Horse racing is truly a year round sport. There isn’t a day in the year that you can’t enter a casino or off track betting establishment and place bets on horses. It runs all day long and many people use it as their primary source of income. Betting on horse racing is not like other sports. You don’t simply pick a winner. There are many different types of bets you can make. Here is a look at how to bet on horse racing.
Odds
The first step to horse racing betting is understanding the odds. Every horse has odds to win a race. The program will show you the morning betting line. As more bets are placed, odds will fluctuate. You can see the changing odds right up until post time. The horse with the lowest odds is considered the favorite. Consequently, that also means that lower odds mean lower payouts.
Basic Bets
The most basic horse racing bets are straight bets for win, place, or show. Place means you are betting the horse to finish first or second and show means you are betting that the horse will finish in the top 3. Betting a horse to win carries the highest pay out for single bet. Place will pay out a little less and show will pay out less than that.
Combination Bets
If you’ve watched horse racing, you’ve heard the terms exacta and trifecta thrown around a lot. An exacta means you are picking the two horses that finish first and second. Trifecta means you are picking the top 3 horses. You can also bet a superfecta by picking the top 4 horses. This bet can be done straight or boxed. For example, if you bet a $1 trifecta box, you will be paying $6 since there are six possible combinations for your horses to finish. Depending on the odds of the horses, these bets can carry large payouts
Picks
Depending on the race track, you can also do pick bets. These are usually a Pick 3 or Pick 6, but vary from track to track. This bet means you are picking the winners in consecutive races. A Pick 3 means you will pick the winners of 3 straight races. Some tracks also have a daily double, which means you are selecting the winners of the first two races at that particular track.
Other Bets
Some casinos may offer prop bets, which means you are placing bets on different things. An example might be betting on the colors a jockey wears. These bets can pretty much be anything you can imagine. Other places offer parlays, which means you are betting multiple things at once. The draw here is that your winnings from one thing carry over to the next. You must win all elements of your parlay in order to win.
Placing Bets
In general, bets are delivered by stating the track and number of horse that you want to bet on. For example, you would say ‘I want $2 on Horse 3 at Churchill Downs’ or ‘I want a $1 trifecta box 2,3,6 at Churchill Downs.’ Payouts are available usually within a few minutes after the race. Depending on the amounts you win, taxes are usually deducted right there. It is a good idea to write down what you want to bet before you go to the bet taker so that you won’t make a mistake and mix up numbers.
