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Tote Betting

YOUR GUIDE TO BETTING WITH THE TOTE

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Unlike racecourse bookmakers who offer you odds – or prices – for betting on each horse in a race, the Tote offers you a pool bet. This means the betting stakes on a given race are pooled together and, like a lottery, is then shared out among customers with winning tickets.

The Tote has a minimum bet of just £2 and accepts cash and card across all courses making it one of the most convenient ways to place a bet on-course.

Win and each way (win and place) bets are very popular with customers. However, you may also try to win more with an exacta, where you need to pick the first two in the correct order.

One of the most famous tote bets is the placepot which rewards customers who can pick a horse to place in each of the first 6 races. It’s a chance to win big from a small and one lucky racecourse customer won over £182,000 from a £2 stake at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.

Betting with the Tote at oncourse supports racing, most of the revenue flowing back to the individual racecourse. So, by choosing to bet with the Tote, you can do so knowing that racing is benefiting too.

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TYPES OF TOTE BET EXPLAINED

It’s simple…pick the horse to win a race! You can place a Totewin bet on all races.

 

Toteplace

Pick a horse to be placed (information on what is a placed horse below). You can play this bet on all races with 5 runners or more.

Number of runners

Number of places

4 or less

1st

5,6 or 7

1st and 2nd

8 or more

1st, 2nd and 3rd

Handicap with 16 or more

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th

 

Toteeachway

This is effectively 2 bets - a win and a place bet. Choose a horse to either win or be placed in any race.  

 

Toteexacta

For this bet, you’ll need to pick the 1st and 2nd horses in a race, in the correct order.

This is ideal if you want to choose more than one horse in the same race, or there is a hot favourite.  An exacta is available on all races with three or more runners.

With a Straight Exacta you need to select the horse you want to finish 1st and the horse you want to finish 2nd. They must finish in the correct order to get a return.

A Reverse Exacta means you can pick two horses to finish 1st or 2nd in any order. This increases your chances of winning but also doubles your total stake.

You can pick more than two horses to finish in the top two with a Combination Exacta. For example, selecting four horses and collecting if any two of them finish 1st and 2nd. This would be 12 bets in total but can use a smaller stake, as long as the total stake is £2. So 12 bets at 25p each would have a total cost of £3, for example.

 

Totetrifecta

Pick the 1st,2nd and 3rd in the correct order. Win big by selecting the first three home. Available on all races with three or more runners.

With a Straight Trifecta you need to select the horses to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They must finish in the correct order to get a return.

A Combination Trifecta means you can pick three horses to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any order. This increases your chances of winning but also increases your total stake.

You can also pick more than three horses to finish in the top three with a Combination Trifecta. For example, selecting five horses and collecting if any three of them finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Selecting five horses would be 60 bets, which could be staked at 10p each for example, which would give a total stake of £6.

 

Toteswinger

Simply pick two horses to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any order.

You’re a winner if your selections finish 1st and 2nd, 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 3rd. Available on all races with six or more runners.

Toteplacepot

Pick a placed horse in the first six races.

Permutation betting offers more chance to win and is available on the Placepot where you can select more than one horse in each race.

 

Permutation betting offers more chance to win and is available on the Placepot where you can select more than one horse in each race. Perm bets will cost more depending on the number of selections. To calculate the cost of a perm bet, simply multiply the number of selections by each other. For example, 1x1x3x2x1x3 = 18 bets. Then calculate your total stake by multiplying the number of bets by your unit stake. For example, 18 bets x 50p = £9.

 

Totequadpot

Just like the Placepot but on less races, pick a placed horse in races 3-6.

 

Totejackpot

Pick the first six winners at the Totejackpot meeting.

Pick the winner of the first six races at a selected meeting each day. With a minimum guaranteed pool of £10,000 each day, it's your chance to win big for a small stake.

Permutation betting offers more chance to win and is available on the Jackpot where you can select more than one horse in each race, as described above on the Placepot.

 

 

Totescoop6

The Totescoop6 is available every Saturday and at selected festival meetings throughout the season.

 

With the Scoop6 there are three ways to win:

 

  • Pick the winner of all six selected races and scoop the Win Fund.
  • If you get the Win Fund, you also get a risk-free shot at the Bonus Fund by picking the winner of one single race the following weekend.
  • There's also a Place Fund for any customer who picks six placed horses so you don’t even have to pick the winners to be a winner.

Placepot

At the 2019 Cheltenham Festival this year, one racecourse customer won more than £90,000 to a £1 stake!

 

To take part, just fill in a Placepot slip at any Tote kiosk and hand it to a member of the team.

 

Just remember, to join in, you need to do your Placepot before Race 1.

A ‘Lucky Pick’ bet, is the easiest way to bet on-course. Similar to the lucky dip on the National Lottery, the Lucky Pick is designed to be smart as it uses a special formula which is weighted towards the more likely outcomes in an event.

 

Lucky Pick wallets are available in £5, £10, £15 and £20 wallets, which give you a selection of bets.

 

There are two types of Lucky Pick wallets. Meeting wallets are sold before race 1 and include some bets that lasts for the whole day (such as the placepot). Race specific wallets are specific to one race.

 

Also you can ask for an individual lucky pick bet on any bet type. So, you could get a lucky pick placepot at the start of the day and ask for lucky pick win bets on any race.

 

You can ask for a Lucky Pick at any Tote kiosk or team member on-course.

 

What is a placed horse?

Number of runners

Number of places

4 or less

1st

5,6 or 7

1st and 2nd

8 or more

1st, 2nd and 3rd

Handicap with 16 or more

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th

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