If you’re looking to add a little excitement to your horse racing bets, then you should consider a Placepot bet – one of the most recognisable and popular pool bets in the sport.
In this article, we’ll explain what is a Placepot bet, how it works, and offer some tips on how to improve your chances of winning it.
What Is a Placepot Bet?
The Placepot is a parimutuel betting market that allows punters to back a selection of horses in a horse race and place them across one racecard. It offers a betting interest in the first six races of a card, as well as the opportunity to earn money from a vast prize pool for a modest stake.
The horse racing Placepot is (and always has been) run through the Tote pool betting system – which is why it’s also known as the Tote Placepot– but you can find it with any leading online sportsbook that passes the stake onto the pool.
The greater the number of people playing at a given meeting, the larger the prize pool. And the fewer the people that find the winning combination, the larger the winning dividend.
How Does a Placepot Work?
Under Placepot rules, punters have to pick a horse to place in each of the first six races of a meeting to see a return.
They can choose to make more than one selection in each race– referred to as ‘lines’– which will increase their chances of picking a placed horse.
If any horse you picked is a non-runner, your money will go to the favourite or the lowest saddlecloth number (provided there are co-favourites).
The total stake is calculated ‘per line,’ so the more lines you have, the higher the stakes will be.
To calculate how many lines the wager has in total, you’ll need to multiply the number of lines in race one by the number of lines in race two and multiply the number you got by the number of lines in race three. Once you do that for all of the six races in your Tote Placepot, you’ll get the total number of lines you have in your Tote placepot.
Worth noting: The pool deduction rate for a Tote Placepot is 27%.
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How Much Does a Tote Placepot Cost?
A Tote Placepot has two minimum stakes: a minimum stake per line and a minimum total stake.
The minimum stake per line is 10p with most sportsbooks, though there are some operations that may allow a 5p line.
The minimum total stake (for all lines in total) is £1. This means that you’ll need a minimum of 10 lines (that cost 10p) to place a Tote Placepot bet.
Tote Placepot Strategy
If you want to improve your chances of winning, here are some popular strategies:
Banker Legs
When placepot betting, the goal for the majority of players is keeping the total state to a reasonable amount.
This can be done by picking just one horse – or a ‘leg’ in a race– where the favourite is highly likely to win. Another option is opting for a few banker selections to build a bigger group of runners, which is usually a good idea for races that are trickier to predict.
The banker legs strategy is a practical Placepot bet that will boost your chances of getting a return, but it’s unlikely to help you maximise your winnings. Favourites usually come with the smallest payouts.
Target Vulnerable Favorites
If you’re aiming for a bigger payout, you should consider taking on the favourites with legs that are not exactly popular but perform consistently in most races.
Bettors that leave out the favourites from their selection usually win the biggest dividends when the most popular horses in the race fail to make the places, mostly because a large number of people choose to include favourites in their selections.
Related: What is an ACCA bet?
Multiples Lines in Competitive Races
If you’ve been able to keep your overall lines down with a banker selection in one leg, you could utilise an extra selection in a more competitive leg.
In some situations, going three-handed will give you the best chance of keeping the bet alive, especially in bets where there are 20 or more runners and only a few places to aim for.
Bottom Line
Horse racing Placepots are the perfect betting market for punters who prefer pool bets and don’t necessarily want to know too much about the legs they’re betting on.
These bets can be hard to win, especially if you’re aiming for big payouts, but they are fun and have low minimum stakes.
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FAQ:
Where can I make a Placepot bet?
Now that you know what is a placepot bet, we should also tell you that the bet is run by the Tote, and you should be able to find it on every racecard in the UK.
Most sportsbooks in the UK, like 888Sport, take the bet and pass the stake on to the pool.
Are Placepots profitable?
Placepots can be profitable but only in the long run and only if you utilise the right strategy.
How many horses can I pick in my Placepot?
You can pick more than one horse in each race, but this will raise your stake.
How many lines should I have in my Placepot?
You can pick one or more lines when Placepot betting.