A gambler who doesn’t understand the odds is going to find it difficult to pick a winner; this applies to a visit to a local bookmaker as well as placing a bet online.
The first thing to understand is that the odds are an indicator of what chance the bookmaker thinks a horse has of winning a race combined with how much money is being bet on the animal. Long odds, for example, 100-1, show that little money has been bet as both bookmaker and punter think it is unlikely that the horse will win. Shorter odds including 2-1 will indicate a horse with an excellent chance of winning.
The odds are also the indication of how much profit can be made on a specific bet. If a bet of ten pounds on a horse with odds of 3-1 is placed and the horse wins the gambler will win three pounds for each pound bet. In this case that would mean that the original ten pounds would be returned plus thirty pounds for the win.
An each way bet is where half the stake goes on the horse finishing in the first three or four places depending on the race. A five pound each way bet on a horse at 8-1, where the horse finishes second would win the gambler one quarter of the odds times five. That would mean that ten pounds would be won plus the return of the five-pound stake. The other five-pound bet on the horse winning would be lost. A winning each way bet pays for both the win and the place.
Visit a local bookmaker who will be happy to explain the process.
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