Whilst many may think of Greyhound racing as a pretty simple concept to bet on, you might be surprised to see just how many bets there are actually available. As with most betting markets, the range has massively evolved over the years, mainly down to integration with that of online betting.
What you will see from this article is a range of bets that can be placed, along with an explanation of how they work. The bets are often found to be ones that are accessible on pretty much all bookmakers, but there may be ones that you need to target some of the larger, more mainstream bookmakers in order to access.
One thing we will say is that it’s imperative to make sure you fully understand how the betting market works before placing your bet. You will need to be aware of what exactly has to happen for your bet to come in and going in blind is something that do not recommend. For those of you that are familiar with horse racing, you will find that there is a fairly large amount of crossover between the two sports, which should work in your favour.
Win
The win bet is going to be the most popular and is also the simplest. All you need to do for this market is back the dog that you think will win the race outright. You will be able to take a live price at the time of your bet of the Starting Price (SP), which means that you take the final odds just before that race starts.
This market is going to be available to bet on with all bookmakers that provide greyhound coverage. Whilst it’s the most popular, it’s also the one that easiest to target for new punters to the sport.
Place
The place market is where you bet on a dog to finish within a certain number of positions. As most races will include 6 dogs, you will likely need to see them finish within the top 2 places to get a pay out.
For this market, it doesn’t matter where the dog finishes (either 1st or 2nd), as it will pay out the same amount for either result.
Each Way
The each bet is where you can split your bet to cover both the dog to win and the dog to place. As the bets are essentially split in two, the first bet will be paid out if the dog wins at the odds taken or the starting price and the second bet will be paid out if they finish within the top 2 places, often paying ¼ the original odds. It’s worth noting that if your dog wins, you will be paid out on both the win and the place bet.
For example, let’s say we place €10 each way on the dog in Trap 3. This means our total stake will be €20 to cover each bet and at odds of 5.00. The dog wins the race, meaning we get paid out €50 for the win bet and then €12.50 for the place bet (place bet with quarter original odds).
Let’s say that in a different example our dog finishes second. We would lose the win bet, but we would win the place bet, returning €12.50 for our troubles. If the dog finished outside the top 2 places, both bets would lose.
Forecast Betting
Forecast betting is one of the more popular bet types with greyhound racing, mainly because each field only consists of a maximum of 6 dogs. A forecast bet will require you to pick the dog that will finish first and the dog that will finish second, in that order.
You can also access a reversed forecast bet, where you pick two dogs to finish in either first or second. For this, you don’t need to get the order right, just make sure that they both finish within the top 2 places.
This bet can be extended again with tricast bets, which require you to pick the correct order of the first 3 dogs. Again, a reverse tricast bet can also be placed choosing the first 3 dogs but in any order.
Accumulators
Accumulators work in greyhound racing the same as any other sport and for this you must pick the winners of several races. The number of dogs that you choose from each race is pretty much endless and as you start to add more in, the odds can really start to jump.
As an extension to this bet, you can include forecast bets as an accumulator, where you need each selection to be successful for that bet to win. These are actually very popular, especially when punters are targeting certain meetings and in fields where the quality of the dogs vary quite significantly.
Ante Post
Ante post bets allow you to place bets on dogs well in advance of the race actually taking place. These markets are often inflated prices due to the fact that the confirmed line-up and the conditions that the dogs will be racing in aren’t 100% confirmed yet.
The downside to ante post bets is that if your dog does not run for whatever reason, your bet will not be void and you will not get your stake returned.
Tote
The tote is another popular bet in greyhound racing. It works slightly differently than betting with a bookmaker in that you are betting into a pool. The amount that is bet on each dog at the end of the race is divided up and if your bet has been successful then you get a dividend from that pool.
The downside to this is that it’s not all that popular these days, so not that many bookmakers offer this bet type. The best chances of betting on the Tote is actually at the racetracks themselves, where prize pool can be erratic, but could pay out much more than the bookmakers initial odds.