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Each-way betting explained

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An each-way bet is two bets of equal stake on one selection: one for it to win and one for it to finish in the places. If your horse wins, both parts pay; if it only places, the win part loses and the place part pays at a fraction of the odds.

The format is used mostly in horse racing and golf, where big fields make a straight win hard to land.

How the two parts pay

Because it is two bets, the cost is double the unit stake: R50 each way costs R100, half on the win and half on the place. The place part pays at a fraction of the win odds, 1/4 or 1/5, over a set number of places, and both numbers appear as the place terms on the race card.

Take a horse at 11.00 (10/1), backed for R100 in total with place terms of 1/5 the odds for the first three:

  • It wins: the win part returns R550, and the place part, paid at 2/1 or 3.00 in decimal, returns R150, for R700 in total.
  • It finishes third: the win part loses and the place part returns R150, a gain on the R100 outlay.
  • It finishes fourth: both parts lose the full R100.

Place terms and field size

Bookmakers set place terms by the number of runners and the type of race. A common scale in British-style betting is:

  • 5 to 7 runners: 1/4 the odds, first 2 places.
  • 8 to 15 runners: 1/5 the odds, first 3 places.
  • 16 or more runners in a handicap: 1/4 the odds, first 4 places.

Each line shows the fraction first and the places second, the same order race cards print it in.

Terms change between bookmakers and between races, so the race card is the place to read them. In South Africa, Tote betting runs its own place pools, which pay out in a different way from a fixed-odds each-way bet.

When each-way makes sense

Each-way suits a horse at medium to long odds in a big field. On the Hollywoodbets Durban July card, a horse at 15.00 that you expect to run well without being sure it wins is the classic case.

It rarely suits a short-priced favourite. At odds of 2.50 with 1/5 terms, the place part pays only 1.30, so a placed favourite returns less than the total outlay.

Golf works the same way: an outsider at a big tournament pays out when the player finishes inside the stated places, such as the top 5 to 8. Our bet calculator checks the win return, and how betting odds work covers fractional prices.