An Introduction to Betting on Dog and Horse Racing

I’m no expert on dog and horse racing, but I do understand enough about how racetrack betting works to write an introduction to the subject. Unlike some of my other “introduction” posts, this one isn’t as focused on strategy as it is on the basics of how dog and horse racing work.

Racetrack betting can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before. But once you’ve read this guide, you’ll understand the basic kinds of bets you can make and what the payoffs are for them. You’ll also understand how the racetrack makes money.

Finally, I do know that advantage gamblers do understand how to get an edge at this kind of betting. I can count cards, but I don’t know how to get an edge betting on the ponies. I offer some quick tips at the end of this post from someone who knows more about betting on horses and dogs than I do.

Racetrack Betting

The business model for racetrack betting is based on a “pari-mutuel” model. This means that all the bettors’ funds are pooled, the racetrack takes a percentage off the top, and then the winnings are based on what’s left.

For example, if a racetrack takes $100,000 in action and operates on a 20% margin, they’ll distribute $80,000 in winnings after the race.

How much YOU win depends on which bets you make.

The most basic bet you can make, of course, is the win bet. This is simply a bet on a horse to win 1st place in a race.

Another common bet is the place bet. This is a bet that a horse will win either 1^st or 2^nd in a race. It pays off either way.

The show bet ought to be obvious after that—it’s just a bet on a horse to win 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd in a race.

Those are the 3 most common bets you can make at the racetrack. They’re called “straight wagers.”

You can also make “combo straight wagers.” This is where you might place an across the board bet, which is a bet on win, place, and show all at once. You’re actually placing 3 bets with an across the board bet. The first is a win bet, which pays off if your horse wins. The 2^nd is a place bet, which pays off if your horse wins OR if your horse places 2^nd. The 3^rd is the show bet, which pays off if your horse wins, places 2^nd, OR if the horse places 3^rd.

You could win all 3 of those bets, just 2 of them, or just 1 of them.

Also, keep in mind that even though I’m using horses in my examples, dog racing works the same way.

Here are some other bets:

• The Daily Double

– is a bet on the 1^st 2 races of the day. To win this bet, you must pick the 1^st place winner for both of those races.

• The Pick Three

– is similar to the daily double, but you’re picking the winning horse in 3 races, one right after the other. (It’s also called The Daily Triple.)

• The Pick Six

– is a bet on the last 6 races of the day. You win if you pick the winner of those races. In fact, if no one gets all 6 right, this bet pays off if you get 5 right. If no one gets 5 right, the prize money gets carried over and makes the next day’s Pick Six bet a bigger winner.

• An Exacta

– is a bet on the 1^st and 2^nd place winners in a race. You must get both right to win this bet, and you have to choose the 1^st place winner and the 2^nd place winner. If your pick for 1^st place is 2^nd, and your pick for 2^nd place is 1^st, you lose this bet.

• A Quinella

– is also a bet on the 1^st and 2^nd place winners, but you don’t have to choose the 1^st place winner and the 2^nd place winner. You pick 2 horses, and if they both win 1^st or 2^nd, in either order, this bet pays off.

• The Trifecta

– is just like an exacta, only you’re picking 3 horses to win 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place. And you have to be right about each of them to win this one.

• The Superfecta

– is just like the Trifecta, but you’re picking 4 horses for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.

These bets are called “exotic bets” or just “exotics.” They have bigger payoffs, but they’re harder to win.

How the Odds Work

Odds indicate how much a winning bet pays off—it’s a ratio. For example, if a bet pays off at 2 to 1 odds, you win $200 if you bet $100. The odds for each bet are posted on computer monitors and TV sets throughout the racetrack, and they’re constantly being updated.

The betting activity is what determines the odds for each race. The odds continue to change as bettors make more bets.

You’ll place your bets at the betting window or at one of the automated machines. You’ll give the person taking the bet (or the machine) the track, the race number, how much you want to bet, what kind of bet you’re placing, and the number of the horse. You’ll give them your money, and you’ll get a paper ticket with the details of your bet on it.

After the race, the payoffs at the final odds will be displayed throughout the park. They’ll show the payoffs for the win, place, and show bets. The amounts include how much you bet.

If you have a winning ticket, you can redeem it for the amount displayed.

Here’s how those amounts are determined:

• The racetrack pools all the money wagered on a bet. They deduce their cut. Then they divide what’s left among the winners.
• Let’s say that $10,000 was the total amount wagered on a bet. Of that, $3000 was bet on the winner.
• The track takes its cut off the top. We’ll assume that the track is taking 20%, which makes the math easier. (The cut is different based on which track you’re betting at. It ranges from 15% to almost 30%.)
• That leaves $8000. You divide that $8000 by the winning bets, $3000, to get $8000/$3000. That gives you 2.67.
• If you bet $5 and won, you’d multiply that $5 by 2.67 and get $13.35. The track always rounds that down to $13.20. You also get your initial bet of $5 back, so your ticket is worth $18.20.

The math works differently for a place bet or a show bet. The money gets divided into pools before it’s distributed, which means you’ll only win half or a third of what you might have won if you’d placed a win bet.

Some Things to Keep in Mind When Trying to Pick Winners

The Art of Manliness offers some easy, practical tips for beginning handicappers. (A handicapper is someone trying to decide which horse is going to win.)

• Read the race day program.

Here’s a guide to how to read this program from the people who create the programs for every track in the USA.

• Consider the classes of horses.

Each horse races in 1 of 4 classes. Horses move up and down in class. A horse might place 1st or 2nd all the time, but if he’s recently moved up in class, he might not be able to continue that streak.

• Consider the surface type.

You’ll find information in the race day program about how each of these horses have performed in the past on various surfaces. You can compare that to the surface they’re racing on today.

• Consider the jockey.

This one’s a no-brainer. Some jockeys perform better than others. That’s no accident.

• Think about the odds, too.

What kind of odds does a bet on this horse pay off at? Do you think that those odds make for a profitable opportunity based on what you estimate the probability of that horse winning the race is?

• Look at the horses.

Before the races, the horses are presented to the public in the paddock. You can look at them to see what you think before the race.

You can also read any of the dozens of books written about handicapping horses. Since the racetrack is keeping at least 15% of the money, you need to win a high percentage of the time to get an edge when betting on the dogs or the ponies.