The odds band, and why it exists

Every challenge restricts you to odds between 1.60 and 3.00. It is the rule people query most, usually on the grounds that it stops them backing the longshot they like. That is true, and it is the point.

Variance, not preference

At 1.60 you need to be right about 63% of the time to break even. At 3.00 it is 34%. Both are gettable with a real edge. Push past 5.00 and the sample needed to distinguish a skilled picker from a lucky one grows past anything a challenge can reasonably cover.

The band is not a judgement about which bets are good. It is a statement about how quickly we can tell the difference between you and noise.

The other end

The floor matters as much as the ceiling. Below 1.60 the maths flips: you can post a long winning streak with no edge at all, and one loss erases it. Short-priced grinding looks like skill on a scoreboard and is nearly impossible to evaluate inside a minimum pick count.

Both limits exist so that twenty picks actually mean something.