| If you find yourself at the racetrack looking at the odds | | | | not into your and your fellow betters' pockets. |
| of each horse and don't understand anything and | | | | Different tracks have different takes but usually range |
| you're almost at the teller's window to bet on one-don't | | | | between a healthy 14-20%. We think it should be more |
| fret. We'll tell you here how to read horseracing odds. | | | | like 5%, but we don't own the tracks and someone |
| First, do you understand the tote board or even know | | | | has to pay taxes, and track upkeep-basically |
| where it is? It's the big old sign-type of thing probably | | | | you-through your betting, but we move on. |
| across from where you're sitting with all sorts of | | | | Finding your exact odds is easy. You can do this in |
| numbers and horse names on it. You really can't miss | | | | your head if you're good at head-math. Or, you can |
| it. On the tote board, you will see the odds for each | | | | bring a trusty calculator with you like we do. First, |
| horse and don't confuse odds with how much you'll | | | | subtract the track's take from the total pool and then |
| win if your horse wins. For instance if the horses odds | | | | subtract the amount bet on your horse and you'll have |
| are 7-5, that means you will get $7.00 bucks for every | | | | the exact amount of cash the horse will payout. But |
| five dollars you bet-20-1 will mean $20 bucks for every | | | | wait, we're not done yet. After that, you have to divide! |
| dollar you bet-you get the idea. Keep in mind that | | | | Divide that last payout figure by the amount you bet |
| almost all horse tracks will have a two-dollar minimum | | | | on your horse and you will have the exact odds on |
| bet. Numbers on the tote board are usually rounded | | | | your horse! Whew, can you believe some people do |
| off, so pay attention to that too. | | | | this in their head? If you can't really understand this all |
| To figure the exact odds on your horse, you need to | | | | by reading it, here's a chart! |
| look further at that tote board, basically total win pool | | | | Total pool amount: $900.00 |
| and amount bet on the horse. The total win pool is | | | | Total bet on horse: $300.00 |
| what everyone sitting at the track has bet on your | | | | Take amount: 15% |
| horse (yes, more than one person can bet on a horse). | | | | Here's the math now: |
| Don't forget this isn't the amount you win if the horse | | | | $900 minus 15% = $765.00 |
| wins-it is just all the money riding on that horse. Next, | | | | $765 minus $300.00 = $465.00 |
| there is a thing called "the take." Yep, that's what is | | | | $465 divided by $300.00 gives you a whopping $1.55! |
| "taken" away from that horses winnings and shoved | | | | |