Tote betting is another way to get involved but you payout is determined by how much is wagered on each horse in a race. All bets get paid into a “pool”and the dividend is declared after the race. The disadvantage is that you don’t know what price your selection is going to be returned,however pool bets often throw up freak results so you may think you have backed a 6-1 shot only to find it has been returned at 12s on the tote.
Other popular tote bets are:
Placepot:Here you need to select a horse in each race to be placed.
Whether a horse needs to win the race,come in the first two,three or four is calculated as follows:
Races of 2-4 –needs to win
Races of 5-7 –1-2
Races of 8 or more –1-2-3
Handicap races of 12-15 runners –1-2-3
Handicap races of 16 or more runners –1-2-3-4
Once again a dividened is declared at the end of the six races,and if you have been successful in finding a horse to be placed in each your get the divided (which is declared to £1) x your stake. For example,if the dividend is £100 and you have it to a £10 stake then you get back £1000.
Jackpot:A pool bet like the Placepot where the winner in each race has to be selected.
Scoop6: The Toteshowpiece pool bet where you have to predict the winner of
six major races on a Saturday (usually on Channel Four) for the chance of winning a bumper pay-out.
Tricast: Similar to the forecast but the customer needs to predict the first three home,
again in the correct order. You can do perms. So if you choose to perm three horses the total number of bets is 6.