Place & Each Way Betting Explained — How Does It Work?

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Aside from the standard ‘Win’ market, there’s two other popular horse racing bet types you’ll need to familiarise yourself with — ‘Place’ and ‘Each Way’.

The Place and Each Way markets offer punters the opportunity to reduce their risk, and increase their chances of striking a win. Of course, this comes with reduced odds, and lower payouts.

In this post I cover the basics of Place and Each Way betting markets, so that you’re equipped to handle any horse racing bet type.

 

Place Bets

A Place bet is a single bet on a horse to “Place” in the race, as determined by the conditions of the event.

For example, if a race has three places up for grabs, and your selected horse comes 1st-3rd, then you win the bet. There’s a few other things you need to remember:

  • There’s no bonus or extra payout if your selected horse wins the race.
  • Eligible Places are always stated by the bookmaker you’re betting with.
  • The odds are much lower (less payout) for the horse to Place than for it to Win the race.

There’s not really much more you need to know. Place betting is very straightforward.

 

Each Way Bets

Each Way is a two-part bet which applies to horse racing. Your stake is split into two equal parts; half on the ‘Place’ market (as detailed above), half on the standard ‘Win’ market.

So if you place a £10 Each Way stake on a horse, £5 goes on the ‘Place’ market, and £5 goes on the ‘Win’ market. Therefore there’s three scenarios for your bet:

    1. Win. The best outcome, where your horse comes in 1st place. You win both the ‘Win’ and ‘Place’ parts of your Each Way bet.
    2. Placed. The horse didn’t come first, but still placed in the race. You win the ‘Place’ part and lose the ‘Win’ part of your bet.
    3. Unplaced. The horse failed to place. You lose both the ‘Win’ and ‘Place’ parts of your bet (the entire stake).

Each Way betting is easy to understand. However, in practice the Each Way market doesn’t simply split your bet over the Place and Win markets. Instead it merges the two bet types together, meaning that you bet on just one standalone Each Way price.

As a result, the winnings from the Place part of your bet need to be calculated according to the “Place Terms” of the market. Read on to learn how the Place Terms work.

 

Place Terms Explained

Place terms are set by the bookmaker. They’re usually stated next to the betslip for your EW bet.

There’s two things you need to know about Each Way Place terms:

  • Places paid. This is the number of places eligible to win the ‘Place’ part of the bet.
  • Place fraction. This is the value you multiply by the EW odds to work out the payout for the Place part of the bet.
THIS EW MARKET PAYS PAYS 1ST-3RD IN THE RACE AT 1/5 ODDS

So if this horse wins the race, then the stated odds of 18/1 are used to calculate the profit from the Win half of the bet (as per usual).

But to work out the Place part of an Each Way win, you must multiply the Place fraction of 1/5 by those odds. In the next section I’ll show you this as a fully worked example, including all possible outcomes for the Each Way bet.

 

How To Calculate Each Way Winnings

Lets take the above EW betslip as an example.

  • Stake: £10 Each Way (£5 on Win, £5 on Place)
  • Price: 18/1
  • EW terms: 3 places at 1/5 of the odds

Case 1: Horse Wins The Race

WIN PART:
  • £5 x (18/1) = £90
    • + £5 stake back

= £95 return

PLACE PART:
  • £5 x (18/5) = £5 x (3.6) = £18
    • + £5 stake back

= £23 return

Total Return = £95 (Win) + £23 (Place) = £118

Total Profit = £118 (Total Return) – £10 (Total Risk) = +£108

Case 2: Horse Places (But Doesn’t Win)

WIN PART:
  • £0 return
PLACE PART:
  • £5 x (18/5) = £5 x (3.6) = £18
    • + £5 stake back

= £23 return

Total Return = £0 (Win) + £23 (Place) = £23

Total Profit = £23 (Total Return) – £10 (Total Risk) = +£13

Case 3: Horse Fails to Place

WIN PART:
  • £0 return
PLACE PART:
  • £0 return

Total Return = £0

Total Profit = -£5 (Win) + -£5 (Place) = –£10

You can follow the calculations above or simply use an online Each Way Bet Calculator, like the one at AceOdds.

 

When to Use Each Way Bets

Use Each Way when your selection is too risky for a standard ‘Win’ bet. Each Way markets offer a “safety net” if it doesn’t win.

EW betting is commonly used in unpredictable races — such as the Grand National — where it’s difficult to select the outright winner. So punters can benefit from higher strike rates and steadier results.

 

Bookmakers for Each Way Betting

I can recommend the following bookmakers for placing Each Way bets. They all offer Best Odds Guaranteed.