Help With Odds

I'm no big gambler but do like to donate the odd pound to the bookies and always thought I understood betting odds but after a couple of very small wins I'm a little confused and hoping one of you could point out where im going wrong.

The other day I had a grand total of £1 (yes a whole £1) on Balty Boys @ 5/1 by my calculation I should have won £5 + got my £1 stake back and my slip (online William Hill) agreed with this but when it won I check my settled bets and it said £1 Stake @ 5/1 return of £4.25

this happened with another bet but put me up overall so its not the money just for my own sanity.

Thanks in advance

Marv

 

TigerMarv, the reason that you got less back than you expected was because there was a horse withdrawn from the race (the original favourite Ivawood) and this resulted in a Rule 4 deduction from your bet of 35p in the pound. When Balty Boys won, he had inherited favouritism in Ivawood’s absence and only return at 11/4. You effectively got 13/4 after the deduction.

I have to say that I am disappointed that William Hill’s website did not point out the Rule 4 deduction to you. At this time of the season when there are quite a few horses being declared non-runners because of the changing state of the ground this probably happens to quite a lot of punters.

 

There were 2 non runners - Ivawood and Let's Go

This may help. You obviously got the 5/1 very early as it ended up 11/4 fav

 

That helps thanks,

I also had Nakeeta @ 12/1 in the 2.35 at Haydock but got back more than expected how does that one work?

 

If you got back more than you expected, there may have been a “Best Odds Guaranteed” offer on the race. If you backed the horse at 12/1 but the starting price was 20/1, you would get paid out at 20/1. If it had started shorter than 12/1, you would still have got 12/1, obviously.