How To Win at the Tote Placepot: The Ultimate Guide

Horse racing betting offers a wide range of exciting options that meet various punters’ needs. Both recreational and serious punters can find something to tickle their fancy. Among those markets, placepots stand as one of the most esteemed wagering categories.

The Tote Placepot bets are both attractive and rewarding, and lots of punters are in love with these betting propositions. So, if you want to learn how to win at the Tote Placepot, stick with our comprehensive overview.

We covered every aspect of the Tote Placepot to help punters get a deep understanding of this bet. Therefore, let’s see what makes placepots so appealing.

Eight Quick Facts About the Tote Placepot

  • To place the Tote Placepot, punters must bet on the first six races at a meeting.
  • Your selections on the Tote Placepot do not have to win; they only have to place.
  • If you bet on more than one runner in each race, you’re placing a ‘perm’ bet.
  • The stake size with the Tote Placepot depends on the number of selections.
  • The minimum stake per line is 10p, while the minimum total stake is £1.
  • The dividend is the return you can receive after betting on the Tote Placepot.
  • Dividends depend on the size of the prize pool and the outcome of your selections.
  • The Tote Placement bets are on the menu every day from 9 AM.

So, what is placepot betting, and how does it work? To explain this betting market, we should first mention that the horse racing community uses the term ‘placed’ for runners finishing near the top. Depending on the event’s size and the track’s width, bookmakers can offer from one to four ‘placed’ positions.

This concept allows your selection to finish second or third and still end up among the ‘places’. Yet, a placepot bet covers six different races, making things a bit tricky. Let’s check how that works with the Tote Placepots.

What Is the Tote Placepot?

In essence, tote betting works on the principle of mutual prize pools. All wagers on a particular market go into a single pot, and then winners share the spoils. Believe it or not, tote betting goes back to 1928. Winston Churchill himself had a role in establishing this betting system.

Over the years, the Tote changed several owners and offered new betting markets. Among those, the Tote Placepot stands as one of the most renowned options.

So, what is the Tote Placepot? As the name implies, the stakes for this market go into a mutual prize pool. Also, punters need to bet on the first six races at a horse racing meeting. As we already said, placepots require you to predict only the selections that will place and not necessarily win.

Nowadays, the Tote Placepots are a fan-favourite across the UK and Ireland. These wagering options help you enjoy a day’s racing, and many punters use placepots as a part of their race-day ritual.

How Does the Tote Placepot Bet Work?

The Tote Placepots combine simplicity with a massive payout potential, which is a win-win combination for any punter. Of course, straight bets offer a more direct bet placement, but placepots are also easy to understand.

Punters need to pick selections from the first six races at a meeting. Tote betting is available on the Tote official website or at the race track. Also, the best horse racing sites provide these betting markets. In any case, the stakes from all punters go into a mutual prize pool.

So, how to win at the Tote Placepot? If you successfully predict selections from all six races, you’ll receive a part of the overall prize pot. In horse racing terminology, the payouts on Tote bets are known as dividends. The higher your share of the pool, the bigger the reward.

Yet, we should mention that the organiser takes a cut from the overall pool. Precisely, Tote takes a 27% commission, and the rest goes to punters. Despite these deductions, the Tote Placepots can be a profitable market, as long as you pick the best betting strategy. Later on, we’ll focus on the potential returns, but we should first see how much money you need to bet on the placepot in the first place.

How Much Does a Placepot Bet Cost?

As we said, the Tote Placepot provides entertainment for the entire afternoon. Best of all, neither your selections have to win the races, nor do you have to invest massive amounts.

To be precise, the minimum stake per line at most UK sportsbooks is 10p. Therefore, the method for calculating your stake is straightforward — multiply the number of lines in each race with the total stake.

For instance, if you want to know how to work out a placepot, here’s an example. Let’s imagine you plan to bet on the following six races with a varying number of lines:

Race 1: 2 lines

Race 2: 2 lines

Race 3: 2 lines

Race 4: 1 line

Race 5: 1 line

Race 6: 3 lines

So, your calculations would look like this: 2 x 2 x 2 x 1 x 1 x 3 =  24. Then, multiply the total with the stake. For example, punters looking to bet with 50p per line would have to wager £12 (24 x 0.50). We should also mention that the minimum total stake for the Tote Placepot is £1.

Tote Placepot Returns Explained

One of the essential advantages of betting on the Tote Placepot is the possibility of hefty profits for a small outlay.

These days, the average payout for these markets stands at £407, above the industry standard. Of course, some bettors can be luckier than others. In 2019, the Cheltenham Festival rewarded a bettor with a life-changing dividend of £182.587,80 on a £2 stake!

But how to work out placepot winnings? As we said, the Tote betting system works on a principle of a mutual prize pool. The more people bet on the same selection, the more money will be in the pot.

Your particular winnings depend on two factors:

  • Stake per line
  • Successful lines

A vast number of permutations can affect the winnings, making the Tote Placepot a thrilling betting market. After the Tote takes the 27% deduction, bettors split the prize pool. Therefore, you can expect higher returns when betting on high-profile events that attract lots of attention.

To help you grasp the idea of how to bet placepot online, we prepared a couple of tips and tricks. These strategies can boost the chances of winning, but they could also help you better understand the Tote Placepots. Despite their simplicity, these betting options include permutations and elements that can confuse novice punters.

Here’s what you should consider before placing the Tote Placepot on a UK horse racing betting site.

Secrets To Winning the Tote Placepot

Unlike accumulators, where all your selections must come home, placepots offer a margin of error. It’s enough ‘to place’, meaning that the selected horse can even finish fourth for you to win.

Yet, experienced bettors know that betting on the Tote is a balancing act. On the one hand, the highest payouts come from going against popular opinion. In other words, looking for a chink in a favourite’s armour might provide hefty returns if the horse fails to make the places.

If you need more tips on how to win at the Tote Placepot, here’s another one: include one or two banker bets on the bet slip. In translation, you should back one or two favourites if you think they are likely to win.

By doing so, you’ll make room for extra lines on other legs where the competition might be tight. Multiple selections in those tricky legs will increase the winning chances. Single line options can be a bold and risky approach, so stick with them only if you spot a clear favourite.

Once you learn how to bet placepot online, you’ll also notice that the experienced bettors monitor the horses’ form and previous performances. As a result, the punters can either opt to wait for a Placepot Buster or stick with horses that regularly finish among the places. In case you are not familiar with the term, a Buster is a situation when a favourite fails to meet expectations and ends the race at the back of the group.

Conclusion

And there you have it — placepot betting explained. As you can see, this betting method comes with several pros and cons. Thus, it’s essential to learn everything there is to know about the Tote Placepots before jumping onto the bandwagon.

The Tote system shares similarities with betting exchanges since you are virtually betting against others, not against the bookmaker. Even so, the Tote remains a recognisable wagering method, attracting millions of bettors worldwide. Once you learn how to win at the Tote Placepot, you’ll understand the Tote’s magic.