Choice
The majority of top online sportsbooks offer horse racing bets. Horse Racing is aligned to betting and has a huge correlation and heritage which links the two together.
Before online betting came into our lives, the majority of horse racing bets were placed in betting shops around the US and the key bookies Bovada, BetOnline, Bookmaker, Intertops profited from this.
Since online sportsbooks came about there is so much choice betting on Horse Racing and the majority of these sportsbooks offer enticing promotions, offers and concessions to drive loyalty.
Plus they also offer a bet and watch facility which does what it says on the tin. When you bet on a race (of $1 or more usually) you can watch the race on the desktop / mobile device you bet from. This is a cost the bookie takes on to get your loyalty and give you a greater experience.
Most top sportsbooks offer a bet and watch facilities including Bet365, William Hill, SkyBet, Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddy Power, BetWay, Betfair to name a few.
How to bet on Horse Racing
Win Betting
The simple way to bet on horse racing is to choose a horse in a race to win. UK odds are more often than not shown as fractions so an example would be 4/1 for your chosen horse to win. For European; odds, this is shown in decimals which for the same price would be shown at 5.0. This simply means for every $1 you bet on the horse to win you will return a $4 profit. The bigger the odds the more money you will win if your horse gets passed the post first.
When looking at horse races online you will see the price in the order of the favorite at the top to the least favorite. When you click on a horse’s price which you want to back you are taking the price on the horse at that time.
Best Odds Guaranteed
Now, some online sportsbooks offer the best odds guaranteed as a concession. This is very attractive and is a concession used by brands to retain your loyalty. Best odds guaranteed means that when you click on the price to bet on the horse, that is the price goes bigger, then you get paid out at the bigger odds. So if you bet on a horse at 4/1 and the price at the start of the race is 6/1, then you will return more winnings.
It’s important to look out for this when choosing the sportsbook. Bet365, Skybet, William Hill and Paddy Power are a few of the books that offer this service.
Each-Way Betting
Next up is an each-way bet. This means you are placing two bets on your horse in the race. The first bet is on your horse to win. The second bet is on your horse to finish in a place position. This means that depending on how many runners in the race if there are 6 or more runners that you can place a bet on the horse to finish 2nd, 3rd. 4th, etc…
When placing an each-way bet you will likely see a fraction which is either 1/5 or ¼ the odds 1-2-3-4. This means for your each-way bet if you get e.g 1/5 the odds if your horse finishes in a position shown.
An example would be a $1 each-way bet on your horse to win at 4/1. You total stake is $2. If the horse wins your return is $5, if your horse finishes in an each-way position and the each-way terms are ¼ the odds then you will get $1 extra back.
It pays to bet with the well-known sportsbooks on horse racing given they will run best odds guaranteed and also run competitive each-way place terms.
Concessions
With the competitiveness of horse racing betting, many sportsbooks offer extra concessions on horse racing. Skybet offers significant daily concessions which are enhanced each-way terms. These are attractive to make them a strong daily option for bettors.
Bet365 likewise will run a couple of races as their races of the day which they enhance each-way terms or offer a promotion where if you win, you get a free bet to the same stake on another race.
Exchange Betting
One keynote on horse racing betting is that as well as the standard win and each-way betting, Betfair have an exchange product where you can not only back a horse to win, but you can lay a horse (back a horse not to win). Naturally, at higher odds, this is going to be costly if the horse does win. But at low or odds on, laying a horse can be profitable.
