How to calculate your sports betting ROI
Updated 01 Nov 2026
Sports betting ROI is your net profit divided by your total staked, times 100. If you staked $1,000 across a month and finished up $60, your ROI is 6%. Count only finished bets in both numbers.
Bankroll doesn't enter into it, and neither does your win rate. You can win more than half your bets and still lose money: at -200, you have to win 66.7% just to break even.
A worked ROI example at -110
Say you make 100 bets at -110, staking $110 each to win $100, and you win 53 of them.
- Total staked: 100 × $110 = $11,000
- Profit from wins: 53 × $100 = $5,300
- Losses: 47 × $110 = $5,170
- Net profit: $5,300 − $5,170 = $130
- ROI: $130 ÷ $11,000 = 1.2%
A 53% win rate sounds comfortable and comes out to 1.2%. Break-even at -110 is 52.4%, which is why the margin feels so thin.
Pushes, voids, and bonus bets in ROI
A push or a void gives your stake back, so it adds nothing to profit. Leave voids out of total staked, since the bet never happened. Pushes are a judgment call. BetUnfold counts them in total staked, which pulls ROI slightly toward zero. If you leave them out, your number will differ a little from ours.
A bonus bet is a judgment call too, because none of your own cash was at risk. Counting it at $0 staked adds its profit and no stake, which lifts ROI. BetUnfold has you set the stake you want counted for a bonus bet. Whichever way you go, stay consistent.
How many bets before ROI means anything
More than you'd like. A bettor who wins exactly half their -110 bets averages about -4.5%. Over 100 bets, luck moves that by about 10 points either way, so the same bettor can easily show +5% or -15%, and a swing twice that size isn't rare.
The noise shrinks slowly. It is about 3 points at 1,000 bets and about 2 points at 2,500 bets, at equal stakes. A long-odds bettor needs far more bets than that.
Closing line value compares your odds with the closing odds on the same bet, and can give a signal sooner. Beating the close is a common sign of an edge, but it doesn't guarantee profit, needs a sample of its own, and means less in thin markets.
Split your ROI by sport, sportsbook, and bet type
One ROI number hides the useful part. You might be up on NBA totals and down on every NFL parlay, and the blended figure tells you neither. Compare it by sport, by sportsbook, and by bet type, then look at where the money actually goes. Small splits are noisier than the total.
BetUnfold Pro works these out from the bets you track, along with your average closing line value, streaks, and a calendar of your results. Each bet's own closing line shows on every plan. A spreadsheet can do it too if you're happy to keep the formulas up to date.
Common questions
What is a good ROI in sports betting?
Any positive ROI over a large sample is good, because the odds start against you. At -110 you start from about -4.5% if you win half your bets, so a few percent above zero over a few thousand bets is a strong result.
How do you calculate sports betting ROI?
ROI (%) = net profit ÷ total staked × 100, using only finished bets. $130 of profit on $11,000 staked is an ROI of 1.2%.
What win rate do you need at -110 to break even?
52.4%. You risk $110 to win $100, so you need 110 ÷ 210 of your bets to win.