Exchange Commission Calculator

How to use this calculator

Enter the exchange odds, your stake (or the backer's stake you are matching on a lay), and the commission model. Presets carry a site-default rate for each exchange; treat them as starting points and edit the rate to match your own account, since exchanges vary commission by country, product and discount tier. The rate you save is remembered in your browser and used by every calculator on the site.

• Effective odds are the bookmaker price that would pay the same after commission.
• Break-even is the win rate you need for the bet to have zero expected value.
• Equivalent bookmaker odds are the break-even price; a bookmaker offering more than this beats the exchange.
• The rate table shows how the same bet looks from 0% to 10% commission.

Commission on net winnings

Most exchanges charge a percentage of the profit on a winning bet and nothing on a loss. The effective odds are 1 + (odds − 1) × (1 − rate).

Back 100 at 2.10 with 5% commission. A win pays 110 gross, the exchange keeps 5.50, and you net 104.50: effective odds of 2.045. To break even you need to win 48.90% of the time, against 47.62% at the displayed price. A bookmaker offering 2.05 or better on the same selection is the better bet. Open this example and drag the rate to see the effective price move.

The cut is proportional to profit, so it hurts long prices more than short ones in absolute terms and favourites hardly at all. At 5% commission, 1.20 becomes 1.19 (break-even 84.03%), 2.00 becomes 1.95 (51.28%), 5.00 becomes 4.80 (20.83%) and 10.00 becomes 9.55 (10.47%). At 2% the same 2.10 is worth 2.078 and the break-even falls to 48.12%.

Lay bets

Laying at odds L against a backer's stake B means you risk a liability of B × (L − 1) to win B. It is the same as backing "not this outcome" at odds L / (L − 1) with the liability as the stake, and that is how the calculator evaluates it, with commission taken from your profit when the lay wins.

Lay 2.10 against a backer's stake of 100 at 5% commission: your liability is 110, and if the outcome does not happen you keep the 100 stake less 5 commission, a profit of 95. Effective odds on the "not" side are 1.864, and the break-even win rate for the lay is 53.66%. The arbitrage calculator combines a lay like this with a back bet at a bookmaker and sizes the two for equal profit.

Commission on turnover

A turnover charge applies to the stake whether the bet wins or loses. There is no single effective price in that case: back 100 at 2.10 with 1% turnover commission and a win nets 109 while a loss costs 101. The calculator reports the profit-and-loss pair and the break-even win rate, 48.10% here, which is the honest way to compare it with a bookmaker.

Comparing an exchange with a bookmaker

The comparison is always between the exchange's effective odds and the bookmaker's displayed odds, because the bookmaker's margin is already inside its price. Three cases come up:

• Same selection, back versus back. Take whichever effective price is higher.
• Back at the bookmaker, lay on the exchange. The gap between the two prices has to cover the commission; with 5% commission a 2.20 back against a 2.10 lay locks in under 1%.
• Exchange as a fair-price reference. After removing the small overround in exchange prices with the devig calculator, the result is close to a fair line. Remember to apply commission when you compare that line with a price you would actually take.

Frequently asked questions

How is a lay bet priced?

Laying at odds L against a backer's stake B risks a liability of B × (L − 1). It is the same as backing "not this outcome" at odds L / (L − 1) with the liability as the stake, and that is how the calculator evaluates it.

Does commission apply to my whole account or each market?

Usually each market, on the net result of every bet in that market, so offsetting bets in the same market share one charge. This calculator treats one bet in isolation.

Why are the preset rates marked as unverified?

They were entered without checking each exchange's current schedule, and rates differ by country and account tier anyway. Edit the rate to match your account; the site remembers it for every calculator.

Does the calculator include exchange premium charges or discounts?

No. Some exchanges reduce the rate with volume or charge extra on consistently winning accounts. Enter the rate you actually pay after those adjustments.

Which exchanges are covered?

Each venue on the exchanges hub has its own page with the commission model, a table of effective odds and this calculator pre-set to its rate. The exchange commission guide explains the models in more depth.