What horse racing bets can be made?

The sport of horse racing provides gamblers at online sportsbooks with plenty of betting opportunities. In this article, we will look at how you can bet on this sport. This will include singles, accumulators, system bets, forecasts and placepots.

Singles
Accumulators
Each-way
System Bets
Forecasts
Placepots
Special bets

Singles

You may wish to just bet on one horse to win. This is a single bet and extremely easy to make. Simply go to the horse racing section of the sportsbook. They will have plenty of betting opportunities with races from all over the world. Choose the race that you wish to bet on and click on the odds of the horse you think is the best selection. This goes into your bet slip, check all the details are correct and place your bet. If you place a win bet, then your selection has to finish first for you to receive a return on your stake. You could bet each-way, more about that soon.

Accumulators

Instead of just betting on one horse, why not put at least two into the same bet slip? Again, choose the races your selections are running in. Click on the odds and place them into your bet slip. Two horses equal a double, three a treble, four a four-fold and so on. If placing a win double etc, all the selections need to win for you to get a return on your bet. You can win a great deal of money placing accumulators, but remember the higher the number of selections, the higher the odds and less chance of you winning.

Each-Way

As previously mentioned, with a win bet they all have to finish first for you to get a return. However, if you place an each-way bet this is not the case. This is a two-in-one bet with half the stake on a win and the other half on the selection being placed. You need at least four runners in a race for an each-way bet to be possible. In that case bookmakers would pay out on the first two home. With more runners, this can go up to three or four places. When there are top races such as the Grand National, bookmakers can offer more places in order to attract custom. There are also other promotions that offer pay outs on additional places.

Here’s an example. Say, you want to stake £10 win bet on a horse that has odds of 8/1. If it wins, you make a profit of £80, if it loses, your £10 is lost. If you instead bet £10 each-way, the situation changes.

Firstly, you will need to stake £20, £10 win and £10 each-way. If the horse wins, you get that £10 at 8/1, which is £80 profit. The place bet also comes up, but the odds may be only a quarter of the regular odds which is 2/1, you therefore win £20 on that part of the bet. Overall, your profit is £100, very nice indeed. However, if it didn’t win, the £10 win bet goes down, but the place bet is a winner. You make an overall profit of £10 on the bet and that wouldn’t be the case if you’d just gone for a win.

System Bets

This is a form of betting that includes several selections with a number of bets. For example, a Lucky 15 has four selections but 15 bets, hence its name. There are four singles bets, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold. If this bet wins, you can get a great return and some online bookmakers pay a bonus for all-correct bets of this nature. If you get just one winner, some bookmakers will pay double the odds on that sole winner. The bonus with this form of bet is that unlike an accumulator, you can have losers but still get a return. You can also place each-way system bets to give more chance of a return.

Placepot

With this bet you are trying to find a horse that will be placed in each of the first six races at a meeting. A dividend will be declared and if your bet is a successful one, you will receive a return. The amount paid varies, it all depends on the prices of the horses that are placed. If six favourites are placed, then the dividend won’t be that high. If some favourites are unplaced, then the dividend will increase substantially. There is also a quadpot that is declared for four races. It’s a good bet to make as you can get a profit without even naming a winner.

Specials

There are other bets that can be made on horse racing. There’s the jackpot that requires you to name all the winners at a race meeting. This can rollover to the future if not won and reach impressive amounts. There are also bets on how many favourites will win at a meeting, match betting between two selected horses in a race, ante post betting on future races and how many wins a jockey will get. If there is a short-priced favourite, bookmakers can produce a market that doesn’t include it producing better odds.

As you can see, horse racing offers gamblers plenty of betting opportunities. With races from all over the world covered, there’s lots to bet on.