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A bet to win, sometimes called a "straight" bet, means staking money on the horse, and if it comes in first place, the bet is a winner. In a bet to place, you are betting on your horse to finish either first or second. A bet to show wins if the horse finishes first, second or third. Since it is much easier to select a horse to finish first ...
A better horse will carry a heavier weight, to give him or her a disadvantage when racing against slower horses. The handicapper's goal in assigning handicap weights is to enable all the horses to finish together (in a dead heat). The skill in betting on a handicap horse race is in determining which horse can overcome its handicap. [4]
Arbitrage betting is a theoretically risk-free betting system in which every outcome of an event is bet upon so that a known profit will be made by the bettor upon completion of the event regardless of the outcome.
That is, in a horse race where one horse is given odds of 2-to-1, and another 100-to-1, the true odds might for example be 1.5-to-1 and 300-to-1 respectively. Betting on the "longshot" is therefore a much worse proposition than betting on the favourite.
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets.
The game's second phase is the actual race. Before starting, bets may be placed on any horse the player wishes. During the race, "advantage" cards may be played to improve a horse's position; also, any "disadvantage" cards held must be used, with the effect of holding a horse back or cancelling an "advantage" card, before the end of the race.
In a 3-horse race, for example, the true probabilities of each of the horses winning based on their relative abilities may be 50%, 40% and 10%. The total of these three percentages is 100%, thus representing a fair 'book'. The true odds against winning for each of the three horses are 1–1, 3–2 and 9–1, respectively.
American betting on horse racing is sanctioned and regulated by the state where the race is located. [50] Simulcast betting exists across state lines with minimal oversight except the companies involved through legalized parimutuel gambling.