Tote betting explained: pools, dividends and the SP

How does a Tote pool bet work?

All stakes on a Tote market go into one pool. After the deduction, the remainder is divided among winning tickets, so the dividend reflects how much was staked on the winner.

Pool betting works on a simple principle that has not changed in decades. Nobody sets a price. Punters bet against each other, the operator takes a fixed share for running the pool, and the rest goes back to the winners in proportion to their stakes.

A simple example: £10,000 goes into a win pool. After a deduction of, say, £1,500, the net pool is £8,500. If £1,000 was staked on the winner, each £1 unit receives £8.50, and that is the declared dividend. The operator carries no risk on the result, only on the size of the pool.

How do Tote win and place pools pay?

The win pool pays tickets on the winner. The place pool pays tickets on each placed horse, with the number of places set by field size and race type.

Place terms in the pool follow the runners taking part: races of 2 to 4 runners have no place pool; two places with 5 to 7; three with 8 or more; and four in handicaps of 16 or more. The net place pool is split between the placed horses and then divided by the stakes on each, so each placed horse has its own dividend.

That split explains a quirk of place dividends. When a heavily supported favourite is placed, its dividend can be barely above £1, while an unconsidered outsider that sneaks into third can pay several times its share.

What are the Tote Exacta and Trifecta?

The Exacta is a pool bet on the first two in the correct order. The Trifecta is a pool bet on the first three in the correct order, and often produces very large dividends.

Both are the pool versions of the bookmaker forecast and tricast. The difference is how they are paid. A bookmaker settles a forecast by a formula based on the starting prices, while an Exacta dividend depends only on how many tickets named that exact order. A popular one-two can pay less than the formula would; an unfancied combination can pay far more.

Other Tote products such as the Swinger, which needs two named horses to both finish in the first three in any order, work on the same principle. Every one of them pays whatever the pool produces, which is why a straight comparison with a bookmaker forecast is only possible after the race.

Why does a Tote dividend differ from the starting price?

The starting price comes from bookmakers' prices at the off, while the Tote dividend depends only on how the pool was staked. An outsider neglected by pool punters can pay more than its SP.

The two markets are made by different people. Bookmaker prices reflect the firms' view and the money they take; a pool reflects the choices of pool punters, who tend to include more casual racegoers on big days. Well-known horses, famous jockeys and names that catch the eye can attract more pool money than their chance deserves, which can leave better value elsewhere in the pool.

Neither is reliably bigger. A Tote dividend of £6.20 is the equivalent of 5.2/1, and whether that beats the SP depends on the race. Comparing the declared dividend with the SP after the race is the only way to know.

How do pool deductions and small pools affect a dividend?

The Tote deducts a percentage from each pool before paying out, and the rate varies by bet type. In small pools, a few large stakes can move the dividend sharply.

Exotic pools such as the Trifecta usually carry a larger deduction than the win pool, and the current rates are published by the operator. On a quiet weekday card a single sizeable bet in a small place pool can drag a dividend down to near the minimum, while the same horse at a big meeting would pay close to what the market suggested.

Because the dividend is fixed only when the pool closes, the approximate dividend shown before the off is a guide, not a price. Late money can change it, so the declared dividend after the race is the only figure that settles a bet.

Which Tote bets cover several races?

The Placepot, Quadpot, Jackpot and Scoop6 are Tote pool bets across several races, each with its own pool, and all replace a non-runner with the starting price favourite of that race.

These multi-race pools are where the Tote is most distinctive, because a bookmaker has no direct equivalent of a pool shared by thousands of tickets. The dividend depends as much on how many other tickets survived as on the results themselves.

• Placepot: a placed horse in each of races one to six
• Quadpot: a placed horse in each of races three to six
• Jackpot: the winner of each of six nominated races
• Scoop6: six Saturday races with win, place and bonus funds

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