Sports Investing Break-Even Percentage

The break-even percentage is is the percentage of time a bet must win for you to break-even – which means that you will neither win nor lose money making the bet over time. This is an important concept to understand what it is and how to calculate it in order to become a profitable sports investor. 

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HOW TO CALCULATE THE BREAK-EVEN
The break-even percentage is how often does a bet have to win as a percentage for the bet to break-even over time. It is based on how much the bet pays, not how often it wins. Bets with different odds have different break-even percentages. For example, if you consistently bet on sports games with odds of -300, your break-even percentage is 75%, which means you have to win more than 75% of your bets to become profitable over time. Similarly, if you consistently bet on sports games with odds of +150, your break-even percentage is 40%, which means you have to win more than 40% of your bets to become profitable over time.

Break-Even percentage = Risk / (Risk + Win)

If the odds are a plus number, the break-even percentage will be below 50%. If the odds are a minus number, the break-even percentage will be above 50%.

For plus odds (i.e., +250, +130), the break-even perecentage is calculated by taking 100 and dividing it by 100 plus the odds. For example, if the odds are +130, the break-even percentage is 100/(100+130), which is 43.5%.
Break-Even Percentage = 100 / (100 + 130) = 43.5%

For minus odds (i.e., -110, -160), the break-even percentage is the listed odds number, divided by 100 plus the listed odds number. For example, if the odds are -110, the break-even percentage is 110/(100+110), which is 52.4%.
Break-Even Percentage = 110 / (100 + 110) = 52.4%