Betting At The Races
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Win
Betting on a horse to come first. With some bookmakers, it is possible
to specify that your bet be settled on the "first past the post"
basis, and will not be affected by any subsequent demotion or disqualification
of your selection. Of course this also means that, regardless of
the official result, you will only get paid if your horse is actually
"first past the post". Some of the independent bookmakers offer
the special concession of paying on both the official and the "first
past the post" result. A £5 win bet on horse A - Total stake £5
+tax
Each Way
This is actually two bets: one bet on a horse to win, and one bet
on a horse to be placed, literally a bet on a horse in "each way".
It is the established practice of British bookmakers to refuse a
bet on a horse to be placed unless it is coupled with a win bet
in this manner. A successful win bet is settled in the normal manner,
while a successful place bet will be settled at a predetermined
fraction of the horse's win odds.
For these purposes, whether a horse can be regarded as achieving
a place, and the fraction of the win odds paid, are dependent on
the individual bookmaker's rules for a particular race, but the
generally accepted definitions are as follows: number of runners
/ type of race fraction of Win odds paid / places 4 or less runners
/ all races no each-way betting 5-7 runners / all races 1/4 odds
/ 1st & 2nd 8 -11 runners / all races 1/5 odds / 1st, 2nd & 3rd
12-15 runners / handicaps only 1/4 odds / 1st, 2nd & 3rd 16+ runners
/ handicaps only 1/4 odds / 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th A £5 each-way bet
on horse A at 6/1, in a 13-runner handicap - £5 win at 6/1, and
£5 place at 6/4 ( 1/4 x 6/1) .
Total stake £10 +tax CSF or Computer Straight Forecast
a bet on picking the winner and second-place horse in the correct
order. The returns on a succesful bet are calculated using a mathematical
formula which has been established as an industry standard by the
leading bookmakers, and, some have suggested, conspicuously weighted
in their favour. The fact is that any formula for assessing the
chance of a particular "forecast" event that works with the starting
prices as its estimation of each horse's merits ( ie already containing
a bookmaker's percentage ) will always favour the layer.
Many commentators cheerfully admit that the bookmakers' formula
is operating at a higher level of numeracy than they or many other
punters possess, an admission which has yet to prompt a series of
remedial classes sponsored by Ladbrokes. A £ 5 CSF on horse A and
horse B is one bet - horse A to finish first and horse B to finish
second, total stake £5 +tax A £ 5 reverse CSF on horse A and horse
B is two distinct bets - horse A to finish first and horse B to
finish second, and horse B to finish first and horse A to finish
second - Total stake £10 +tax.
Most bookmakers will accept bets at Tote dividend "prices" and many
have facilities for betting directly into the pools via Tote Direct,
but the above three bets are the basics of British punting. It is
in readily accepting multiple bets, combinations of the above bets
on two or more events, that the High Street bookmaker both exceeds
the service usually offered by the on-course bookie, and hopes to
pay for little luxuries like international leisure conglomerates.
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