What is Yield?

How yield works

Yield is calculated by dividing net profit (or loss) by total stakes, then multiplying by 100 to produce a percentage. The formula is: Yield = (Net Profit ÷ Total Staked) × 100. If a tipster advises 200 bets at one point each, the total staked is 200 points. If net profit over those bets is 18 points, the yield is 9%.

A positive yield indicates profit; a negative yield indicates loss. Most professional sports bettors operate with long-run yields of between 5% and 15%, because bookmaker margins make anything higher very difficult to sustain over thousands of bets. A tipster showing 30%+ yield over a small sample is not necessarily skilled — the figure may simply reflect variance. Yield becomes more meaningful the larger the sample size behind it.

Worked example

Suppose a football tipster posts 50 bets over a month, all at level one-point stakes, giving 50 points staked in total. Of those, 20 win and 30 lose. The winning bets return a combined 58 points in profit, while the 30 losses cost 30 points, producing a net profit of 28 points. Yield is therefore (28 ÷ 50) × 100 = +56%. That sounds impressive, but 50 bets is a small sample, so it tells you relatively little about long-term ability.

Now consider the same tipster after 500 bets, still at level stakes, with a cumulative net profit of 55 points from 500 staked. Yield drops to (55 ÷ 500) × 100 = +11%. That figure, backed by a larger sample, is a far more reliable indicator of genuine edge. The contrast between the two scenarios illustrates why sample size must always be considered alongside yield.

Why yield matters when judging a tipster

Yield tells you how efficiently a tipster converts staking activity into profit, regardless of whether they advise five bets a week or fifty. This makes it more useful than raw profit figures alone when comparing two tipsters, because a tipster staking heavily at short prices can generate large absolute profits with a modest yield, while one targeting bigger prices at lower volume may show higher yield but smaller total returns. Neither is automatically better; yield puts them on a level footing.

When reviewing a tipster on TipsterCheck, look at yield alongside profit in points, strike rate, drawdown, and sample size. A high yield over fewer than 100 bets warrants scepticism; it may not survive regression to the mean. You should also check whether advised odds were achievable — a yield calculated at advised odds that were consistently unavailable at the time of posting is misleading. Proofed records, ideally verified by an independent service, give the most accurate picture.

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