Did you know that in as much as horse racing is one of the most popular sports in the world, horse betting is more popular than the sport itself? Horse racing fans enjoy the thrill and the risk of betting more than the adrenaline of the horse racing itself.
This is the reason why almost all online sports bookmakers offer horse betting on their sites and apps. You can look at this site to find recommendations on bookies with great horse racing offers.
If you are a beginner in horse racing betting, one of the first things you need to learn and understand is the betting system and how each type of bets work. For starters, there are two types of bets that you can place in a race, each of them having sub-types: the straight bet and the exotic bet.
Straight wager
A straight wager is a way of betting on a race where you place your bet on only one horse. You can still bet on multiple horses if you want to, but you have to place a duplicate bet, and some bookmakers do not allow that.
Here are the different types of straight wagers:
Win
A straight win bet is probably the simplest and most straightforward kind of bet. This is also the type of bet that is most commonly placid by people, especially those who are new to the betting industry. A win bet is simply betting on which horse you think would win the race.
Place
In this type of bet, you will pick a horse of your preference, and bet on it to place on either first or second.
Show
Similar to a place, but this bet would have you pick a horse, and all you need to have is for your selected horse to place first, second, OR this. This type of straight bet is easier to win as it has a bigger margin of win, but it also usually yielded less profit than the other bet types.
Across the board
Also called “combo straight wager”, this type of betting would have you bet on a single horse to win, place, and show. Since this is technically a “three in one” type of bet, the wagering price is usually higher than a single win, place, or show bet.
Exotic wagers
If straight wagers only have you bet on a single horse, exotic wagers allow you to bet on multiple horses in a single race.
Here are the different types of exotic bets:
Exacta
From what its name implies, an exacta exotic bet is where you would pick two horses from the lineup and bet on which one would finish first and second–but they should finish in the same order that you bet on for you win.
Quinella
If an exacta bet requires you bet exactly how the two horses you picked would place at the end of the race, a quinella bet lets you bet on two horses that you think would place EITHER first or second, and it can be in any order.
Trifecta
A trifecta bet is perfect for the risk takes, as it is significantly harder to win. Here, you would have to bet on which three horses would finish first, second, and third in the exact order.
Superfecta
As if a trifecta bet is not yet hard enough, a superfecta bet would need you to pick four horses and bet on who will finish first, second, third, and fourth, all in the exact order.
