Tote Placepot Betting Explained

A Complete Guide to Tote Placepot Betting

 There are so many types of gambling out there these days it can be hard to pick just one, but Tote placepot betting offers some of the best value.

With big wins possible from small stakes, Irish horse racing fans should make sure they are not missing out on the massive opportunities that are offered by Tote placepot betting.

But those who have never tried out Tote placepot betting before might be unsure of how to get started. In order to help out, here is our complete guide to Tote placepot betting.

Read on for everything that you need to know about how Tote placepot betting works.

What Is Tote Placepot Betting?

Let's kick things off with an obvious question: exactly what is Tote placepot betting?

Tote placepot betting is a type of pool bet where racing fans have to pick a horse from six races in a single day. The meetings available for Tote placepot betting are almost always in either the UK or in Ireland and are often some of the top races on the schedule.

Key to Tote placepot betting is the fact the horses do not have to win their respective races in order to give players a profit. The clue is in the name, with the placepot meaning gamblers are searching for horses that can finish in one of the places in their race.

Tote placepot betting is available from early in the morning on each day that there are UK and Irish meetings, while some international racing events are sometimes included in it as well.

How Does Tote Placepot Betting Work?

As mentioned above, in Tote placepot betting players select six horses that they believe are good enough to finish in the places.

Their stake is then entered into a central pot, which is divided up among the winners. This means that Tote placepot betting is very different from traditional betting on horse racing.

With the betting sites not involved in setting the prices for Tote placepot betting, it is often seen as a fairer way to place bets on the top races of the day.

The number of places on offer for each race depends on how many horses start. The more horses involved in a race, the more generous the terms for a place are likely to be.

Smaller races with just a few horses will have fewer places compared to a big race such as the Grand National, as an example.

How to Place a Tote Placepot Bet

Placing a Tote placepot bet works in a similar way to any other type of horse racing betting - though this bet is always for the first six races of the day.

Players who want to take part in Tote placepot betting should study the form and come up with a list of horses that they want to include on their bet.

It is even possible to pick more than one horse in a race, though of course, the impact of this is that the stake that is laid out on a Tote placepot bet increases as a result.

After making the selections for the wager, players need to decide how much money they want to stake on the bet. A minimum stake per line will be in place, so this has to be met.

Tote Ireland is where horse racing fans in Ireland should go to if they want to play the placepot.

How Much Does the Tote Placepot Cost?

The Tote recently reduced the minimum stake per line, as well as the overall stake from 5p/£1 to 1p/50p for placepot wagers that are placed at Tote.co.uk.

This is good news for Irish racing fans who want to keep their stakes low for Tote placepot betting, while still giving themselves a chance of winning a large amount of money.

Of course, the amount of money that can be won through the Tote placepot depends very much on the number of people who have entered a bet on this special market.

The more entrants into the Tote placepot, the bigger the total prize pool that is available to win.

For most people, a small stake on the Tote placepot is considered to be one of the most important bets of the day. This is due to the fact these bets can pay off in a big way.

As an example, one customer won £182,567.80 from a £2 bet that they put down for the Tote placepot at the Cheltenham Festival in 2019.

The average payout of £407 might not sound like a lot, but for small stakes it is worth a go.

It is also worth pointing out in this section of our ultimate guide to Tote placepot betting that all profits made by Tote Ireland on its placepot market are used to fund racing in Ireland.

This means that fans of the sport of kings in Ireland are helping to secure its future when they place a daily bet on the Tote placepot.

How Are the Places Decided in Tote Placepot Betting?

Unless otherwise stated, how the places are decided for Tote placepot betting is as follows:

• Races with 2 - 4 runners = 1st place only 
• Races with 5 - 7 runners = 1st & 2nd 
• Races with 8 - 15 runners = 1st, 2nd & 3rd 
• Non-handicap of 16 or more runners = 1st, 2nd & 3rd 
• Handicap of 16 or more runners = 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th

It is well worth keeping this in mind when making selections for Tote placepot betting in Ireland.

Deductions in Tote Placepot Betting

It is not the case that 100% of the stakes laid down in Tote placepot betting go into the prize fund that is shared among the winners at the end of the day.

In fact, deductions of 27% are taken out of the prize pool before the winnings can be calculated - this is for races governed by the British Horseracing Authority.

The net pool available to win on the Tote placepot is therefore 73% of the gross pool for each day of horse racing.

However, for races that are governed by Horse Racing Ireland, the deductions are set at the 30% mark. This leaves 70% in the total prize pool for the winners to share out.

Tote Placepot Tips and Strategies

As with all types of sports betting, there is a certain amount of luck involved in becoming a winner from Tote placepot betting in Ireland.

But following some Tote placepot tips and strategies can increase a player's chances of earning a share of the prize pool at the end of the day.

First up, players should not be afraid to pick more than one horse in some of the races that are included on the schedule. While this increases the stake of the bet, it gives players more opportunities to be a winner.

Picking multiple horses is a better option for races with larger fields, where it is harder to predict which of the entrants are going to be able to finish in the places.

It is usually a good idea to have one or two horses that are considered to be a 'banker' included in the selections. While betting on the favourites is not always the best way to make money out of Tote placepot betting, if there is a runaway favourite for a particular race, they should be included in the selections that are made more often than not.

Most horse racing fans in Ireland opt to steer clear of poor quality meetings for placepots, preferring to take a punt on a schedule with a number of high-class races instead. This is for multiple reasons, including the fact the outcome can be harder to predict when the entrants do not have much of a track record in the sport. Motivation could also be an issue for jockeys in low-standard races that do not have a lot riding on the outcome.

It also stands to reason that bigger meetings with top races attract more attention for Tote placepot betting. The more people who enter, the bigger the prize pool. Of course, this pushes up the number of potential winners too, reducing the share of the pot as a result. It is a balance.

Generally speaking, leaving it as late as possible is a good idea for Tote placepot betting. This means non-runners in the early races may have been declared, giving fewer options to pick. Betting later in the day also means the weather and going can be judged a lot more accurately than when selections are made first thing in the morning, a few hours ahead of the first race.

When a horse becomes a non-runner, anyone who has picked them will see their selection for the race is automatically switched to the favourite. This is to be avoided if at all possible.

In Tote placepot betting, it can also pay to take on the favourites. While they are usually the shortest prices for a reason, if the favourite wins all six of the races, the payout is likely to be small. Avoiding the favourites in some of the races increases a player's potential winnings.

A common strategy, though, is to select the option to back the starting price favourite. This is a handy choice for a volatile market where it is unclear which horse will go off as the favourite.