Horse Racing Wagering: The Basics
Wagering on horse racing is one of the most rewarding forms of gambling. While some prefer the mindless pulling of slot machines or scratch off tickets, betting on a horse race offers an exciting option for everyone, whether you are a $2 win bettor, or investing large sums of money in a Pick 6.
One of the attractions of horses racing is bettors are not playing "against the house." Horse racing uses a pari-mutuel system. Pari-mutuel is French for "to bet amongst us". Each type of bet has its own pool. The track takes its cut for purses and expenses and the remainder (usually around 75-83% is paid back out to the winning bettors.
So you don't have to "beat the house" to be a winning horseplayer. You just need to be smarter than the horseplayers around you.
Another attraction to wagering on horse racing is the wide variety of wager types. There are simple "low risk" wagers like place and show, where the risk is low and the reward modest.
And there are wagers suck as the Pick 6, where the rewards can be life changing.
Here is a brief description of the basic wagers available at your local track or when wagering online on your favorite track:
Win: The most common bet in horse racing. It's simple really. If you wager on a horse, that horse must cross the wire first. A $2 win bet on a horse at 3/1 would return an $8.00 payoff.
Place: A wager for place means you collect if your selected horse finishes either first or second. Since place is paid to two runners, expect the payoff to be generally smaller than a win wager.
Show: A wager to show means you collect if your selected horse finishes either first, second or third. Since show is paid to three runners in each race, the payoff is usually the smallest of any payoffs. Small risk equals small reward.
Daily Double: The "Double" is usually offered at most tracks on the first two and the last two races on the card. Some tracks have rolling doubles, offering the bet throughout a card. Hitting a winning double wager means you have to pick the winner of two races in a row.
Exacta: Hitting an exacta means you must pick the exact running order of the first two finishers in a race. If you bet a $2 exacta 1-2, it must come out exactly 1-2 in order to win. A common way to bet an exacta would be to box two runners. A 1-2 exacta box would cost $4 and you are a winner if it comes in 1-2 or 2-1. A three horse exacta box for $2 would cost $12.
Trifecta: Hitting a trifecta means picking the first three horses to cross the finish line in exact order. Not an easy task, but the rewards are usually much greater than hitting a win or exacta wager. You can pick three horses and box them, meaning you win no matter what order the three comes in. $1 trifecta box using the 1,2 and 3 would cost $6. As long as the 1,2 and 3 came in the top three slots, the ticket is a winning one.
Superfecta: The superfecta is a wager that can produce large payoffs but can be difficult to hit. You must pick the first four horses to cross the finish line in exact order, certainly not an easy task. If you box four horses for a $1, the cost would be $24. If you think just two horses are the most likely winners, you can "key" those on top, giving you more wiggle room in the third and fourth slots. Here is another $24 ticket: 1,2 / 1,2,3,4 / 1,2,3,4 / 1,2,3,4,5.
Pick 3 and Pick 4: The Pick 3 wager requires the player to pick the winners of three consecutive races. Some racetracks have a rolling Pick 3, which is when the player must pick three races in a row and it continues for the next three races. Most tracks have one or two Pick 4 wagers on their betting menu. It requires coming up with the winner of four consecutive races.
Pick 6: The Pick 6 is the granddaddy of all horse racing wagers. It requires hitting six winners in a row. While it can be hit with a small modest ticket on a rare occasion, this wager usually means investing larger sums of the bankroll. There are days when there are no winning tickets, causing the money in the pool to carryover over to the next day. The pools for the Pick 6 often go into the millions, offering horseplayers a chance for a life changing score.
