Odds Formats — Decimal, American, and Fractional

Bookmakers worldwide display prices differently. A disciplined ledger stores one canonical decimal internally while letting you enter bets in whatever format you see on screen.

Decimal (European)

Total return per unit stake including stake. Decimal 2.50 → win £1.50 profit on £1 staked.

Profit = stake × (decimal − 1)

American (moneyline)

Positive (+150): profit on a £100 stake. +150 → decimal 2.50.

Negative (−200): stake needed to win £100. −200 → decimal 1.50.

Conversion:

• If American > 0: decimal = 1 + American/100
• If American < 0: decimal = 1 + 100/|American|

Fractional (UK)

6/4 means win £6 for every £4 staked. Decimal = 1 + numerator/denominator = 2.50.

Some sites show “6/4” as the win fraction only; always confirm whether stake is included in display.

Asian formats

Format	Example	Decimal
Hong Kong	0.85	1.85
Malaysian +	0.85	1.85
Malaysian −	−0.85	1 + 1/0.85 ≈ 2.176
Indonesian +	1.50	2.50
Indonesian −	−1.50	1 + 1/1.50 ≈ 1.667

Why normalisation matters

Mixing formats in one spreadsheet causes silent errors — American minus signs, fractional denominators, or treating HK as decimal. Software should convert on input and never lose precision.

Practical tip

Set a default entry format in your tracker matching your primary bookmaker, but verify decimal equivalent on save until the habit sticks.

mybetrecord accepts all listed formats and stores decimal odds for every report and Kelly calculation.