Welcome to our Each Way Betting Guide for Horse Racing, you can apply it to other sports too but it’s mainly aimed at horse racing in particular.
First of all, you need to understand what an Each Way bet is as well as what Horse Racing betting involves check out our betting guides for more help if you need it.
Each way betting offers a unique way of covering your bets if your horse does not win the race but runs well enough to place in the first 3 or 4 depending on the place terms.
What Is An Each Way Bet On A Horse
An each-way bet is a win bet and a place bet rolled into one, so instead of just backing a horse to place or to win, you are backing both the win and the place in one bet.
This is why an each way is 2 bets instead of one, for example, you place a bet on a horse called Red Rusty at 5/1 you think it will win but you want to cover your bet with the place bet.
Instead of a £5 win or a £5 place you want to cover both so you place a £5 each way which means you will win either way if the horse wins or places (more if it wins) and the total stake you would have to place would be £10 (£5 for the win bet, £5 for the place bet).
Each Way Betting Guide – So How Does Each Way Betting Work
Each way betting works on horses in the following way, certain races pay out on more places, they are listed below along with the fractional payout terms if your horse’s places.
Remember an each way is 2 bets a win bet and a place bet, so if your horse wins you win half of the bet at the odds you place it on and the place part of the bet is paid out at a percentage of those odds depending on the type of race and number of runners.
· Handicaps of 16 or more runners: 1/4 win odds on first four places
· Handicaps of 12 to 15 runners: 1/4 win odds on first three places
· All other races of 8 or more runners: 1/5 win odds on first three places
· All races of 5 to 7 runners: 1/4 win odds on first two places
· All races of fewer than 5 runners: win only
To clarify let’s say using the same earlier example you place a £5 each-way bet on Red Rusty at 5/1 (£10 total, £5 for the win £5 for the place) in a 16-runner handicap horse race.
Red Rusty wins the race so you will get a £5 win at 5/1 and also a £5 place at 1/4 odds as listed above (a quarter of 5/1 is 1.25/1)
Win payout = £30 (6×5)
Place payout = £11.25 (1.25×5)
Total payout for each way bet is £41.25
Now let’s say that Red Rusty comes 4th in the race instead your return will be the place part of the bet only as it didn’t win the race meaning you will win £11.25 (a profit of £1.25).
Hopefully, now you can see the perks of each-way betting, obviously larger odds horses make more sense to back each way but anything under 4/1 is usually not worth it to back each way as your returns if the horse places only will be under your stake.
Now you have an idea of what an each-way bet is, when is the best time to use each-way betting on horse racing you may ask, keep reading…
When Does Each Way Betting Make More Sense Then?
As mentioned in the above payout terms for different races and payouts being largely determined by the number of runners, it begs the question of when does each way betting make more sense?
As a guide, we can look at what actually occurred, using data from all Flat races in Britain in 2018. The following table shows the average win % and per-place % separately for non-handicaps and handicaps with different numbers of runners:
You can use this as a guide but obviously, it’s based on 2018, some years’ data will vary but usually will be quite close to the above.
As you can see there is a clear indicator that races of 8 to 11 runners in non-handicaps and 16 runners plus in handicaps offer the best each-way betting opportunities.
On the other hand, though, it is rarely worth it to back each way rather than win only in 16-plus non-handicaps or in 5- to 7-runner handicaps.
What About Enhanced Place Terms Then?
Earlier in this each-way betting guide, we mentioned the payout terms for each way betting on horses, these are the standard place terms offered by all bookmakers in the UK and Ireland.
But from time to time you may have noticed bookmakers offering enhanced place terms for each way backers.
A prime example is the Grand National often bookmakers will offer 1/5 of the odds for up to 6 places sometimes more, with over 40 runners often in this race it’s still going to be tough to pick a winner or a place but it does offer you more value than the standard place terms.
Obviously, you will need to check what the terms and conditions are for enhancing place bets on a case-by-case basis but the same concept applies to standard place terms.
Bookmakers like Betfair also now allow you to pick the number of places you want to back each way and they adjust the odds for you in real time so you can see your payouts.
If you struggle to calculate your potential payouts for each way it’s recommended to use a betting calculator.
Horse Racing Each Way Betting Guide Summary
Each way betting is a great way of reducing your losses this is why this bet type is widely used by punters, especially if you use the data we showed you above to find the best race types and number of runners to target.
If you often pick horses that get beat on the line you will be able to take solace in the fact that if you back it each way you can still profit and cover your bets.
Should you be awful all together you may want to check out the best horse racing tipsters in the UK, they can help you find some winners going forward.
This is why each-way betting is so popular with horse racing punters. We hope you enjoyed our each-way betting guide if you found it useful please share it on social media with friends and family.
