In this article…
🏇 What is Each-Way Betting?
Each-way betting has been popular among horse racing punters for a long time, mainly due to the fact that your selection doesn’t have to win the race in order for you to still make a profit.
When placing an each-way bet, you are essentially doubling your stake as you are placing two bets – one on your selection to win, and one on your selection to place.
For example, placing a £10 each-way bet would cost you £20 (£10 on the win and £10 on the place).
A lot of people tend to avoid each-way betting due to getting confused by the place terms and how to calculate their payout for a win and payout for a place, but it’s actually a simple process.
Below are the standard place terms for each-way betting in horse racing.
| Number Of Runners | Place Terms |
| 2-4 Runners | Win Only |
| 5-7 Runners | 1/4 of the odds 1st and 2nd |
| 8-11 Runners | 1/5 of the odds 1st, 2nd, 3rd |
| 12-15 Runners (Handicap) | 1/4 of the odds 1st 2nd 3rd |
| 16+ Runners (Handicap) | 1/4 of the odds 1st 2nd 3rd 4th |
This guide will explain the ins and outs of each-way betting and how you can use it to your advantage when betting on horse racing.
We’ve got plenty of each-way tips here at Andy’s Bet Club for all of you horse racing fans out there. Be sure to check out our free horse racing each-way tips and free horse racing tips articles, which offer extra racing insight generated from our Hit Rates and Racing Ratings tools respectively – all of our horse racing tips and predictions are available on our horse racing tips page.
In addition, you can check out our Tuesday Trixie tips, meanwhile, be sure to to take advantage of the vast amount of horse racing free bets and sign up offers to back our horse racing tips with.
💰 How to Calculate Each-Way Bet Winnings
For the purpose of this example, we are going to use Hott Shott at 10.0 (9/1). As you can see below, we are looking to stake £10 each way (£20 total) at 1/5 of the odds which will return us £108 profit (£20 is your stake) if he wins.
When your horse wins, it’s simple to know your payout, as it is displayed for you when you place your bet. The confusion comes if your horse places. If Hot Shott fails to win but finishes 2nd or 3rd, we will receive 1/5 of the odds which, in this case, would return £28 – that’s £8 profit. A small profit, but small wins are better than losses!
It’s important to understand this information to know if you have been paid out correctly by a bookmaker.
🤔 How To Pick Horse Racing Each-Way Bets
Anyone can get lucky at gambling on the odd occasion, but they will eventually lose long-term if they continue to back bad value and unresearched picks. Not everyone has the time to sit and analyse each race, with work and family commitments, however, there are tools and strategies out there that can aid your process of becoming a smarter and more profitable gambler.
One method of doing this is by using a good old form book – probably not the answer holy grail seekers were looking for (it’s further down), but there’s a reason why horse racing data exists and is displayed publicly everywhere, because it works!
No matter what sport you bet on, if you go into an event with no knowledge of what you are betting on, you’re already fighting a losing battle. Spending the time to analyse a race rather than picking the horse with the best names will pay dividends on your betting (if done properly).
A good rule of thumb to look at before placing any each-way bet is to put each horse through a selection process consisting of recent form (wins and places), ground, class, course and distance. These are the five main variables that can help you place more informed bets to extract value from races. There are free tools out there, like our Hit Rates tool, that will provide you with key information about every horse running on a specific day, which you can use as a starting point for further research into your selections.
When looking at form books for each-way bets, it’s important to judge a horse on its placings and not only its wins. There are a lot of horses out there who haven’t won for over a year, sporting massive prices and consistently making the placings. Not enjoyable for the owners and trainers, but great value for money for punters having a stab at a big price winner, knowing the horse’s history of making the placings.
⏱️ Tips For Horse Racing Each-Way Betting
Take Advantage Of Extra Place Races
Extra place races have been a great addition for punters by bookmakers and provide some great opportunities when used correctly. Using the same research process from above, your selection has just upped its chances of returning you a profit without doing anything.
Gaining some extra wiggle room if they fail to win the race is always a bonus, and at bigger meetings and festivals, bookmakers can offer an extra two or three places on some races.
Although these races are great, it is essential to stick to your process of selecting the correct horses beforehand and not go chasing every extra place race.
Put The Odds In Your Favour
If the form book process isn’t for you, go down the maths route. You can win by placing each-way bets without knowing anything about horse racing (you found the holy grail). However, bookmakers are well aware of these types of bets and WILL restrict your betting account if you continuously abuse them.
Bad each-way races are bad for bookmakers (hence the name), as they are required to pay out either a quarter or a fifth of the odds on each-way bets, but the true odds of that horse placing are actually less than the bookmaker is offering (i.e. value for the punter).
You tend to find bad each-way bets when there is a very short priced favourite, with two hopefuls behind it in the betting and the rest of the field sporting big prices. The two hopefuls may not be able to win the race on paper, but strange things happen in horse racing.
If the short priced favourite is overturned, these are the next two runners in line and could land the race at a decent price, which is great, but primarily the value comes from the place part of the bet. Two horses must finish second and third in a race (unless a disaster occurs), and with the rest of the field sporting big prices, the two hopefuls look appealing in the place market and could be providing value.
Firstly, work out the place odds of your selection using either a fifth or a quarter of the odds the bookmaker is providing for the race. Once you know this, you can cross reference the price with the true price on the Betfair Exchange to see if you are gaining value in the place market, if not, leave the race and move onto the next opportunity.
An example is shown below of a horse providing value in the place market.
Running Spirit provides great value to back each-way in this race. Backing him each way at 8.0 (9/1) at a fifth of the odds will give you a price of 2.40 should he finish in a place position.
However, a quick check in the place market on a betting exchange (showing the true odds / percentage change of a place), you can see his odds are 1.41 to finish in the top three, those odds suggest he has a 70% chance of finishing top three and giving you great value for this horse placing and almost a free bet on this horse to win at a decent price.
Summary
To conclude, each-way betting is a great way to enjoy responsible gambling, and by using a careful selection process, taking advantage of extra place races and/or bad each-way races, you can benefit from a rewarding and enjoyable betting experience and start making profitable betting decisions.
There is nothing worse than seeing the horse you’ve backed trailing far behind the race leader in the home straight, and the best thing about each-way betting is that your horse doesn’t need to cross the line first to earn you a profit.
Good luck with your each-way betting.
Written by Andy Robson
18+ please gamble responsibly.
