First time placing a bet?
Win and Each Way bets are the simplest types of bet, with Win being fairly obvious, but there are a couple of things to know if you don’t want to be embarrassed when betting Each Way:
Win
This is pretty straightforward – you pay your money and you make your choice. If you win, then you receive some money back, if you don’t win, then you rip up the ticket, move on to the next race and put it down to experience.
When you go to place your bet the bookie will want to know the NUMBER of the horse rather than the name, the TIME of the race, the RACECOURSE (e.g. if you are betting over the phone or want to bet on a race at a course other than the one you are already at), and your STAKE which means how much you want to bet (note: most bookies ask for a minimum stake of £2).
Each Way
Betting Betting ‘Each Way’ means you are staking money, be it online or not (if you are interested in the former option you can check UFABET news), on a horse to win, or to be ‘Placed’ The number of places varies between races and sometimes you can still win money even if your horse comes in fourth, it all depends on how many horses are running in the race.
Number of Runners / Type of Race | Place conditions |
2–4 runners in the race | No place betting is allowed in races of 4 horses or less (win only) |
5–7 runners in the race | If your horse comes in 1st or 2nd, you get one quarter of the odds |
8+ runners in the race | If your horse comes in 1st, 2nd or 3rd you will get one fifth of the odds |
Handicaps 12–15 runners in the race | If your horse comes in 1st, 2nd or 3rd you will get one quarter of the odds |
Handicaps 16+ runners in the race | If your horse comes in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th you will get one quarter of the odds |
When you place your bet, you need to pay twice the amount you are betting, so if you want to bet £1 Each Way, you pay the bookie £2: it’s not a con, it’s because with Each Way you are actually placing two bets simultaneously – one bet to win and the other bet to get a ‘place’ (2nd, 3rd etc).
So, if you stake £5 each way (which costs ‘To Win’ x £5 plus ‘Each Way’ x £5 = £10) on Three-Legged Jim to win. There are 8 horses in the race.
To everyone’s surprise (and your personal jubilation), the horse comes in first at 10/1.
Because your bet is really two bets the money is worked out as follows –
£5 to win at 10/1 + your stake = £55
£5 for a place at one-fifth odds or 2/1 + your stake = £15
Your total winnings are £70.
GOOD LUCK!
Please note: tips are followed at your own risk. Please gamble responsibly.
Allison is the Publisher of Eclipse Magazine. She loves going to the Races and is learning to bet (despite being officially the worst bettor in the History of the Universe), there’s a lot more to learn…