Types of Bet

Betting to Win - as the name suggests this is a straight bet, at fixed odds, for your chosen horse to win the race outright.

Betting Each Way - this is effectively two bets.

• A bet for your horse to win

• A bet for your horse to be placed 

If your horse wins - you win on both sides of the bet, if it is placed, you will lose the "win" part of the bet, but win on the place part of the bet. 

The odds that you get for a place bet are a percentage of the horses starting price and the percentage (and the number of places that are regarded as a winning place bet) will vary depending upon on the type of race and the number of runners - these are as follows:

All Races

Handicap races

Be wary of non runners, it is common for there to be a non runner in an eight or sixteen horse handicap race, that means that the each way market with a bookmaker will only reduce the number of places paid.

This is not the case on Betfair, where the number of places paid out in the place market does not change.

For Example If you bet £10 each way on a horse that was 4/1, in a 12 runner handicap race you could get the following returns

Place Bets (Betfair) - In Betfair the place market is different, the bet is for your horse to finish in any place position. It differs to betting each way in that it is a single place bet only, betting for your horse to finish in a place position. There is no "win" part of the bet which would lose if your horse came 2nd. With Betfair if your horses comes first you would receive the same payout as you would if it came 2nd.

In the above example, the specific returns would depend on the odds offered in Betfair, but for illustrative purposes lets say the odds offered were Evens in the place market, and you had  placed your £20 stake in Betfair. If the horse came 1st, 2nd or 3rd your return would be £20 profit and £20 stake returned.

You could therefore say that the Betfair place market is therefore a more averaged return - I.e. - In the above example the maximum you can win is £20 regardless of whether the horse wins the race or is placed. An each way bet returns a maximum of £50 profit if the horse wins, but just returns your stake money should it be placed.

Which is the best method depends on your own attitude to risk and whether you think the horse has a good chance of winning the race or just finishing in the place money.

Forecasts / Tricasts - This is where you choose the horses that will come first and second (and third) in a race in the correct order. This is obviously a lot harder to do than just pick the winner but the returns are a lot better, as the wins of each bet are rolled up and applied to the next horse..

Reverse Forecasts /Tricasts - This is the same as a forecast / tricast but the horses do not have to be in the correct order. The bet is effectively permutations of the straight forecast / tricast (that is, betting all combinations of the forecast / tricast). The stake will be higher for a reverse forecast / tricast.

Accumulators - (Doubles, trebles etc) -  choosing a horse to win in more than one race. These have potentially large payouts depending on how many races are accumulated, but are statistically a lot harder to win and are therefore heavily promoted by bookmakers.

There are various "all combination" types of accumulator promoted by bookmakers, some examples of which are:

Trixie - 3 selections are chosen across 3 different races and then all combinations of doubles and trebles are bet - 3 doubles and 1 treble. You need any 2 horses to win to get a return.

Yankee - the same as a Trixie but with 4 selections - 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 4-way accumulator. You need 2 horses to win to get a return.

Super Yankee / Canadian - the same as a Yankee but with 5 selections - 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-way accumulators and a five-way accumulator.

There are more of these types of bet - Heinz (6 selections), Super Heinz (7 selections), Lucky 15,  etc. These types of bet are popular with some people as they are seen that you only need two of your selections to win in order to obtain a return, with the potential to get a big payout should you get a higher amount of winners from your selections.

Statistically though, the chances of getting a high amount of winners is low, so in order to decide whether this type of bet is for you, you need to look at the returns you could receive for getting the minimum amount of winners required for a pick up, and then compare it to the amount of money you are staking and the actual chances of winning.

Scoop 6 - The Scoop 6 is a six race accumulator that is run on Saturday, across six chosen races.  For a £2 stake, you choose one horse in each of the six races. If you want more horses in the races then your stake will go up accordingly. The prize of winning the Scoop 6 is usually high, and if it isn't won one week, the prize money will roll over to the next week. In this way the prize fund can sometimes be hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In addition to the win fund, there is place fund whereby if your selections are placed in each of the six races you would receive a place dividend.

Should you be lucky enough to win the Scoop 6, there is also a Bonus Fund which the previous weeks winner is able to choose a horse in one specified race, in order to win a bonus amount. If the bonus fund is not won, it is also rolled over to the next week.

Betting Exchanges

A betting exchange is effectively an internet based  market place (like the stock exchange) where punters can trade both sides of a bet.

Odds are displayed and change in real time refreshing every second and could be said to be a true reflection of the live market on any given horse in a race. Prices are advertised as being 20% better than bookmakers, although in practice this is an average and varies dramatically depending on the price of the horse. For example:

A horse that is 25/1 at a bookmakers could be 50-1 on an exchange - 100% better

A horse that is 15/8 at a bookmakers (1.875 - 1) could be trading at 2-1 on an exchange - only 6% better

Punters who use exchanges pay a net commission on each winning bet of between 2% and 5% depending on the exchange and the amount the user bets on an ongoing basis (the more you turnover, the lower your commission rate).

One of the most attractive elements of a betting exchange is that there is no maximum bet. You can place any sized bet you like with the only limitation being the amount of money that is available to match on the exchange - and the amount of money in your account.

Both sides of a bet can be made on the exchange, which gives the opportunity to act as the bookmaker and bet for the horse to lose. This means that if you're not sure which horse is going to win, but you are pretty sure that a particular horse wont win, you can act as a bookmaker and lay the bet on an exchange. By doing so you are offering odds to another punter who thinks its going to win.

By far, the largest exchange is Betfair (www.betfair.com) and has the most liquidity in the markets. They suggest that on average you will gain a 20% better price by using Betfair, in practice though for lower priced horses it may be less and for higher priced horses it may be more. If you do not have a Betfair account, you can open one very easily by clicking here.

In-running Betting

Exchanges offer the ability to bet on horses (and other sports) while the race unfurls. This is particularly useful if you are a good judge of how horses run and feel you can predict when a horse that is in the lead with a furlong to go may fade and lose the race. Prices fluctuate quickly in running, especially in short flat races and you should be aware of the time lag between the pictures you may see on satellite television and what is happening at the track - as there will always be people at the track and on the end of phone lines who are a couple of seconds ahead of you.

Sports Traders

Using a betting exchange, traders will trade both sides of a bet as the price changes, so as to create a profit margin. This means that they may lay a horse for £100 at 2/1 (with a liability of £200) on the expectation that the horse will drift in the market. If the horse went out to 3/1 they could then bet £75 back. By doing so, they are now in a no lose position -

If the horse wins - they pay out £200 (£100 @ 2/1) for the lay bet, but win £225 (£75 @ 3/1) for the win bet. Making a profit of £25.

If the horse loses - they collect the £100 stake from the lay bet, and lose the £75 win bet. Making a profit of £25.

Obviously there is a high degree of skill required to undertake this type of betting successfully, as it requires a prediction as to which way a market may move.

Fixed Odds Traders - this is the same as traders, except the trading of the horse is between the bookmaker and a betting exchange to create a profit margin. E.g. taking an early price in the morning of 4/1 with a bookmaker with the expectation that the price will shorten throughout the day, and then laying it back at 3/1 on a betting exchange in the afternoon. A trader may do this if there is not enough liquidity in the exchange market in the morning.