I would guess that everybody likes the idea of making some extra cash on the side to supplement the cash in their wallet, and the promise of a possible jackpot is what has made gambling a popular past time throughout the ages. As with all forms of gambling you need to be careful, but I’m here to explain the basics for you.
If you are thinking about betting on horse racing to make some spare cash, here are a few of the basic forms or types of bet that you can place. Plus, for the beginners out there, you may be astounded to learn that there are plenty of ways to make money betting on horse racing outside of simply picking the winner.
First off, since we are covering the basics, the very easiest, (note: not necessarily the easiest way to win, but the easiest to understand) method of betting on horse racing is to place a win bet.
As you may have guessed, with this type of bet you select the horse that you think is going to come in first. If it does win the race then you win too, but if not you are out the money on your bet.
So an alternative, for those who like a better chance of winning back some of their cash, is by having whats called a ‘place bet’. A place bet means that you are betting on a horse that you think will come in the first four places in a race, depending on the amount of horses that are involved in that particular race. Although you will not win as heavily, your odds of winning are increased. In order to place this type of bet there have to be at least five horses involved in the race.
If you like the idea of both of these types of bets, then you may decide when betting on horse racing to place a bet which is a combination of these two aforementioned bets, and its called an each way bet.
An each way bet means that you are essentially placing a win bet and a place bet and you get paid for a horse that places, plus if wins you get paid for that bet as well. This is basically a bet that you’d place on a decent valued horse, so for example at odds of 25 to one. Once again for this type of bet, five horses must be involved in the race.
For those who like the thought of higher stakes but therefore higher risk, then you may consider going for what is known as a double bet. A double bet can be either a place or a win bet, but the twist is that you lay money down on two horses in two different races. Essnetially, if both win your total winnings double, but if one part of the bet fails, you lose all of your money on both bets.
Working on the same principle, you can also place a treble bet which is the same only you are backing three horses in three races instead of two.
There is also a bet called an accumulator which involves betting on four or more horse. As you’d expect, the accumulator is a tricky bet to land as you are staking your money where there are many different potential outcomes. This type of bet is a bad idea for a beginner, and in fact I do not even entertain these myself and advise my members to do the same.
The final type of bet I am going to cover is a ‘lay bet’. This is something that has become quite popular recently, and it involves betting on horses to lose, rather than to win. It is something that is often only permitted through a betting exchange, however the bet can often be quite lucrative.
The down side is that if the horse you’re betting on wins instead of loses, then you can lose a fair amount of cash, so caution must be applied at all times.
Well that covers the basics of the basics. I will be going into more detail about each individual bet, plus other topics within the sport of horse racing in future articles.
Cliff Thurston is the owner of Grosvenor Racing Club, a successful horse racing tipster service. For more information and horse racing tips, please visit: http://www.grosvenor-racing-club.co.uk