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Horse Race Betting Rules

How to bet on horse racing and win! The first thing to understand is that in traditional horse racing betting, you are in direct competition with the 'online bookmaker' - the person or company that lays the odds. They want your money, and you want theirs. Each UK online bookmaker has an 'oddsmaker' - a person or system that creates their 'book'. In theory a book is structured so that the online bookmaker can't lose - whoever wins the race, the odds are so structured as to guarantee a profit to the online bookmaker. Horse racing betting strategies and possessing the ability of pricing up a race horse well can certainly help.

The most common types of horse race bets are: Straight Bet
This is a bet that a certain horse will win. For this, you are given definite odds. If your selection wins, so do you, receiving back the amount specified by the odds you accepted.

Place Bet
This is a bet that your horse will finish either first or second, and of course has worse odds than a straight bet.

Show Bet
This is a bet that your horse will finish either 1st, 2nd or 3rd and has worse odds than a place bet.

Combination Bet
This bet allows you to choose between two and four horses to win in a specified order. The cumulative odds on this can multiply rapidly if you get it right.

Pick 3 Bet
You must pick the winners of three consecutive races. This is surprisingly hard to do, as you have to choose all 3 before the first one kicks off.

Pick 6 Bet
You must pick the winners of six consecutive races, choosing all 6 before the first one kicks off.

Reverse Forecast
You can bet on two horses to finish first and second in a single race where the order doesn't matter - either horse A is first and Horse B is second, or vice versa. To bet you say "£10 quiniela, numbers 3 and 7". If the results of the first two horses are either 3-7 or 7-3, you win.

Perfecta / Exacta / Straight Forecast
You bet on two horses to cross the finish line in exactly your chosen order. To bet you say " £5 Perfecta, 4-7." Only if the horses finish 4-7 you win.

Trifecta / Tricast / Treble Forecast
Like a Perfecta, but betting on three horses to cross the finish line in exactly your chosen order. To bet you say "£10 trifecta numbers 3,2 and 5." Only if they finish 3-2-5 you win.

Superfecta Bet
That's right - you guessed it! four horses to cross the finish line in the exact order you specify.

Daily Double
Allows you to select the winners of the first and second races of the day, placing your bet before the start of the very first race. To bet you say something like "£5 daily double on 6 (your pick to win in the first race) and 2 (your pick to win in the second race)".

Jackpot Bet
Like the lottery, you pick six winners in six races. Prizes vary, but because the odds are so extreme, they tend to be very large.

Accumulator Bet
A sequence of bets of your choice, where you 'let it ride'. You bet on multiple races, and the winnings are passed along to the next bet in the sequence. If you get it right, this can multiply up to very large sums quite rapidly, although even one wrong call will mean you lose everything. Not for the faint of heart! (tied or cancelled races are simply removed from the accumulator).

Future Bet
At the start of each horse racing season, you will be able to get odds on a horse to win a certain event at some future point which you specify. The odds you get are fixed, so even if they shorten for everyone else as the race approaches, you still get the original odds you were offered.

In the UK, online bookmakers take bets slightly differently. If you want to place an each way bet, you need to know that with 2 to 4 runners you can't do place betting. With 5 to 7 runners you can bet on the 1st and 2nd and will win one quarter the odds. With 8 or more runners, you can go all the way to show and will win one fifth odds. To complicate matters, handicap races have different horse racing rules - with 12 to 15 runners you can go all the way to show at one quarter odds. With 16 or more runners you can bet on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th at one quarter odds. Don't ever be afraid to ask for advice - the online bookmaker wants you to bet and so will explain any term you don't understand.