Odds are displayed in one of two formats. Decimal: This type of odd is recently introduced to the industry and is more commonly used in Europe. These are displayed in the format of 5.

To get your potential return, multiply the odd by your bet. If the odd is displayed at 5. These are published in either the program, racing form, or online at your sportsbook.

Either at the track on the tote board or on your online sportsbook, the odds will change depending on how many people are betting on each horse in the race up until post time.

Each race has a favorite. This is the horse most likely to win. Fractional odds can easily be translated to probability percentages. Depending on the race and the rules of the racetrack, the minimum could be slightly lower.

Before you even begin to place a bet, you need to know what the odds are of the particular bet you want to make.

One of the reasons why horse betting is difficult is because the odds fluctuate every time a bet is placed. This fluctuation is called pari-mutuel wagering, or pool betting.

With horse racing you are betting against other betters. Once the winning horse has crossed the finish line, the house will deduct its take and the remaining amount is then divided among the people who bet on the winning horse.

Unlike with win bets, there are no exact horse racing odds for exotic bets because there are too many variables.

Yet at Amwager, we post probable payouts for exacta and daily double wagers. Also for exotic wagers, the payouts are calculated differently.

Your payout is calculated by subtracting the amount of winning dollars from the total pool, then dividing the remaining pool by the amount of cash bet on the winner, and finally adding back in the winning bet amount.

For easy math, we used round numbers. But in the real world, this does not always happen. Payouts use the actual odds and are rounded down to the nearest nickel or dime, depending on the rules of the racetrack.

CHI Santiago. CHI Club Hipico. ARG PALERMO. USA Los Alamitos. USA Philadelphia. USA Mahoning Valley. USA Delta Downs.

USA Turf Paradise. AUS Moruya. AUS Taree. NZ Otaki. RSA Vaal. FRA Cagnes-Sur-Mer. FRA Lyon La Soie. JPN Nakayama. Cindy Pierson Dulay is a horse-racing expert, journalist and award-winning photographer.

She is the owner and editor of Horse-Races. Updated November 04, LiveAbout uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience.

By using LiveAbout, you accept our. The odds provide players with potential payout info and helps them make more informed decisions. For novices of horse racing betting looking at the tote odds board for the first time, win odds such as , or may look intimidating at first, but the math is quite simple and can be learned in minutes.

Typically, horse racing in the U. From a betting standpoint, the race track simply acts as broker for your transaction. All of the dollars wagered on a particular race are placed in specific pools.

Money bet on a horse to win goes into the win pool. The more money placed on a horse to win the race, the lower the odds on that horse. The less money wagered on the horse, the higher the odds.

Bettors can also place exotic wagers on more than one horse and more than one race. Each exotic bet has its own pool, which determine the payoffs.

All of our recommended sites are licensed and regulated in the U. Not all states allow pari-mutuel wagering on online platforms such as TVG or TwinSpires, but more than half do, with additional states continuing to loosen restrictions.

While pari-mutuel wagering is the law of the land at all U. Customers can also lock in exact win odds on their horse in races at Monmouth Park in Oceanport.

Odds are the return you can expect to get if the horse you bet on is successful. It reflects the amount of money bet on a horse; the more money that is invested, the shorter the odds. When horse racing odds are shown in the form of , , etc, it expresses the amount of profit to the amount invested. So odds of mean that for every $2 invested, the punter gets $7 profit in return. How to Calculate Horse Racing Betting Odds and Payoffs Reading the Win Odds. The easiest information on the board is the win odds quoted on each horse. They don't tell you Calculating the Win Odds on a Horse. The total pool is all the money bet on all the horses to win, but it is not the. Santa Anita, one of the top horse racing tracks in the United States, starts their long winter-spring meet on Saturday, December Check out top plays and Horse Racing Odds for the Top Stakes Races of the Week from Saturday, Dec. 26th to Sunday, Dec. 27th. Here are some of the vocabulary you need to know: Fixed-Odds: A bet where you get the odds advertised by the better operator at the time you place your bet. Please note Late Money: When a horse gets a lot of money wagered right before a race. Odds-On: A term used for a strong favorite to win. The less money wagered on the horse, the higher the odds. If a horse goes off at odds, that means the bettor can expect $2 of profit for every $1 invested. So, a $2 bet on a winning horse at odds would return the bettor $6 – $4 of profit along with the original $2 wager.