Accumulator

A bet in which a single stake is used to generate two or more bets in succession. The punter makes a series of selections each from a different race or event. Every time a selection wins, the stake plus winnings is put onto the next selection. If any selection loses, the whole bet is a loser. (Accumulators are also known as doubles, trebles, fourfolds, fivefolds, sixfolds, etc., depending on the number of selections.)

Ante Post

Betting prior to the day of the race or event and in some cases many months in advance. The odds are better at this early stage, but be warned: you will lose your stake if your selection does not take part. Exceptions to this (where your stake is returned) are

• your selection is balloted out of a race and the bet is void
• your selection is withdrawn but the race is abandoned
• you bet 'with a run' which returns your money in the event of a withdrawal

Bar Price

Usually used as helpful shorthand when talking about large field events, with long lists of participants. It refers to the odds of all those at the last quoted price and bigger. An example might be odds to win the English Premier League, which would read: 2/1 Manchester United, 3/1 Liverpool, 5/1 Arsenal, 8/1 Newcastle, 12/1 BAR. This shows that every other team in the betting list has odds of 12/1 or bigger.

Betting Exchanges

Bettor

US term for person placing a bet. In the UK a punter or customer.

Bookmaker

A business that lays odds and takes bets.

Circled Game

An event for which the bookmakers have placed a limit on the amount of money they will accept from a punter.

Credit Bet

Bets accepted by the bookmaker without a cash deposit.

Dead Heat

The result of a race or competition in which two or more entrants finish equal. If your selection dead-heats you receive the full odds divided by the number of winners.

Debit Bet

Bets accepted by the bookmaker without a cash deposit but which allows the bookmaker to directly debit the gambler's bank account.

Dividend

The return for a single winning unit on a Tote bet.

Double

An accumulator involving two selections.

Each Way

This describes a transaction that is effectively two bets in which equal stakes are laid 1) on the selection coming first, and 2) the selection being placed, i.e. coming second, third or fourth, depending on the race. When the punter asks for, say, "£10 each way" this is actually two bets, at ten pound stakes each, and the bookmaker would ask for a twenty pound deposit. If the selection wins, the return is:
Stake + (Stake x Win Odds) + (Stake x Place Odds (usually 1/4 or 1/5 of Win Odds)) If the selection is placed but does not win, the return is:
Stake + (Stake x Place Odds)

Exchanges

Favourite

The horse or team with the lowest prices ( most likely winner).

Forecast

Predict the result. Also a type of bet in horse racing where the punter bets on the winner and the second place horse.

Handicapping

In the sports shown on Oddschecker, the only sport that uses handicapping is horse racing. All horses (once they’ve run often enough) are given an official rating. Ratings range from 0-140 points for flat racing and from 0-175 points for jump racing. Each point is equal to one pound weight (carrying the extra weight is the handicap). The handicap system is designed to ensure that all the participants in the race are well matched. Handicap)ratings for every horse are assessed and may be revised weekly depending on how well the horse performed given the quality of the other horses in the race.

In Running

A term used to describe a race or event that is in progress.

Lay

Offer odds.

Layer

Person offering odds, usually a bookie. One to one betting services and some smaller bookmakers will allow a punter to lay as well as place bets.

Laying Off

Where a bookmaker reduces their exposure on a winning horse or team by backing it with other bookmakers.

Margin Call

A call made by a bookmaker to the punter for cash to cover some or all of the punter's exposure to loss.

Nap

A tipster’s best bet of the day.

Odds

Also known as the price.Chance a bookmaker offers for a selection to win

Odds-Against

Describes the odds when the amount you receive for a winning bet, not including your returned stake, is more than the amount you staked.

Odds Layer

The person working for a bookmaker who sets the odds. The odds layer is usually an expert on one or two sports and concentrates entirely on setting the odds for those sports.

Odds-On

Describes the odds when the amount you receive for a winning bet, not including your returned stake, is less than the amount you stake. For example you stake £1 at 8/13 (13/8 on) and receive £1.62, made up of your £1 stake and 62p winnings.

At the racecourse or event.

Away from the racecourse or event. This covers bookmakers operating retail outlets, telephone and internet services.

Off-shore

Bookmakers who are based outside the UK. There are three types of off-shore bookmakers - firstly, those that are the off-shore site run by an existing British bookmaker; secondly, those that are existing off-course bookmakers in another country, often Eire;& the third type are internet or telephone bookmakers set up specifically to conduct off-shore business.

Outsider

A participant in an event considered unlikely to win.

Over/Under

A type of bet in which the punter bets on whether the total combined points, runs, goals, etc will be more or less than a number chosen by the bookie.

Overround and Overbroke

Adding up the probabilities as shown by the odds of all the participants in an event for a particular bookmaker gives a percentage. While mathematically the total probabilities of all participants in an event must be 100% (one participant - and only one - can win) bookmaker’s total percentages are set to add up to over 100% because it’s the amount over 100% that represents the bookmaker’s profit. A book with a total percentage over 100 is called overround. A book that adds up to less than 100% is called overbroke which means that a punter could back all the participants and know that the total of their lost stakes will be less than their winnings.

Perm

Short for permutation. It means a group of all of the possible outcomes.

Place Bet

A bet on the selection being placed, i.e. coming second or third (or fourth depending on the number of participants).

Placed

Refers to a selection coming second, third or fourth in an event. The positions which are considered to be placed depends on the size of the field (e.g. in a race with only 5-7 participants, only second and third count as placed). The odds for bets on selections being placed is usually calculated as a fraction of the odds to win (e.g. in the race referred to above, second and third get odds at a quarter of the winning price)

Probability

The odds are an indication of what the odds layer thinks is the probability of a participant winning an event. If you were to add up the probabilities of each participant they have to total exactly 100% (one participant - but only one - must win). You can calculate the probabilities from the odds (there’s an example table below). To calculate the percentage, divide 100 by the sum of the two parts of the ratio and then multiply the result by the second part of the ratio. For 11-4 this works out as 100 divided by 15 (11 plus 4) equals 6.666. This multiplied by 4 gives 26.67 Converting the odds to percentages is particularly useful for calculating the overround.

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Odds (odds against)	Percentage/Probability
1-1 (Evens)	50.00
5-4	44.44
7-4	36.36
2-1	33.33
11-4	26.67
4-1	20.00
5-1	16.67
6-1	14.29
7-1	12.50
11-1	8.33
16-1	5.88
20-1	4.76
33-1	2.94
100-1	0.99

Rule 4

When a horse is withdrawn shortly before a race and there is insufficient time to form a new market, a deduction is made from all winnings. The amounts deducted are set by Rule 4, which is laid down by the Tattersalls Committee, the body which controls horse race betting in the UK. The shorter (lower) the price of the horse at the time of withdrawal the bigger the deduction. (The returned stake money is not subjected to a percentage deduction.)
In the event that two or more horses are withdrawn before coming under starter’s orders, the total deductions won’t exceed 75p in the £.

Single

The most common and simplest kind of bet. A single wager on an event. The single can be win, each way, or win and place. See relevant terms.

Spread Betting

A form of betting derived from financial markets where the punter bets on a 'spread' of numbers relating to the particular event - for example, runs scored in cricket, points in Rugby Union, or the number of lengths between named horses at the end of the race. The bookmaker quotes the spread: say, regarding the number of points to be scored by one side in a Rugby game, 28-30. If you think the side will score more than 30, you 'buy' at 30; if fewer, you 'sell' at 28, and stipulate your stake per point. If you buy the spread at £1 and the team scores only 25, you lose £5 - 30 minus 25 leaves 5, which multiplied by your stake is £5; if that team scores 35, you win £5. The attraction of spread betting is that the more right you are, the more you will win - and by the same token the more wrong you are, the more you will lose.

Stake

Amount of money you give the bookmaker – therefore the money you will lose if the result is not what you predicted.

Starting Price
(SP)

The odds determined by the official starting price reporters on the racecourse at the start of the race, which is an average of the odds being offered at the racecourse. For certain races, some internet and other off-course bookmakers will only quote SP for each participant rather than different odds. This means that the off-course bookmaker has not determined their own prices for this race and is letting the market be made at the racecourse. Typically this happens when the volume of money and the number of bets placed on this event at the off-course bookmaker is too low to make a representative market of their own. Accepting the Starting Price from a bookmaker means that you don’t know exactly what the odds will be when you place your bet.

Steamer

A horse which, on the morning of the race, is backed significantly, causing its odds to shorten markedly.

Tic-Tac

The sign language in which bookies communicate on course.

Tissue Prices

The bookmakers' forecast of how the betting will open.

Tote

Its full name is the Horserace Totalisator Board. It is a pool or “pot” based system. All bets are pooled and following the race the pool (less deductions - the Tote’s profit) is shared out among those who won. This means that your bet isn’t made at fixed odds as the amount you stand to win is affected by all those who bet after you. Tote prices - they call them “will pays” (an indication of what you would win if there were no bets after yours) are shown at racecourses and on the Tote’s web site. In practice although there are usually some small differences between the Tote’s prices and bookmaker’s prices, they end up pretty even. Some punters have famous stories about big differences on outsiders.

Treble

An accumulator involving three selections.

Tricast

A wager that involves correctly predicting the first, second and third place in a particular event. This wager can be permed.

True Odds

Punters talk about the true odds. This refers to the odds as they would be if they reflected the actual probability of winning (as opposed to reflecting where the money goes). This must always be an opinion.

Value

If you believe that the true odds are lower than the bookmaker is offering, then that is a value bet.

Wager

A bet.

Win Bet

In this bet, the punter bets that his or her selection will come in first.

Win and Place

This is similar to an each way bet, except that the stake laid to win is greater than the stake laid to place. The punter could for example lay ten pounds on his selection coming first, and a further five pounds on the selection coming second, third or fourth. (Total stake = £15)