There are 3 basic Bet Types on sport Win, Each Way, and more recently Lay.
Bookmakers will offer odds on each team/horse/player which tell you how much
you win if that selection wins.
You then make a stake and if your selection wins you get your stake back +
your winnings which are based on multiplying the odds and your stake.
That example was quite simple as we used odds of 5, however in practice odds
can be all sorts of numbers, like simple fractions like 9/2 (which is just
4.5) or more complex fractions like 2/5.
Note that different bookmakers can express the odds in different ways - as
fractions, decimals or american style. Sometimes the odds relate to your
winnings (ex stake) and sometimes your return (inc stake). For more info
on different odds see our Odds guide
Each Way Bets
An Each Way (EW) bet is basically two bets
A win a bet
(like above)
A place bet
Staking
The first thing to know about an Each Way bet is how the staking works.
A bet of £25 EW is exactly as it sounds - "£25 each way" - i.e. Two £25
bets. So £25 EW is a £50 bet in all.
The Place Bet
A place bet is essentially a backup bet - on a player/team/horse almost
winning at lower odds. What this means in practice varies by sport
but is always quoted with the list of odds as something like this
"Each Way 1/4 1,2,3"
This means that the place bet of your each way bet will pay out at odds of
1/4 of the the win odds is your selection finishes in positions 1,2, or 3.
If you finish 4th or lower it loses.
Example
You bet
£50EW on Dipsy Discs in the 4.15 at Lingfield at odds of 25-1
The Each
Way terms are 1/5 1,2,3
Bookmakers
take the £100 stake out of your betting account (£50EW is 2 £50 bets)
There are 3 different outcomes for this bet
Not all horse races and sports will offer the same terms. In horse
racing it depends on the number of runners and the type of race. The place
fraction is either 1/4 or 1/5, and the number of places is normally from 2 to 4.
For other sports it can vary a lot. In some tournaments like Tennis the
terms may be 1/2 1,2 meaning your only covered for a losing finalist. In
golf the terms may be 1/4 1,2,3,4,5 meaning that finishing in the first 5 will
get you something (if you back each way)
Laying / Lay Betting
A lay bet is a bet that something wont win.
So if you lay a horse and the horse loses = you win
If you lay a horse and the horse wins = you lose
This type of bet has grown significantly in popularity over the last few
years with the growth of betting exchanges in particular. See our
laying and exchanges guide for more details and
strategies on this.
The basic way returns on lay bets are calculated is basically the mirror
image of the win bet - as if you are laying a bet, then someone else has the
corresponding win bet.
Example
You lay TBones Trouble at 3-1 in
the 2.10 at Southwell.
You set a stake of £420 being the
amount you could lose if the horse wins
As you are giving odds of 3-1,
and you have set your max loss at £420, this means you can take bets of £140,
because if the horse wins you'd need to pay winning of 3x£140=£420.
So if the horse loses - you don't
have to pay out - so you keep the stakes of £140 - i.e. you win £140
But if the horse wins - you have
to pay out 3 x £140 = £420 so you lose £420
As you can probably see from the above your odds were the "upside down odd"
of the odds you layed ay. In this case you layed at 3/1 meaning your odds
were 1/3
If you lay at 10-1 your odds are 1/10
If you lay an odds on shot like at 1/5, your odds are 5/1
Other Types of Bet
Win, EW and Lay are the three core bet types but there are a few variations
on these
Handicaps
Handicaps are essentially win bets but you are betting on a result after it
has been adjusted by a handicap.
For example in a Rugby match like Australia v Scotland - the bookies would
offer very very short odds on Australia, and only the most loyal Scotland fan
would really consider backing their side even at high odds.
So maybe the normal win market is
Australia 1/20
Scotland 12/1
However to make it more interesting the bookies work out a points handicap
for Australia which they think makes the game fairly even.
Australia - 30 4/5
Scotland +32 5/6
So both teams are priced at odds of just under 1/1 (know as evens) and the
winner is based on the final score, adjusted by some points.
In this example if you bet on Australia -30 then if Australia win by 31 or
more then you win. If Australia win by 29 or less then you lose. If
Australia win by exactly 30 then it this case it would be a "Handicap Tie".
if the bookmaker had offered the handicap tie as an option, then your bet would
lose, however if they had not then you would get your money back.
Sometimes the handicaps are quoted with fractions like 30.5 to get rid of this
issue, but its worth being aware of this
Similarly in the example if you'd bet on Scotland and if they would have won
if you'd added 32 to their score then you win, and you lose or maybe handicap
tie otherwise.
Notice how the example above has -30 and +32 - the handicaps for each team
don't have to be the same, although they often are, but they do often vary by
bookmaker, as do the odds.
Asian Handicaps
Asian Handicaps are a lot more complex - we mention them here only to say
they are not what they seem at first glance, and are not just simple handicap
markets like described above.
e.g. Liverpool +0 is not the same as a normal win bet on Liverpool
Liverpool +0.25 is not the same as Liverpool +0.5 which is not the same as
Liverpool +0.75
For more info see our Asian Handicap Betting guide
Place Only
We've already talked about Each Way bets which are both a win bet and a place
bet, but until recently and each way bet was the only way to back something to
place. Obviously this had its drawbacks as you also had to back it
to win, and sometimes this made the bet less attractive.
Now at a few bookmakers like
Betfair you can place a single
bet on a horse to place at some fixed odds. It pays in just the same way
as a win bet really only the odds are much lower than for a win, and your bet
wins if you get any place.
Multiples
Multiples are when you combine several bets so that they all have to win for
you to win. The consequence is that its much harder to win, but as the
odds multiply up, the returns can be huge.
Doubles, Trebles, Accumulators
A double is a combination of two bets where both need to win for you to win
A treble is a combination of three bets were all 3 need to win for you to win
An accumulator is the term used for another other larger combination of
4,5,6,7,.. bets where they all have to win for you to win.
A win bet is the most simple type of bet - you are betting on a
team/horse/player to win something like a football match a horse race or a
tennis tournament etc.
3 single (normal win) bets - one
on each selection