Beginner’s Guide to Horse Racing Odds

A common misconception on horse racing is that it’s a difficult game to understand, but that is why we are here to tell you that it’s easy as pie.  Horse racing is actually one of the simplest forms and age-old gambling games there is, having roots from the ancient Greek Olympics of mounted and chariot racing.  It is of course strongly associated with gambling, that is why there is no surprise if it is one of the activities around the world that generates a huge amount of money yearly.

Now to start off, we will introduce the basics in order for you to understand the game and perhaps try and enjoy betting on the game in the near future.

So, what are stakes?

Stakes are in fact the amount of money to be wagered. In a race course, the minimum you can stake is $2.  When placing a bet for the first time, starting with the smallest stakes won’t hurt.  Not only will you understand the race hands on, if you lose, it wouldn’t hurt your pockets so much.

The Meaning of Returns

Now you will learn to love the word returns, why you ask?  Returns are actually what they call winnings.  They are often calculated according to the chosen horse’s odds.  So, understanding both odds and returns are important in order to get the most out of your stakes in horse race gambling.

The Odds

Odds, also called price, is a way of saying the probability of a certain horse to win the race.  It is important to understand the odds of the horse you are going to place your bet on, since it will determine how much your returns will be.

There are also different types of odds and these odds are slightly different from one another.

Such odds are “Odds Against”, “Even Money” and “Odds On”.

In the world of horse racing, odds are important to understand since it is associated to returns or how much the amount of winnings will be.  Now, not all horse’s odds are the same, so be wary on which horse you place your bets on.

There are several types of odds that you need to understand when gambling in horse races.

Odds Against

If a horse’s assumed chance of winning is less than 50/50 then it is simply called “Odds Against.”

e.g 15/2, 3/1, 20/1, etc.

If, hypothetically, you place a stake worth $5 and odds are 2/1, then you will get your stake of $5 back, with your stake times the odds of 2/1 ($5 x 2) = $10!  Your total amount of returns will be $15.

Even Money

Even Money or “Evens” for short is the type of odds when the horse’s chance of winning is 50/50.  In which, the returns you will get is the amount of your stake only doubled.

So, just saying your horse wins at 1/1, then you will get your stake back plus an amount the same as your stake.  If your stake is $5, then you will have a return of $10.

Odds On

This is for horses which have odds greater than 50/50.  The returns on this type of odds is rather smaller for obvious reasons.  The horse’s chances of winning is greater.

Let’s say your stake is $5 and you win, then you will get back your stake plus the odds multiplied to the amount of the stake, $5 x ½ = $2.5 giving you a total of $7.5

In certain cases, odds are sometimes referred to as “Long Odds” or “Short Odds”.

Long odds refer to the unlikely possibility of the horse winning the race, and short odds mean that the horse’s possibility to win is great.