ROI in betting: what it is and how to calculate it

ROI (return on investment) shows how much you made or lost relative to the total amount staked. ROI = profit / total stakes × 100%. If you staked 1000 and ended with 1050, ROI is +5%.

How to calculate it from odds

With a one-unit stake, a win brings (odds − 1), a loss costs 1, a push returns 0. ROI = (wins × (odds − 1) − losses) / bets. Example: odds 1.83, 55 wins out of 100 bets: (55 × 0.83 − 45) / 100 = +0.65%.

How many wins you need to break even

The break-even rate is 1 / odds. At 1.83 it is 54.6%, at 1.91 it is 52.4%, at 2.00 it is 50%. A win rate below the threshold at those odds means a loss.

Why small samples mislead

Over 20-50 bets ROI swings by tens of percent from chance alone. To tell a pattern from luck you need hundreds of bets, and rules must be checked on data that was not used to pick them.

ROI and margin

The bookmaker margin (usually 4-8% on totals and spreads) constantly drags ROI down: a blind bet on any outcome loses roughly that amount on average. That is why a stable profit is rare, not normal.

The LineVS home page shows streaks and ROI for our signals with real odds. It is statistics of past games, not a promise of future results.

Related

For information and analysis only, 18+. LineVS does not accept bets and does not guarantee results.