What is Winnings? Winnings Explained in 2 minutes
Jesse M. Cox Last Verified
26/06/2026
What are Winnings?
Winnings is what every bettor hopes to receive as it is the amount of money that they get back for correctly predicting the outcome of an event. Depending on the stake, the odds and the type of bet placed the amount of winnings – or returns – can vary sharply so bettors should always understand what they are betting on before they make their selection.
How is Winnings used in Sports Betting?
Although bettors are able to select different outcomes on a variety of markets, the winnings when it comes to sports betting is the amount they will get back for being successful in their wager.
For example, if a bettor placed a £10 stake on a horse to win a particular race with odds of 5/1 they would receive £50 back in winnings plus the original £10 stake to make a total return of £60. But they may have chosen an each way bet which is really two separate bets – one for the win and one for the horse to finish in the top three, four or five depending on the race and the bookmaker. The place bet will usually be at a quarter of the odds so if the horse wins, both bets are successful and the bettor would receive £82.50. If the horse finished in the places, the winnings would still be £22.50.
Did You Know...
The amount of winnings depends on how much is staked but one lucky punter in 2008 was able to turn 50p into £1 million after successfully predicting the winners of eight horse races in an accumulator bet. With each horse having fairly long odds to begin with the total accumulator odds were 2,000,000-1.
