Horse Race Betting and American Law

by chrisg

Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 07:34 AM EDT

When anyone thinks of betting on a horse race the first thing that comes into mind is placing a bet at the race track on the day, possibly even just a few moments, before a race begins. Of course today, with all our modern technology, we can place bets on horse races without ever leaving our armchairs by using one of the numerous websites offering horse race bets. However, before placing that horse race bet you really ought to consider just what exactly are your horse race betting options in the USA?

If you’ve recently become a fan of horse racing in the USA you’ll be pleased to know that in most states it is possible to place a bet legally on a horse race. However, without fail you will be restricted to what is called pari-mutuel betting, which we’ll explain that in a little more detail in a moment. However, incredible as it may seem there are some states with race tracks at which you cannot even do this, so archaic are their gambling laws. Of particular note here is South Carolina, where one of the top steeplechase races of the year is run – the Colonial Cup at Camden. South Carolina doesn’t only not allow race track betting, but won’t even allow pari-mutuel betting anywhere in the state! A natural question to ask also is – can I place a bet on a horse race over the internet? Unfortunately internet gambling, including betting on horse races, is a somewhat less well defined area. Whilst it is true that following the letter of the vastly outmoded law called the Wire Act of 1961 it would be illegal to place a bet on a horse race using one of the sports betting websites, the reality is that to date the authorities have been reluctant to press home the case. The authorities are more intent on chasing the people behind the gambling websites rather than the individuals using them.

In the French language parimutel simply means mutual betting, wherein lies the clue as to how this system of horse race betting operates. In simple terms at the race track all of the money placed on any one type of bet is put together into one pool, taxes and a house ‘take’ are subtracted from it and then all of the various payoff odds are calculated and taken out of what remains of the pooled money. Although pari-mutual betting requires a ranked order finish in order to work, there are many different types of pari-mutuel bet that can be placed. The simplest of the pari-mutuel horse race bets that can be placed is for a win. Here the person placing the bet is simply saying that they will pick the horse that will win the race, as that horse will usually be the favorite the chances are that the odds for the payout if that horse wins will be quite modest. If a horse looks likely to finish well then you could bet for a place or a show. A place bet means that to win anything the horse will need to finish first or second, whilst a show bet means it has to finish in the top three. According to how complicated you like to make your bets you could also place variations on these bets known as, for example, an exacta or a trifecta bet. In these two instances you’re betting that you can predict which two horses will come in first and second, or first, second and third. There are several other variations on that theme too, where you can not only bet on which horses will finish in the leading positions but event he rank order that they’ll be in. so, whilst win or place bets are known as straight bets, you can also place an exotic bet should you wish to. Some people like to bet on more than one race at once and so you can place bets predicting which horses will win, or get places in the next two three or more races. These bets go under names such as a double or triple. If you want to extend the betting run for more races then they’re called things like a pick four bet etc. Anyone placing a bet to win will often make it ‘each way’, so that even if their horse came in third they’d still get a small payout. If you’re feeling really confident try a parlay, where you place the winnings of one race as the bet stake for the next in a series of two or more races.

The problem with pari-mutuel betting is that you don’t know the odds until the race has begun, which is where betting online can become more fun. Using a sports book betting method, online betting websites can offer you odds on a particular horse for a win or a place etc at varying odds. Even better, if one betting website doesn’t offer the odds you want simply go and find another one.

This article originally appeared on Another Harvard Blog.