Australian punters have a wealth of options at their fingertips when it comes to betting on horses. We explain the Horse Racing Bet Types available to Aussie punters!
There really has been no better time for the average recreational punter to make the transition to winning punter, although a scroll through your Twitter timeline of angry punters might make you think otherwise!
Minimum bet laws, bookmakers fighting for your business with great value promotions and a wide variety of products and bet types for you to find an edge on.
If you want to place a bet on a horse race in Australia you are faced with a wealth of options;
Fixed odds, best of four, top tote, mid-tote, best of the best, top fluc, global tote – the options are vast and that’s without even mentioning exotic bet types like quinella, exacta’s first fours, big six and quaddies!
Fixed Odds
A popular bet type in Australia and in racing jurisdictions like the UK whereby you can lock in the price at the time you place your bet. These odds won’t change unless there are horses are scratched from the race after you place your bet in which case *deductions will apply.
EG: You place $50 on a horse at fixed odds of $3.50 and it wins, you’ll get a return of $175
Fixed odds markets can be very high margin markets though, especially in the days leading up to a race so be careful about betting early into a market that might be set at 130% or even higher!
Fixed odds prices closer to jump time are a lower margin (as low as 115%) but the market is more mature at this stage and the odds much more accurate which in turn makes them more difficult to beat.
We’ll discuss whether or not you should bet early, or bet late in an article very soon.
Top Tote
In Australia there are three main retail totes; NSW, S-Tab and UBet that bet on every Australian Horse, Greyhound and Harness Race.
The takeout on these totes is 14% plus race field fees which end up in a margin for the punter between 16 and 17%.
When betting with the top tote product a punter gets the best price of the three totes, but none of their money directly enters the pool – it’s held as a risk by the bookmaker as what is known as a tote derivative product.
EG: You place a $10 bet Top Tote that wins and the totes pay as follows NSW: $2.40 S-Tab:
$2.60 and UBet: $2.45 – you’ll be paid out at the highest tote which is S-Tab resulting in a return of $26.
The top tote product often ends up in the 12 or 13% range.
Mid Tote
Same as above only that you get the middle price of the three totes (NSW, S-Tab and UBet). This is a product bookmakers in Australia typically bet on Harness and Greyhound events or for the place portion of thoroughbred events.
Starting Price or SP
In days gone by this product would have been derived from the old APN (Australian Price Network) but now is supplied by Dynamic Odds and is derived from the fixed odds starting price of a collection of online corporate bookmakers.
The average price is sent to Racing Australia and that becomes the horses official Starting Price.
Best Of Four
This product is the exact same as the Top Tote product only that if the starting price is higher than the three totes than you’ll be paid at the SP price. This product will typically have a margin of 10-12% for bookies.
Top Fluc
In the final stages of betting the price fluctuations of runners are recorded and those betting top fluctuation receive the highest price of all the fluctuations within this betting period.
In a dynamic market with genuine late betting moves this product can become very low margin and in favor of the punter but with minimum bet laws now in place, the advantage to the punter isn’t quite as good.
Best Of The Best
A combination of Best Of Four and Top Fluc – you get paid the highest dividend of both products. One of the best horse racing win betting products in Australia and only offered by certain bookmakers in Australia.