At Premier Information, we know how important it is to make sure you are making a profit whilst betting and ultimately making a return on your investment. This guide is intended to let you know the different types of bets available and to give you a clear overview of what is available to try out. If you're looking for more guides like this, follow us on the Premier Information Twitter account, or on LinkedIn.
Win Bet
There are a number of different types of bets you can place and the simplest and probably most common is the win bet. This is one bet, on one outcome and you are backing the horse to win the race. Told you it was neither rocket science nor brain surgery!
Each Way
Another hugely popular bet is to back a horse each way. This is effectively two bets, with one going on the horse to win and the other going on it to “place”. The place terms vary according to the type of race and number of horses in it, although it’s normally for your horse to finish in the top three. The place portion of your bet pays out at a fraction of the main odds and again this varies but is usually 1/4.
So, if you have a £10 each way bet on a horse at 4/1 that will cost you £20, with £10 on the win and £10 on the place part of the bet. If it wins both bets win, so you get £10 x 4 = £40, plus your £10 stake back for the win portion. You also get your each way bet too, so ¼ of 4/1 is 1/1, or evens, so you get £10 plus your stake of £10 so £20 in total. Overall you get £70 for a profit of £50. If the horse finished second, third or fourth you would lose your £10 win bet but make £10 profit from the each way win to leave you level overall.
These can be a great way to back an outsider and still profit if it makes the places with a huge bonus should it really cause an upset and win. Its also a means of insurance in that you can ensure you do not lose your stake or part of your stake if you are placed but fail to win.
Single Bet
This is where you are backing just one, single event. So if you back Blue Boy in the 2.30 at Fontwell that is a single bet. This could either be, as above, to win (a win single) or each way.
Mutliple Bets
There are numerous different types of multiple bet. Starting from the most simple, a double, up to the complex, almost ridiculous Goliath, which actually includes 247 separate bets in one single wager.
A double involves backing two separate events, for example Big Banana to win the aforementioned 12.30 at Bangor (hypothetically at 2/1) and Synaptic Explosion to win the 15.00 at Wetherby (at evens). Both bets must win for you to succeed. A £1 double would cost you £1 and if both horses deliver you would get £6 back. After the first horse wins you effectively have £3 (£1 stake plus £2 profit) on the second horse at evens, resulting in a payout of £6 and profit of £5.
A treble is the same concept but with three selections. As well as being called multiple bets these are also known as accumulators, or accas for short. You may hear the terms fourfold, fivefold and so on, referring to accumulators with that number of selections.
In addition to these simple multiples you also have various combination bets such as the previously mentioned Goliath. With these you have multiple selections (for example a Yankee has four) and you cover the various doubles, trebles and, in this case, a fourfold. A Yankee is 11 bets in total: six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold. You need at least two picks to win to get anything back and as it is 11 bets, a £1 Yankee would cost £11.
Straight Forecast
This requires you to pick the top two horses in a race, in the correct finishing order. The odds will be set for that particular outcome, so the forecast of Lucky Jim (first) and Bad Luck Bob (second) might be 12/1 and to win you need that exact outcome. For this reason the bet is known in the US as an Exacta.
Reverse Forecast
Similar to the above but the horses can finish in any order. This is effectively two bets, so a £10 reverse forecast would cost £20.
Tricast
One for the brave – pick the top three horses in the correct order. Big rewards await the successful here.
Rule Four Deductions
We would have included this with the explanation of the odds but didn’t want to confuse things. One thing to look out for when betting on the horses is that if there are late withdrawals your odds can sometimes change slightly. The odds are set based on the horses running at that time but if one or more withdraw, for example due to a late injury or the ground being deemed unsuitable, then your odds may be subject to a rule four deduction.
If there is a non-runner announced after the final declaration for the race your odds are reduced in accordance with the odds of the horse that was withdrawn. This allows for the fact that stakes are refunded on non-runners and the odds on all the other runners winning become shorter if there are fewer horses in the race.
The amount of the deduction varies according to the odds of the withdrawn competitor. If a strong favourite at a very low price, say 1/5 or 5/1 on (same thing) is withdrawn the deduction will be high as all the other horses now have a significantly better chance of winning, whereas the non-running of a 100/1 shot will have much less impact on the likely winner and so the deduction is far less.
Rule 4 Deduction Table
Below you'll find a table of the relevant Rule 4 deduction based on the odds of the horse that has pulled out of the race. Each deduction is provided as pence in the pound and is based on any payouts you may have.
- 1/9 or Shorter - 90p
- 2/11 to 2/17 - 85p
- 1/4 to 1/5 - 80p
- 3/10 to 2/7 - 75p
- 2/5 to 1/3 - 70p
- 8/15 to 4/9 - 65p
- 8/13 to 4/7 - 60p
- 4/5 to 4/6 - 55p
- 20/21 to 5/6 - 50p
- Evens to 6/5 - 45p
- 5/4 to 6/4 - 40p
- 13/8 to 7/4 - 35p
- 15/8 to 9/4 - 30p
- 5/2 to 3/1 - 25p
- 10/3 to 4/1 - 20p
- 9/2 to 11/2 - 15p
- 6/1 to 9/1 - 10p
- 10/1 to 14/1 - 5p
- Over 14/1 - No Deduction
Rule 4 Examples
So if you bet on a race where the favourite was withdrawn at odds of Evens (2.0), you would lose 45p for every pound won. Therefore if your horse had come in at 10/1 and you had placed £10 to win, you would have £45 of your £100 profit removed resulting in an adjusted payout of £55 (plus your £10 stake).
If, on the otherhand, the horse that was withdraw also had odds of 10/1, you would only have £5 removed from your winnings - leaving a profit of £95.
Some bookmakers, particularly those with a strong online presence, have chosen to scrap the 5p Rule 4 deduction. This means that, for those bookies at least, no deductions are made if the horse that has been withdrawn had odds of 10/1 or higher.
