Bookmakers betting Percentage.

What is bookmaker’s percentage?

The bookmaker percentage is a number over 100 that is theoretically the amount which if the bookmaker took the right amount on every participant he would payout £100 e.g. bookmakers percentage 124 would mean that for every £124 the bookmaker takes on this race he will payout £100, giving the bookmaker a theoretical profit of £24 on this event. Hence the lower the number of the bookmaker’s percentage the less theoretical profit to the bookmaker

e.g. bookmakers percentage 104 = only £4 profit to the bookmaker

Bookmakers percentage 130 = £30 profit to the bookmaker.

How do you workout the percentage.

To work out the bookmakers percentage for yourself you have to do the following on every participant in the event, first you divide the bottom number of the fraction into the top number then add 1

e.g. 7/2 = 7 / 2 + 1 = 4.5

You then take this number and divide it into 100, which will give you the percentage for this selection

e.g. 100 / 4.5 = 22.22

This is to be repeated for every runner in the event, and then all the totals are added together to give you the bookmaker’s percentage for the race/event. Below is a typical betting of a dog race

Trap .1 8/1= 8+1 = 9 = 100 / 9 = 11.11 

Trap .2.  4/1 = 4+1 = 5 = 100 / 5 = 20.00 

Trap .3.  6/4 = (6 / 4)+1= 2.5 = 100 / 2.5 = 40.00 

Trap .4.  7/2 = (7 / 2)+1= 4.5 = 100 / 4.5 = 22.22 

Trap .5.  2/1 = 2+1 = 3 = 100 / 3 = 33.33 

Trap .6.  9/1 = 9+1 = 10 = 100 / 10 = 10.00 

Total bookmakers percentage = 136.66