Those who have ever wagered on horse racing in the UK know that there are many different types of bets to choose from. Before you play the UK race tracks offered by your favorite online racebook, you should know a little bit about UK horse racing bets. Here’s a list of the most popular wagers with an explanation of how the bet is won.
The Win Bet
Just like in the United States you can bet on a horse in the UK to win. This is the most simple and straightforward racing bet that is offered at UK online racebooks. Many bettors prefer this type of wager because it only requires you to pick one horse that you think is capable of winning the race.
For a win wager you will be asked to bet a specific amount of money. This might be £5 or as much as you desire. The horse that you have bet on will be offered to you at specific odds. It could be 1-1 or even money, 2-1, 5-1, or better. The longer the odds on the horse, the more money you will collect when it wins the race.
The Each Way Bet
This is another UK horse racing bet that has some similarities to a bet that is offered in the United States. The Each Way bet is actually two separate wagers. One is a bet to win. The other is a place bet with odds determined by the bookmaker. This is where the bet begins to take on some differences from the US version.
Your place bet will be offered at reduced odds. In the US you would be paid out according to the place pool. Also, in the UK a place bet might pay you if your horse finishes third or better. In the US to win a place bet would mean that your horse had to run first or second.
The Place Bet
You can also negotiate with bookmakers in the UK to make a straight place bet on a horse. The terms will be determined by the online racebook or bookmaker that you choose. This is generally considered one of the least popular bets in UK horse racing. If your horse wins the event, you will get no extra payout for collecting the place wager.
Head to Head Betting
This is where things in UK horse racing begin to get very exciting. You can actually bet on any horse in the race to beat another horse instead of beating the whole field! Think about that. Instead of having to handicap the entire race, all you have to do is focus on two horses to determine which one is better. That can make your handicapping job much easier.
You might be thinking that all you need to do is just pick a favorite to beat one of the lower class horses in the field. The problem with this is that you will be offered very low odds by the bookmaker. The amount of money that you will have to risk in order to make this bet is not worth the return in many cases. What you want to do is find two horses of mediocre talent that are not expected to win the race. Pick the one that you think has the best chance of winning.
Lay Betting
Imagine if you could pick a horse to lose instead of win? That is exactly what lay betting or not-to-win betting is in the UK. Many bettors believe that it is much easier to pick a horse in a race that will lose instead of picking one to win. After all, in a race with ten horses there will be nine losers and only one winner. You should be able to easily identify horses that do not have the talent to compete with their rivals.
Again, the odds that you receive will depend upon the perceived ability of a horse to win its event. Picking a horse that everyone knows will lose is not going to get you much of a return. This type of betting is most popular at what are known as betting exchanges. Some online racebooks also function as an exchange. You basically tell other bettors what odds you are willing to give on a certain horse. If someone is willing to accept those odds, the bet is booked.
Tote Bets in UK Horse Racing
Not all bets in UK horse racing are controlled by the bookies. There is also tote board or pool betting just like you will find in the US. In fact, this is the most popular type of UK horse betting that you will encounter if you are making wagers at an online racebook.
Here is a look at some of the most popular tote board racing bets in the UK:
The Tote Swinger
This is a bet that you will not find in US horse racing. What you will be doing is choosing two horses to finish in the top three. As long as both of the horses that you have chosen finish first, second, or third you can collect the bet.
A Tote Swinger gives you just a little more margin for error than some other bets. You don’t have to be picture perfect on your handicapping to get this bet right and collect a payout. There are three distinct payouts, too, and that makes the bet attractive. First and second, first and third, and second and third all pay different amounts depending on how much that you have bet.
Tote Exacta and Tote Trifecta
The exacta and trifecta bets in the UK are just like the exacta and trifecta in the US. To win the exacta bet you must choose the two horses that finish in first and second place. To win the trifecta you must pick the three horses that finish in first, second, and third place. A winning trifecta bet will generally pay more than a winning exacta bet, but both of these bets can produce some nice returns on your investment.
Multiples in UK Horse Racing
In the US you will find horse racing bets that are referred to as multi-horse and multi-race wagers. These bets involve betting on several horses or several races in a sequence. These wagers are also available in the UK, but they are referred to as multiples.
Multiples are very popular in the UK because they offer the bettor a chance to win a nice sum of money. They are challenging bets, however, because they are more difficult to win. Here is a list of some of the most popular multiples that you can play at an online UK racebook.
A Double, Treble, or Four-fold
These UK horse racing bets are similar to the Pick Three and Pick Four wagers that are so popular in the US. Basically, you will be picking a horse to win in the number of consecutive races that you specify. For example, a double would require you to make a bet on the winner of two races in a row. The Triple would be for three races, and so on.
What is interesting about this form of betting in the UK is that the profits from each race go to the next bet. In the US you would bet a flat amount of money on a Pick Three. In the UK you would roll over your winnings from one race to the next. So, if the first horse you picked to win in a treble was offered at 8-1 and it won, the entire payout would go on the horse that you have chosen in the second race. This type of parlay betting can lead to some massive payouts if you mange to win all of the bets in the sequence.
The Yankee
The Yankee is a complicated UK race wager to make, but it pays huge. It is actually a series of 11 separate bets. It consists of doubles, trebles, and four-fold wagers. You can choose the combination of wagers that you want as long as the number of bets adds up to 11. You can choose to make a straight win Yankee bet or you can choose an each way Yankee. The each way version of the Yankee will cost twice as much as the straight win version.
The Lucky 15
This bet consists of a total of 15 wagers! It is basically a Yankee bet plus four individual win bets. What is great about this wager is that you can still win something even if you lose the Yankee. If you are unlucky enough to lose all of the bets except for one of the straight win wagers, sometimes you will be rewarded with a sympathy payout from the bookmaker. The odds on that single wager may be increased to offer some small compensation for what you have lost on the Yankee bet.
As you can see there are many exciting wagers to take advantage of in UK horse racing. Are you ready to give some of them a try? Just sign up with one of our recommended online racebooks and you’ll be betting on the UK horse racing tracks in no time. See our Bovada racebook review, Twinspires review or even our Betamerica review. All great choice if you are in the US. 5Dimes review for folks anywhere! Some online racebooks even accept Bitcoin as a form of deposit.
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