If you follow these notes, you can take control of your income…

Stake:

the amount of money per bet

$10

Return:

the amount of money returned to you if your horse wins, including your original stake

For example, $30 ($20 winnings + $10 stake)

Odds:

the chance that the horse will win expressed as a fraction.

• 50/1 – not much chance of winning
• 10/1 – not much chance of winning, but may be placed
• 5/1 – a fair chance of winning or a good chance of being placed
• 2/1 – a good chance of winning or a good chance of being placed
• 4/6 – almost certain to win

Return on a $10 stake:

• $510 (50 x $10 plus $10)
• $110
• $60
• $30
• $16

Win:

the horse wins the race outright

First place

Placed:

the horse doesn’t win the race but finishes towards the front

Secord or third place (sometimes 4th of 5th)

Win bet:

you are betting that the horse will win the race

Small stakes reduce the amount you may lose, but also restrict the amount you could win.  BE PREPARED TO LOSE YOUR MONEY

Each way bet:

you are betting that the horse will either win, or will finish either second or third (or fourth/fifth depending on the race)

If the horse wins, you also get your stake returned.  If the horse is placed, you only get 1/5 of the winnings.  For example, a £10 stake on a 5/1 horse which finishes in second place, would return 1/5 of $50 = $10.  Although your stake isn’t returned on a horse which is placed, in this example you have actually got your money back.  You haven’t lost anything, but you didn’t win either.

Single:

you are betting on one horse to win

$10 to win the race

Double:

you are betting that two horses will win in different races

$10 x 2.

Both horses need to win to get a return

Treble:

you are betting that three horses will win in different races

$10 x 3.

All three horses need to win to get a return

Trixie:

you are betting that two or three horses will win in different races

$10 x 4 (3 double bets and a treble)

• if A and B win = small win
• if B and C win = small win
• if A and C win = small win
• if A, B and C win = large win

Cash out:

you sometimes have the opportunity to stop a live bet and take your money, which may be less than your original stake, or more.

• access to a gambling website or app, for example bet365
• access to UK horse races
• an initial ‘betting bank’… an amount of money you can use for your stakes
• a balanced attitude to risk… not euphoric when you win and suicidal when you lose.  Be prepared to lose, but don’t worry as you will have good days and bad days
• a spreadsheet to track your progress
• a plan… how are you going to do this

The app

First of all, you need to familiarise yourself with the betting app.

There’s lots of information on these apps, but they are obviously designed to promote lots of different sports and activities.  We are going to concentrate on the horse racing portion of the app.

Open an account on the app

You will need to enter some basic details.

You will also need to deposit some money into your account.  At any time you can request your money back.

Don’t forget your username or password… write them down somewhere.

When you open the app, this is what you will see.

• Deposit:  This is where you can add more money to your account
• The ‘person icon’ in the top right hand corner is where you can access your account details and settings
• At the bottom you will see your current ‘betting bank’ value… in this example £4,527.79
• And an indication of how many bets you have running… in this example 4

 

In the centre of the screen are the different sports… soccer, racing, greyhounds etc.  Clicking on the racing link will take you to the horseracing section of the app

When you click on the racing link, this is what you will see.

At the top of this section are any promotions/offers, followed by ‘next races’

As you scroll down the screen, you will see ‘UK & Ireland’, followed by any international races available.

You will also see the races from yesterday as well as the races planned for today and tomorrow… Saturday, Sunday and Monday in this example.

Not every racecourse has racing every day, but there’s usually between 3 and 10 events per day… Monday to Sunday, mostly during the afternoon but some are at night.

 

Some races are on the flat and some are over jumps.

The quality of the racecourse is dependant on the weather and is shown as firm, good, soft or heavy.  If it is an artificial (all-weather) course, it is usually standard.

Clicking on one of the start times will take you through to the actual race and show you the horses, odds and other details.

Clicking on a race brings you more detail:

• the race time and racecourse
• the ‘terms’ of the race… in this case it pays 1/4 odds for each way (E/W) bets for the only second place
• B.O.G… best odds guaranteed… if the odds change, you get the best odds

 

Scrolling down the page shows all of the horses running in the race

Scrolling down the page shows us that there are 6 horses running and we have them arranged in ‘odds order’, with the favourite to win the race, Alien Storm, at the top.

The latest odds are on the right, 13/8, with any changes shown below.

If we click on the odds, we are selecting the horse and it changes colour.

It also appears at the bottom of the page.

If we were just backing this one horse, we could also select E/W to make it an each way bet.

As we are going to be placing a Trixie, we need to select more horses in other races, so we need to swipe down the screen until the list of races appears.

From the list of races, we selected 2.50 Kempton

We selected another horse, Seeyouinmydreams

This was automatically added to Alien Storm and the bet changed to a Double with combined odds of 3.53/1

For a Trixie, we need to add another horse, so we swipe down to screen again to bring up the list of races again

From the list of races, we selected 3.25 Kempton

We selected another horse, Frere d’Armes

This was automatically added to Alien Storm and Seeyouinmydreams and the bet changed to a Treble with combined odds of 14.86/1

However, we don’t want a Treble, we want a Trixie

 

If we click on the upward pointing arrow within the Treble selection, we can see details of the bet and that there are other types of bet available

With the bet expanded, we can see More Multiples and a dropdown arrow.

Click on the arrow

As well a Treble, we can see the full list of bets available for our selection of horses:

• Singles
• Doubles
• Trixie
• Patent

Now we can set up our Trixie bet.

Click on ‘stake’ in the Trixie and type in your ‘per bet‘ stake.  In this example we typed 10, but as a Trixie is 4 bets, the ‘actual stake‘ of £40 is shown below the box.

If you are happy with your selection and stake, click Place Bet

If we wanted to place an Each Way Trixie bet, type in your stake and select E/W

We are actually placing 8 bets, so the ‘actual stake’ becomes £80

If you are happy with your selection and stake, click Place Bet

Once you click Place Bet, you get a confirmation of Bet Placed, with a confirmation of:

• a list of the horses you selected
• the fact it is a Trixie
• the stake per bet
• a total stake
• predicted return, if all of the horses win

 

From here you can close the window with the X and repeat the process with your next bet.

You can also see the betting bank has been reduced from £4,527.79 to £4,487.79

Remember…

• there are no guarantees
• some days you will win, some days you will lose
• don’t keep betting to try and recover losses… know when to stop
• if it’s not fun anymore, STOP
• once you have made some money, withdraw your original betting bank and bet with your winnings
• set up a spreadsheet so you can see your progress
• this is not a ‘get rich quick scheme’, it could take weeks or months
• you don’t have to bet every day

First of all we need to understand how your selected horses can influence any potential returns.

Favourite

As the name suggests, the favourite is expected to win the race, although this isn’t guaranteed.  What is guaranteed is that the odds of the horse will be very low, meaning if it did win the returns would be very low.

Second favourite

There is still a very good chance the second favourite will win the race.  The odds will still be relatively low, but better than the favourite so if the horse did win, the returns would be higher.

Remaining runners

The remaining runners will still have a chance of winning, but are much harder to predict.  Any horse lower than fifth according to the bookmakers is not likely to win, unless something serious happens to the favourites.

Bet to win, or each way?

This where it gets a little challenging, but there are some basic rules to consider:

• if you are betting on favourites, bet to win and not each way
• if you are betting on second favourites or below, consider each way bets… especially if the odds are big, for example 5/1 or higher

 

There is also the option to have a mixture of favourites and second favourites.  Depending upon the odds available, it will probably be worth an each way stake.

How much to stake

Win bets:

• a $10 per bet stake, is actually $40
• $20 per bet is $80
• $40 per bet is $160

 

Each way bets:

• a $10 per bet stake, is actually $80
• $20 per bet is $160
• $40 per bet is $320

 

How much you stake is usually determined by your attitude to risk and how much you can afford to lose.

The greater the stake, the greater the potential returns, but also the greater the potential losses.