The $2 win payout chart
Each row is the projected return on a winning $2 win bet at that price. Profit is the odds fraction applied to $2; the total payout adds the $2 stake back. These are the numbers the odds imply, not the official payoff the tote board posts after the race.
| Odds | Profit | Total payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1/10 | $0.20 | $2.20 |
| 1/9 | $0.22 | $2.22 |
| 1/5 | $0.40 | $2.40 |
| 2/5 | $0.80 | $2.80 |
| 1/2 | $1.00 | $3.00 |
| 3/5 | $1.20 | $3.20 |
| 4/5 | $1.60 | $3.60 |
| 1/1 (even) | $2.00 | $4.00 |
| 6/5 | $2.40 | $4.40 |
| 7/5 | $2.80 | $4.80 |
| 3/2 | $3.00 | $5.00 |
| 8/5 | $3.20 | $5.20 |
| 9/5 | $3.60 | $5.60 |
| 2/1 | $4.00 | $6.00 |
| 5/2 | $5.00 | $7.00 |
| 3/1 | $6.00 | $8.00 |
| 7/2 | $7.00 | $9.00 |
| 4/1 | $8.00 | $10.00 |
| 9/2 | $9.00 | $11.00 |
| 5/1 | $10.00 | $12.00 |
| 6/1 | $12.00 | $14.00 |
| 7/1 | $14.00 | $16.00 |
| 8/1 | $16.00 | $18.00 |
| 9/1 | $18.00 | $20.00 |
| 10/1 | $20.00 | $22.00 |
| 12/1 | $24.00 | $26.00 |
| 15/1 | $30.00 | $32.00 |
| 20/1 | $40.00 | $42.00 |
| 25/1 | $50.00 | $52.00 |
| 30/1 | $60.00 | $62.00 |
| 40/1 | $80.00 | $82.00 |
| 50/1 | $100.00 | $102.00 |
| 99/1 | $198.00 | $200.00 |
See also: How pari-mutuel odds work · Win, place, show, and exotic bets
The formula behind every row
Profit equals the stake multiplied by the odds fraction. The total payout is that profit plus the stake. Nothing in the chart is more complicated than those two steps, which is why you do not need the chart once the pattern is clear.
Read the fraction as profit-to-stake. At 5/2, a bettor is offered $5 of profit for every $2 risked, so a $2 bet earns $5 and returns $7. At 8/5, the offer is $8 of profit for every $5 risked, so a $2 bet earns 2 x 8/5 = $3.20 and returns $5.20. The left number is what you gain; the right number is what you put up to gain it.
Odds displayed as a single number carry an implied /1: a horse shown at 5 is 5/1, and a horse shown at 12 is 12/1. Boards use rungs such as 8/5, 9/5, and 9/2 rather than the exact pool ratio because tote displays round to standard increments. The posted 9/2 is a label for a range of underlying prices, not a precise measurement.
Fractions below 1/1 describe odds-on horses, where the profit is smaller than the stake. A 2/5 shot returns $2.80 on $2, meaning 80 cents of profit for two dollars at risk. Nothing about a short price makes a result likely enough to be treated as settled.
Worked example: 8/5 on a $6 win bet
A horse closes at 8/5 and you have $6 on it to win. Multiply the stake by the fraction: 6 x 8/5 = $9.60 profit. Add the stake back for a $15.60 total return. The chart row for 8/5 shows $3.20 profit on $2, and $6 is three times $2, so 3 x $3.20 = $9.60 confirms the same answer.
That cross-check is the practical use of a $2 chart at other stakes. Divide your stake by two, then multiply the chart's profit column by that number. A $6 bet is three $2 units; a $1 bet is half a unit, so the 8/5 row becomes $1.60 profit and a $2.60 return.
The $9.60 figure is what the closing price implies. It is not a quote you locked in when the bet was placed, and it is not the official payoff until the race is declared official and the payoffs are posted.
Worked example: 12/1 on a $20 win bet
A $20 win bet on a 12/1 horse produces 20 x 12 = $240 profit and a $260 total return. Long prices scale the same way as short ones, but the gap between a projected return and an official payoff usually looks larger in dollar terms simply because the number is bigger.
Work the same bet from the chart: the 12/1 row shows $24.00 profit per $2, and $20 is ten $2 units, so 10 x $24.00 = $240. The two routes agree because they are the same multiplication.
One caution specific to long prices. A horse at 12/1 twenty minutes before post is often not a horse at 12/1 when the pool closes, because late money moves the board more sharply at the ends of the field than in the middle. Treat the pre-race number as the current state of the pool rather than a price you hold.
Scaling the chart to other stakes
The table below applies three sample prices to common stakes. Every cell is stake x odds + stake, the same two steps used above.
Published payoffs in the United States are conventionally shown on a $2 base because $2 was the traditional minimum win bet. The convention survived even though many tracks and platforms now accept smaller win wagers, and Kentucky's pari-mutuel regulations work from a $1 price that is then multiplied by the amount wagered. The base is a display choice; the arithmetic does not change.
| Stake | At 5/2 | At 9/2 | At 10/1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | $3.50 | $5.50 | $11.00 |
| $2 | $7.00 | $11.00 | $22.00 |
| $5 | $17.50 | $27.50 | $55.00 |
| $10 | $35.00 | $55.00 | $110.00 |
| $20 | $70.00 | $110.00 | $220.00 |
| $50 | $175.00 | $275.00 | $550.00 |
Why the posted price moves before the gates open
Win betting in North America is pari-mutuel, which means bettors are wagering against each other rather than against a bookmaker holding a fixed price. NYRA describes it as betting among ourselves: wagers of the same type go into one pool, the track deducts its takeout, and what remains is divided among the winning tickets.
Because the odds are a function of how the pool is distributed, they change every time money enters it. NYRA states that pari-mutuel odds reflect how much is wagered on each horse or combination relative to the size of the pool. A horse's price is therefore a running tally of what other bettors have done, updated until the pool closes.
Payouts are calculated from the final odds, not from the odds showing when a ticket was bought. This is the single most common source of surprise for newer bettors, and it is a structural feature of the pool rather than an error or a delay.
Takeout is already inside the number you see. NYRA publishes 16 percent on win, place, and show, 18.5 percent on exacta, quinella, and daily double, 24 percent on trifecta, superfecta, Grand Slam, Pick 3, and Pick 4, and 15 percent on Pick 5 and Pick 6. Those rates are set by track and jurisdiction and differ elsewhere, so a chart price at one track is not produced from the same deduction as the identical price at another.
See also: What takeout is and who sets it · What morning line odds mean
Projected return versus the official payoff
The chart gives a theoretical return computed from a clean fraction. The official payoff is computed from the actual money in the pool under the pari-mutuel rules of the state where the race was run, and the two figures can differ.
The main mechanical reason is breakage. Kentucky's regulations define breakage as the net pool minus the payout, and set the paid price as the unbroken price rounded down to a break point. In other words, the exact mathematical price is trimmed to a standard increment before it is paid, and the remainder is breakage. The size of that increment, how it is allocated, and whether any minimum payoff applies are matters of state rule, so the treatment is not uniform across jurisdictions and should be checked against the host state's regulations rather than assumed.
A second reason is that the fraction on the board is itself a rounded display. The underlying calculation divides the net pool by the amount bet on the winner, which rarely lands exactly on 8/5 or 9/2. A payoff of $5.40 on a horse shown at 8/5 is not a discrepancy; it is the unrounded arithmetic surfacing.
A third, rarer case is a minus pool, which Kentucky's regulations define as a pool in which the money owed to winning wagers exceeds the money in the pool. That happens when overwhelming support for one horse leaves too little after takeout to fund the required payoff, and the shortfall is covered under the applicable rule rather than by the chart.
The practical rule is simple: use the chart to understand what a price means, and use the posted official payoff to know what a ticket paid.
See also: What a minus pool is · Scratches and refunds
Why this chart applies to win odds only
The odds shown next to a horse are win odds, drawn from the win pool. Place, show, and every exotic wager have their own separate pools with their own totals, and no published odds line predicts what they will return.
Place and show pools are split among more than one horse. A place pool pays backers of the first two finishers, and a show pool pays backers of the first three, so the payoff depends not only on how much was bet on your horse but on which other horses filled the remaining spots and how much money was on them. A short-priced favorite finishing third can compress a show payoff for everyone in that pool.
Exotic wagers such as exactas, trifectas, and multi-race bets are priced entirely by their own pools and are usually quoted on a different base unit than $2. Their cost also depends on how many combinations a ticket covers, which is a separate calculation from odds arithmetic.
Applying the win chart to a place, show, or exotic ticket will produce a number, and that number will be wrong. Use the chart for win bets, and read the relevant pool's posted payoff for anything else.
See also: How much an exacta box costs · Win, place, show, and exotic bets
Common questions
What does 9/2 pay on a $2 bet?
Eleven dollars total: nine dollars of profit plus your two-dollar stake. On a $1 bet it is $5.50 total, and on a $10 bet it is $55.00 total.
How do you calculate a horse racing payout?
Multiply your stake by the odds fraction to get the profit, then add the stake back. A $6 bet at 8/5 earns 6 x 8/5 = $9.60 and returns $15.60. A $20 bet at 12/1 earns $240 and returns $260.
Why do tracks quote payouts on a $2 base?
Two dollars was the traditional minimum win bet in US racing, so published payouts standardized on it. Many platforms now accept $1 or less; halve the chart for a $1 bet, or divide your stake by two and multiply the chart's profit column by the result.
Why was my payout different from the chart?
Two reasons. Pari-mutuel payouts are calculated from the final odds when the pool closes, not the odds displayed when you bet. And the official payoff is computed from the actual pool and rounded down to a break point under the host state's rules, a deduction known as breakage, so it can differ from the clean fraction shown on the board.
Does the chart already account for takeout?
Yes, indirectly. Pari-mutuel odds are derived from the pool after the track's takeout has been removed, so the price you see is already net of it. NYRA, for example, retains 16 percent on win, place, and show. Rates differ by track and jurisdiction.
Do these payouts apply to place and show bets?
No. Win, place, and show are separate pools, and place and show payouts depend on how many horses share the pool and how much was bet on each of them. The chart applies to the win pool only, and it does not apply to exotic wagers either.
Further reading