports betting ROI
ROI = units won / units risked x 100. Units won is your net result: winnings minus losses. Units risked is the total you staked on bets that won or lost. If you staked 250 units in total and finished up 10 units, your ROI is 10 / 250 = 4 percent. In plain terms, you got back about $4 in profit for every $100 you put at risk.
Measuring in units instead of dollars keeps ROI comparable between bettors and between seasons, whatever the bankroll. WGT's published record always counts $100 as 1 unit.
What counts and what does not
- Won bets count their stake as risked and their profit as won.
- Lost bets count their stake as risked and as lost.
- Pushes return the stake and count nowhere: not in units risked, not in units won. The same goes for voided bets.
- Stake, not payout. A 1-unit bet at +300 risks 1 unit, even though it wins 3. A bet placed "to win 1 unit" at -150 risks 1.5 units.
Leaving pushes out matters. If you counted them as risked, a run of pushes would drag your ROI toward zero without a single dollar changing hands.
Bonus bets need care too. If a promotional free bet wins, the profit is real, but the stake was never your money, so many bettors log promos in a separate column. That keeps the ROI on their own picks honest instead of inflated by sign-up offers.
A worked example
| Bet | Stake | Price | Result | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1u | -110 | Won | +0.91 |
| B | 1u | +150 | Lost | -1.00 |
| C | 2u | -120 | Won | +1.67 |
| D | 1u | +100 | Push | 0, not counted |
Units risked on won and lost bets: 1 + 1 + 2 = 4. Units won: 0.91 - 1.00 + 1.67 = +1.58. ROI: 1.58 / 4 = 39.5 percent. (Each win's units come from the payout math in how to calculate winnings from odds.) That looks spectacular, and it means almost nothing, because it rests on three decided bets. The next section explains why.
Sample size: when ROI starts to mean something
ROI swings wildly over small samples. Picture a bettor with no edge at all, betting -110 coin flips. Over 100 bets, luck alone can push their ROI anywhere from about -19 percent to +19 percent in 95 out of 100 cases. Over 1,000 bets, that luck band shrinks to about plus or minus 6 percent. A 10 percent ROI over 80 bets tells you very little.
Our results pages label a sample Proven at 300 or more decided (won or lost) bets, Promising at 100 to 299, and Too small under 100. That is a display threshold, not a statistical test. The Advanced view adds a 95 percent range for the ROI, counted game by game because bets on one game move together. If the range includes zero, the sample cannot yet tell a real edge from luck. How we grade and count is on how we test our tools.
ROI vs win rate
Win rate and ROI answer different questions. A bettor who bets mostly favorites can win 60 percent of their bets and still lose money if the prices are steep enough. A bettor who bets plus-money underdogs can lose more bets than they win and still be up in units. That is why a record should always be read together with units and ROI, never on its own.
Two made-up bettors show it. Bettor A wins 60 of 100 one-unit bets, all at -150: the wins pay 60 x 0.667 = 40 units and the losses cost 40, so the net is zero and the ROI is 0 percent despite a 60 percent hit rate. Bettor B wins only 40 of 100, all at +170: the wins pay 40 x 1.7 = 68 units and the losses cost 60, a net of +8 units and an 8 percent ROI with a losing hit rate.
ROI is the result. Expected value is what the result should average if your prices really beat the market. Over a long enough run, a positive-EV bettor should see a positive ROI, but short runs can disagree in either direction.
What is a good ROI in sports betting?
On straight bets at standard prices, a sustained ROI in the low single digits is already strong. Claims of 20 or 30 percent over a full season usually mean a small sample, missing losses or very long prices. Our page on what pros actually hit covers realistic win rates.
Because ROI takes so long to settle, many serious bettors also track closing line value. Beating the closing price shows up within dozens of bets, long before ROI becomes trustworthy, and it is a good early sign that the process is sound.
Tracking ROI honestly
- Log every bet, including the ones you would rather forget.
- Record the price you actually got and the stake in units.
- Keep separate records for separate strategies or services; blending them hides which one is working.
- Grade from the official final score and count pushes nowhere.
The bet tracker does this for you, grading each bet and comparing it with the closing line. If you size bets with a formula such as the Kelly criterion, track ROI on units risked so bigger bets weigh more.
Once you have enough bets, split your ROI by sport, market and price range. A positive overall figure can hide one market that leaks steadily, and plugging that leak is often the fastest improvement available. Each slice is a smaller sample than the whole, though, so the caution about luck applies twice over.
Your next step
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate ROI in sports betting?
Divide your net units won by the units you risked on won and lost bets, then multiply by 100. Up 10 units on 250 units risked is a 4 percent ROI.
Do pushes count in betting ROI?
No. A push returns the stake, so it counts in neither units risked nor units won. Voided bets are treated the same way.
What is a good ROI in sports betting?
On straight bets at standard prices, a sustained ROI in the low single digits over hundreds of bets is strong. Much higher numbers usually come from small samples, long prices or missing losses.
How many bets do you need before ROI is meaningful?
Hundreds. Our results pages call 300 or more decided bets Proven, 100 to 299 Promising and under 100 Too small, and add a range that shows how much of the result luck could explain.
Your next step
- 1Learn itROI (Return on Investment) (this page)
- 2Apply itHow to win at sports betting →
- 3Run itBet Tracker →
- 4Master itDay 4: Variance never lies →
Related terms
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