A Complete Guide To Each Way Betting On Horse Racing

Quick answer: each way bets are a staple of horse racing betting, and are highly popular with both bettors and bookies. It’s possible to take advantage of each way betting with both Matched Betting and Value Betting techniques.

Each way betting has a long history, having been invented to give bettors a second chance at a win, even if their horse didn’t come in first.

From a bookie’s point of view, it encourages bettors to bet on long shots - even if a horse isn’t likely to win, it has a chance at hitting a paid place. And from a bettor’s perspective, they get the excitement of a potential win as they watch the race, with a little bit of a safety net to lend them greater confidence.

But what exactly does each way mean in horse racing? Is an each way bet really in a bettor’s favour? How can you take advantage of extra place offers? And what are the best strategies to use with each way bets?

In this article, we’ll explore all these questions, so that by the end you’ll have everything you need to know to go out and place each way bets on horse racing yourself.

Data Insight

The Horseracing Bettors Forum's 2023 survey found that each-way singles accounted for 16.01% of responses when bettors were asked which types of bets they regularly placed, demonstrating this bet type’s perennial popularity.

- Horseracing Bettors’ Forum

Each Way Betting In A Nutshell

In essence, an each way bet is two bets in one. Half of your bet is on your horse to win the race; the other half is on your horse to hit a paid place. For this reason, your stake is doubled when you choose to place your bet each way.

In any sport, an each way market will have a certain number of paid places, and the payout on the place part of your bet will be at a particular fraction of the win odds - ¼ or ⅕ for horse racing.

If your horse wins the race, both parts of your bet win. If your horse hits a paid place, then only the place half of your bet pays out. And, of course, if your horse doesn’t win or place, you don’t get a return at all.

In horse racing, there is a standard number of paid places, which depends on the number of horses competing in a race. The chief exception to this is when bookies run ‘extra place offers’ - where they pay out more than the standard number of paid places.

Many bookies will run multiple extra place races every single day, typically with one extra paid place. During major festivals, though, such as Cheltenham, you may see two or even three extra paid places, which significantly increases the potential value of an each way bet.

Expert Insight

‘A horse’s chance of finishing in the places shouldn’t be judged simply by its recent finishing positions. The quality of opposition, suitability of the ground, distance and likely race pace can all influence its prospects. Looking beyond headline form can reveal place value that other bettors might overlook.’

An example of an each way bet

We’ll imagine that we want to place a bet on horse racing, and we see the following racecard for the 14:03 race at Punchestown.

We can see that there are three paid places on this race, with a place fraction of ⅕. Having had a good look at our options, we decide that we want to place an each way bet on Bombay Pat at odds of 6. This runner isn’t one of the two favourites, but its chances of hitting a paid place seem pretty good, and it might even manage a win.

We enter a unit stake of £5 and tick the ‘E/W’ box in the betslip to create an each way bet. Our stake is consequently doubled, meaning that we’re staking a total of £10 on this bet.

Now all that’s left is to wait for the race to finish and the bet to settle. The possible outcomes are as follows:

As you can see, we only make an actual profit if Bombay Pat wins, but a place means we don’t lose any money, making this a bet a less risky proposition than a straightforward win-only bet.

How Can You Take Advantage Of Each Way Betting In Horse Racing

Most recreational bettors simply do what we saw in the example above: find a runner whose odds they like the look of, place an each way bet on them, and hope for the best.

But if you want to give yourself the very best chance of turning a profit from your betting, there are much better ways to go about it. Our favourites are as follows.

Matched Betting

Matched Betting refers to the technique of betting both for and against the same outcome, so that your bets effectively cancel each other out. On a regular bet, this results in you roughly breaking even, or making a loss of a few pence, but when you factor in bookie offers like free bets, you can end up making significant profits.

The best way to combine Matched Betting and each way betting is with extra place races. Before we go any further, it’s worth mentioning that this is a more advanced offer than a basic Bet & Get, so if you’re brand new to Matched Betting it’s probably not the best place to begin - take a look at our beginner’s guide to Matched Betting for how to get started from scratch. Once you’ve gained some experience, though, it can be very profitable.

With an extra place offer, you place your each way bet as normal with the bookie, and then lay both the win part of your bet and the place part with a betting exchange. Your lay bet on the place part of your bet, however, will be on the original number of places. So for example, if a race would normally have three paid places, and the bookie is now paying out on four, you would lay your selection to hit the top three places.

There are handy tools to make it easier to find good runners for this kind of bet, such as Outplayed’s user-friendly Extra Place Catcher, which highlights good selections on extra place races and helps you calculate your stakes and potential profits.

In most cases, you’ll end up losing a small amount of money (your qualifying loss), because your back and lay bets essentially cancel each other out. However, if your horse hits the extra paid place, then you’ll win both your lay bets and the place part of your back bet, resulting in a significant profit.

Value Betting

Matched Betting is a pretty low risk way of taking advantage of extra place offers, but it can be quite fiddly and time consuming, especially for less experienced bettors.

Value Betting can produce greater profits, and is incredibly easy on each way bets, so has a lot to offer. However, it involves significantly more risk, so we’d recommend that you only move on to this strategy if you’re already an experienced matched bettor and you have a high bankroll available.

The important thing to understand about each way bets is the effect that a standard place fraction has on the expected value of a bet. Bookies are very careful to ensure that the win odds they set reflect the real likelihood of a horse winning its race, as far as possible, and they then adjust those odds to give themselves a profit margin.

The place odds, however, are standard, and so aren’t adjusted to allow for the actual chance of a horse hitting a paid place. For this reason, there’s a lot of scope for scooping up potential value with each way bets.

The easiest way to do this is with the Outplayed Extra Place Master in No Lay Mode, which analyses races to assess each horse’s chances not only of winning their races but of hitting a paid place. When there’s value to be had, the tool highlights that horse - all you have to do is place an each way bet on your selection to capitalise on that value.

Of course, the fact that a selection holds positive expected value doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to win, which is why this is a significantly higher risk strategy than Matched Betting on extra place races. However, in the long run you’re extremely likely to end up in profit if you follow a Value Betting strategy with each way betting, as shown in the graph below, taken from the Outplayed Pro Tools page.

If you’d prefer a slightly more cautious strategy, though, you can also use the Extra Place Master in Part Lay Mode. This allows you to lay only the win part of your part, mitigating any potential losses while protecting your profits.

Expert Insight

‘A positive expected value selection can still produce a long run of losing results, particularly in horse racing, where field sizes and race conditions create considerable uncertainty. Keeping stakes proportionate to your bankroll is essential; a sound betting edge is only useful if you have the discipline and funds to withstand variance.’

What Are The Risks And Downsides Of Each Way Betting On Horse Racing?

Each way betting on horse racing has its advantages, especially if you use smart betting techniques like Matched Betting or Value Betting. However, it also has its downsides, and it’s important to keep these in mind.

Are There Any Other Strategies You Can Use When Betting On Horse Racing To Maximise Your Profits?

We’ve touched on a couple of these already, Matched Betting and Value Betting specifically, but you’re by no means limited to each way betting in order to make the most of horse racing with these strategies.

Depending on your situation, you can maximise your profits with any or all of the following strategies.

Matched Betting

As we’ve seen, it’s possible to use Matched Betting techniques in conjunction with extra place offers in horse racing, but that’s far from the only way you can optimise your betting strategy on horse racing with this technique.

Because horse racing is so popular, there are typically offers of some sort available every single day, including a range of Bet & Get offers (e.g. bet £5 get a £5 free bet) and racing refund offers (e.g. get a £5 free bet if your horse doesn’t win).

In short, Matched Betting offers enormous scope for profits on horse racing bets, all at very minimal risk.

To find out more, check out the Outplayed Beginner’s Guide to Matched Betting for all the information you need to get started.

Arbitrage Betting

Arbitrage betting is similar to Matched Betting, in that it involves betting both for and against the same outcome. With arbitrage, though, you aim to find matches where the back odds are actually higher than the lay odds, resulting in an immediate profit.

In horse racing, the odds change continually in the run up to a race, which means that there can be a significant number of potential arbitrage opportunities every single day.

The main problem with arbitrage is that bookies are usually aware when their odds are higher than they should have been, so a bettor consistently taking those overvalued selections is likely to arouse suspicion. Arbitrage is therefore best used sparingly, or exclusively with bookies who have already gubbed you (i.e. prevented you from taking part in offers), where you have less to lose by attracting bookie attention.

To find out more about arbitrage betting, take a look at the dedicated Outplayed guide.

Value Betting

Value Betting is another strategy we’ve touched on already, which relies on finding overpriced odds that are higher than the true likelihood of a win would imply. If you consistently bet on inflated odds, the chances are good that you will end up in profit over time, as you’ve effectively eliminated the bookie’s profit margin and turned it in your own favour.

Basic each way betting, with the help of tools like Outplayed’s Extra Place Master, can be an excellent way of taking advantage of positive expected value selections in horse racing.

But that’s not the only option. You can also turn the odds in your favour with more complicated multiples bets, such as Lucky 15s. You will still be betting each way, in order to maximise the value offered by the place element of your bet, but on several different horses at once. Outplayed’s Lucky Finder makes it a doddle to locate potentially profitable betslips - all you have to do is build your bet with the bookie and place it.

It’s important to be aware that this is a much higher risk strategy than Matched Betting or Arbitrate Betting, and so we recommend that anyone embarking on Value Betting should be an experienced matched bettor or sports bettor with a sizeable bank roll.

If that applies to you, though, you can find out more about Value Betting in the dedicated Outplayed guide.

Data Insight

Although online betting turnover on racing has declined in recent years to £7.85b in the most recent figures, it remains the second most popular sport for betting, with abundant opportunities to place horse racing bets each day.

- Racing Post

Summary

Each way betting has a long and proud history in horse racing, and it’s easy to see why. Bettors appreciate having an improved chance to win something, while bookies enjoy the benefit of doubled stakes from their customers, and somewhat lower returns on winning bets.

And smarter bettors can reap the rewards of each way betting too, both through Matched Betting and Value Betting techniques.

If you’re keen to get started yourself, the Outplayed free trial is the best place to start. As soon as you register, you’ll get immediate access to our essential Matched Betting tools plus over 40 sign up offers, worth over £800!

FAQs

1. Does each way betting allow me to lock in a profit on horse racing?

Not on its own - if you simply place an each way bet you just improve your chances of a return a little. Even using Matched Betting techniques on extra place offers doesn’t actually allow you to lock in a profit - it just makes your possible losses very minimal, while giving you the chance of a significant win if your horse hits an extra place.

2. Is each way betting the best strategy for horse racing?

It can be a good strategy, but it’s best used as just one of several strategies on horse racing. Combine it with other Matched Betting strategies, like standard Bet & Get offers or racing refunds, or use Value Betting strategies if you’re a more experienced bettor with a good bankroll.

3. Should I always bet each way on horse racing?

Almost certainly not! It’s only worth doing if a bet holds actual value. Each way bets may hold greater value because of the place part of the bet, but that doesn’t mean it’ll always be the best strategy.

4. Is each way betting beginner-friendly?

A basic each way bet is very easy to place, but for brand new sports bettors looking to find an optimal betting strategy, we’d recommend starting with Matched Betting sign up offers, which are straightforward and extremely low risk.

5. Can each way betting get my account restricted?

On its own it’s incredibly unlikely, as each way bets are extremely popular with regular punters. If you use Matched Betting offers or Value Betting techniques to improve your position, you may attract more bookie attention, but each way betting is still a fairly low risk prospect in this respect.