Understanding Odds and Payoff Calculations in Horse Racing.

 

With horse race betting, in order to learn a decent, winning, strategy, you need to have a thorough understanding of how to calculate odds and payoffs correctly.  During the build up to a race, as punters place bets, the odds and payoffs change in order to maintain a balance in the bookies coffers.

 

The following information can help you to develop good wagering strategies, and includes tips and formulas to help you in this aim:

 

Firstly, you need to consider the tote board and establish the amount of money that has been wagered on each of the horses, as well as the total amount of wagers on the race. The bookmakers calculate their odds according to the total amount of wagers on a specific horse or on the total amount of bets placed on all horses.

 

To calculate the payoff to win, the following formula is used:

 

(bet (N) first number in the odds) + (bet (N) second number in the odds)

 

 

The second number in the odds

 

For instance, if the odds for the winning horse were 3:2 and you wagered £5 for a win, then your formula would look like this:

 

                                             (£5 x 3) + (£5 x 2) 

                                             ---------------------------        =   £12.50

                                                           2             

 

                                                                               

To determine what the payoff amount will be, you need to take the total amount of the place pool, then divide this figure by two, and finally, divide the number by the total bet on the horse you wagered on to place. Then multiply this figure by the amount that was wagered to get the playoff figure to place.

 

For instance, it there is £500 in the total place pool, and there is £100 bet from the 1^st horse to place, then the formula you need is:

                               

                                     (£500/2)     =   £2.50

                                   ---------------------------

                                                  £100                                       

 

If the person who has placed a bet, wagered £2, then you take the £2.50 from above and multiply by £2 to establish the payoff amount. In our example, the punter would be paid £5 for a £2 bet.

 

In order to determine the show pool playoff, the formula is similar to the above. Firstly you establish the total amount in the pool, then you multiply the figure by 3, then divide that by the total bet on the specific horse for which you are placing a wager. Once you have this figure, you then multibly the result by the value of the bet, this will provide you with the show payoff.

 

For instance, if there is a total amount of £1200 in the pool, and a total of £200 wagered on the specific horse, then a £2 bet on the horse would be:

 

                                                                               

                                      (£1200/3)     

                                 ---------------------     = 2

                                            £200

This figure is then multiplied by the amount of the bet placed, which was £2, so 2 x 2 =4. £4 is the show pay off.

 

If these formulas appear a little convoluted, then there are a number of software you can purchase that can do the calculations for you. Known as Price per Head software, there aim is to provide the punter with all the information needed to become a master in the bookmaking industry, used by bookmakers, it offers odds calculations for a variety of sports events, many types of business make use of this software, including, online casinos, and web hosting specialists and designers.

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