After pouring over the form and considering the whispers, it’s time to grab the best value so it’s worth taking a look at five different types of horse racing bets you can make. Bookmakers are the obvious and traditional choice while racegoers will be very familiar with the Tote. Spread betting offers a high risk/reward option and betting exchanges allow you to request prices from other members.
Matched betting, a system you can read about at https://www.matchedbets.com, offers a risk free way to bet on horse racing. Here are some brief pros and cons to each one.
Bookmaker
Off-course bookmakers give you the choice of fixed odds at the time of placing your bet or the starting price of your selection at the off. There are lots of bookmakers operating in a very competitive online market and you can use odds comparisons sites to find the best available odds then click through to place your bet.
There are added incentives offered by off-course bookmakers such as best odds guarantees and consolations for beaten horses which can work in your favour by increasing value in the long run. On-course bookmakers don’t provide as many options but due to the way off-course display prices are calculated, you can often find better prices at the track.
Tote
On-course pool betting puts everyone’s money into one pot, taxes and house take are removed leaving the remainder of the pool to be shared among those who backed the winner. The Tote often pays out bigger dividends than the bookmakers’ fixed odds but it’s difficult to predict as one big bet at the off can drastically change the forecasted returns you see displayed on the screens around the track. Tote betting can be rewarding if you like to go against the market and you’re not a high-roller, who can choke the returns on their own sometimes.
Betting Exchange
Two great things about betting exchanges is you can ask for any odds you want and you can also act as a bookie and lay a selection you don’t fancy. In the past, exchanges made a big deal of prices being 20% higher than available with bookmakers but this wasn’t really the case after taking their commission into account. Markets are also reliant on liquidity, the amount of money available to back or lay, so while there is often great value to be found there are no guarantees to get all your money on.
Matched betting
Matched betting is a risk-free way to make money betting, using bookmaker free bets and bonuses to guarantee a profit. It involves laying off at an exchange to ensure the qualifying bet costs nothing or next to nothing and using the same technique to turn the free bet into a profit. Matched bettors usually earn £20 from every £25 free bet.
It’s a great way to make money betting on horse racing but it won’t make you rich. It’s easy to earn around £500 per month for about 30 minutes a day, so it is better suited to racing enthusiasts who bet small amounts or for someone looking for a little boost in their regular income.
Spread betting
Spread betting was borne out of city financial trading and offers an unusual and potentially high risk way to bet on horse racing. Instead of being offered odds, you’re offered a ‘spread’ on the performance of each horse in a race which you can choose to buy or sell. If you buy the spread, you’re backing the horse to perform badly and on it to perform well if you decide to sell. You’ll bet an amount per point for the performance to be above or below the spread, so the more right you are, the more you will win and the more you are wrong, the more you’ll lose. The uncertainty of how much you’ll win or lose adds to the excitement of the bet but it pays to make sure you are comfortable with the worst possible outcome or you could find yourself in difficulty.
