by Peter Flom

Created on: September 12, 2009   Last Updated: September 24, 2009

A winning strategy for betting on horses

There are two possible routes to consistently winning at the race track. One is a lot of work, involving becoming extremely expert on the huge variety of factors that might be involved in one horse being faster than another on a given day, on a given course, at a given distance and so on. The other one is much easier, but it doesn't offer huge rewards. It's that one I'll discuss today. It's a way to, over time, consistently make money on horse racing.

To understand this method of betting on horses, we first have to explore a bit how the gambling aspect of horse racing works. Essentially, a bunch of people bets money, the track figures out what the odds should be for each type of bet, it takes out a portion (often called 'the vig' or 'the take') and gives the rest back to the winners. It's the size of the vig (short for vigorish) that makes it hard to beat the races on a consistent basis using the first strategy in my opening paragraph. But it's the way it gives the money back that makes it possible to make money at the races, using a different method.

You can make a large variety of bets, but for our purposes, I just need to mention three: Win, place, and show. If you bet to win, you get money if your horse comes in first. If you bet to place, you get money for first or second. If you bet to show, you get money for first, second, or third. Of course, the payout is less for place and show than it is for win. Usually.

Payouts are determined by odds, expressed as two numbers. If the odds are 10-1, and you win, you get 10 times as much.

The key thing is that there is a minimum payout. If you bet $2, and your bet is right, the track has to pay you a certain amount (either $2.10 or $2.20, depending on the track) regardless of whether the correct payout is less than that. And sometimes it is less than that. One case where this is true is when a horse is a very strong favorite, called 'odds on', because your winnings are less than double your bet. If a horse is 1-9, and you bet $2, then you get back $2.10 if your horse wins. But, if you bet to show, you get that same $2.10 if he comes in first, second, or third.

Is this a guarantee? Of course not. Sometimes, your horse will come last. Or worse than third, anyway, and you lose your whole bet. But, if you bet a small portion of what you have on each race, then, in the long run, this strategy ought to work.

Of course, I make no guarantee whatsoever about this. I am not proposing that you do this, and I take no responsibility if it does not work for you.

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