If you’re just getting into the world of horse racing and want to learn how to bet on horses, you’ve come to the right place. It might seem slightly difficult at first but once you get the basics it’ll all become clear and you’ll be on your way to bet on horses successfully, racking up those profits in the process!
Now, there are many, many ways to bet on horses. It heavily depends on your personal style and preference, which you’ll develop as you go, and on your budget, risk tolerance and free time as well.
Whether you want to be a weekend warrior that makes a few bets for the fun, a novice that has mastered the basics and wants to make some solid money or an expert that gets deep into numbers, stats and predictions, you’ll always follow one essential set of steps – which we’ll be delving into right now.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at how to bet on horses.
In order for you to learn how to bet on horse races, all you need to do is follow these 5 steps closely. Although there are a lot of tips and tricks along the way, which you’ll develop naturally over time, these are the main pillars for successful horse betting.
Everything starts by getting in the know. With a ton of fantastic horse racing coverage available, you simply need to get informed on what’s happening with the sport. From dates to courses, races, horses, jockeys and everything in between, you should give a bunch of outlets a read to get a sense for it all.
Watching some videos and listening to expert commentary will give you some great insight into current events while also being entertaining.
After you’ve stepped into the horse racing world, it’s time to pick a race to analyse and bet on.
Based on what you saw, do you like British and Irish races more or do you prefer American, Australian or even French ones? Although you can choose any race to make a bet on, it helps if you’re interested in it and everything that surrounds it.
Make sure to take note of the racing schedule and learn about the course’s history. Get to know the racers as well and get a feel for the track itself. After this quick overview, it’s time to delve into essential research.
The most critical step of all – research. While the time and effort spent on this will vary according to your level of dedication and free time (you could be a casual bettor that wants the essentials or an expert that puts hours into historic data, stats and numbers), it’s absolutely crucial that you perform research before betting.
At minimum, you should get to know the course, the races, the horses and jockeys, the weather, the odds and more. You can do this by either doing your own independent analysis or by reading an expert’s overview or commentary which is almost always updated daily or even hourly.
There are many ways to perform your research and there are even software applications, systems or tipsters that you can buy or subscribe to in order to make the process quicker and easier (although most come with a price).
As mentioned above, it can be helpful to listen to a few professional tipsters to get some guidance before betting. If you want premium tips and picks that you can rely on to dramatically improve your chances, you can always subscribe to some of the best horse tipping services such as the Bet Alchemist, the Pro Betting Club, or if you like American races you can also visit the Horse Player Haven.
Although they shouldn’t completely replace your own research, they can offer a huge help and allow you to make decisions much faster, more easily and with more confidence – especially if you’re a beginner.
The moment we’ve all been waiting for and certainly love the most, betting! Now that you’re fully informed and raring to go, it’s time to pick a bookmaker and place your bets.
Keep in mind that there are many ways to bet – different types of bet, strategies, methods and systems – all of which you can research, try and stick with the ones that fit your style and preference.
Now, while there are a lot of places to bet online, only a handful are actually trustworthy, respectable and professional. These are beloved by the community and endorsed by lovers of the sport as well as being strictly regulated and transparent. Let’s take a look at some of the best!
For the complete list and reviews, be sure to check out the full article!
Now that you know how to bet on horse races, let’s take a look at some of the most often asked questions and answer them. This will help to clear any lingering doubts you might still have and ensure that you’re absolutely ready to start.
Placing a horse bet is easier than ever these days and it can be done in two ways – in person or online. Placing a horse bet in person is the most classic way of doing it, you simply go to the race track, find a bookie, get to know the odds and place a bet. Placing a horse bet online is the more modern approach and as you’d expect, it has become the most popular way to do it due to how easy it is – you simply choose any race you like, find an online bookmaker for it that offers you the best odds and place a bet with just a few clicks of the mouse.
In conclusion, in today’s world most people go for the online route while the classic, in-person bet placement is reserved for those who actually frequent the tracks. If you were wondering how to place bets on horse races, this is it. I’d also recommend that you try and go visit a racetrack someday and place a few bets live as the excitement and feeling you get is more than worth the trip!
As we’ve mentioned above, online betting has become the most popular way of all and with good reason – it’s easy, secure and allows you to be on any race at any time, all with just a few clicks on your computer or taps on your phone.
Other advantages include being able to find the best odds possible instead of settling for those that you get (as it usually happened in-person) and also often getting sign-up bonuses.
Now, if you want to learn how to bet on horses online successfully, there are a few steps you should take.
In short, that’s how to bet on horse racing online. Some bookies offer live coverage of the races you bet on although the best thing you can do is to follow your races live through the racetrack’s official video streams (most racetracks you bet on have this service for free).
Picking horses is a fairly straightforward ordeal – it’s your objectives that change its level of difficulty and complexity. Depending on which type of bet you place and how much money you want to make, choosing a horse can either be quick and easy or a long and hard process.
The most common approach on how to pick a horse to bet on is simple – you simply choose whichever one you think has the highest chance of winning. The choice might even be obvious in some cases (excellent track records for the horse, a horse that’s on a strong winning streak, among others) but that’s where the balance comes in – the bookies know it too! Due to this, the odds for the horse that’s most likely to win will often be very unattractive (you bet 20 bucks to get 5 of profit in return, for example) to compensate for how safe they are.
Knowing how to pick horses isn’t as simple as that though as you can try to find long-shots – horses that have an unexpected but very real chance of winning, giving them highly attractive odds (you bet 20 bucks to get 200 of profit or more in return) – or you can also participate in horse handicapping. These, among other strategies, are what makes picking horses a true form or art that requires dedication and talent. While it’s harder and more complex than simply betting on the favorites, your profit potential is also incomparably higher.
So if you’re wondering how to know which horse to bet on, you’ve got two ways to go about it: the common, effortless backing of the favorite or the more complex choice of researching to find long-shots or other horses with more attractive odds that you still believe will win.
After mastering these crucial steps, you can always go further and learn how to bet on horses and WIN.
Conclusion
Now that you know the essential keys on how to bet on horses, all that’s left is practice! Start throwing a few small bets around – while always following the steps above carefully – until you get comfortable. After that, the sky’s the limit and I’ll be here every step of the way to help you – just send me an email or leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading and as always, good luck and have fun!