Is Each-Way Actually the Safer Bet?

An each-way bet is two bets, and that is the thing to hold onto before anything else.

Ask for a fiver each-way and a tenner leaves your account. Half of it goes on the horse to win. Half goes on it to place, at a fraction of the odds. They settle separately: if the horse wins, both halves pay; if it places without winning, only the place half pays and the win half is lost.

That is why the slip says £10 when you said five. It is the most common surprise in betting, and it is not the bookmaker being sly.

Is it safer? In the sense people usually mean, yes. You get something back more often, and an afternoon of near-misses feels very different from an afternoon of nothing. Backing the favourite each-way places 62%, against wins 35% backing it to win.

Is it cheaper? No. Each-way is not a discount. It is a second bet with its own price, and whether that price is any good depends entirely on the terms.

What the place terms mean, and what changes them

Two numbers govern the place half: how many places pay, and at what fraction of the odds.

The standard pattern in British racing runs roughly like this. A field of five to seven runners pays two places at a fifth of the odds. Eight or more pays three places at a fifth. A handicap with twelve to fifteen runners pays three at a fifth. A handicap with sixteen or more pays four places at a quarter. Under five runners and there is usually no place betting at all.

So the terms improve as the field grows, which is the mirror image of everything else we have measured: the races with the best each-way terms are the same races where the overall charge is highest. A twenty-runner handicap gives you four places at a quarter, and it also carries close to three times the charge of a small field.

Two things change the terms after you have bet. Non-runners can shrink the field below a threshold and reduce the places paid, and firms sometimes offer extra places as a promotion, which is a genuine improvement rather than a gimmick.

Work out the return on any each-way bet with our each-way calculator, which handles the fractions and the two halves for you.

What the numbers say

We have tested each-way betting the same way we test everything, level stakes across 29,687 British races.

Backing the favourite each-way returns -8.67%, and it places 62%. Backing the favourite to win alone returns -8.98%. So each-way is fractionally better on the favourite, and the difference is small enough that it should not drive a strategy.

Take it to the other end of the market and the picture changes sharply. Backing a 10/1-plus outsider each-way returns -30.12%. That is one of the worst results on our whole board, and it is the version of each-way betting people reach for most readily, because a big price each-way feels like the sensible way to play a long shot.

The reason is that the place half inherits the same problem as the win half. A fifth of a bad price is still a bad price, and the long end of the market is where prices are least generous: horses at 20/1 to 32/1 win 3.1% of the time against an implied 4.1%.

So each-way does what people want it to do. It spreads the risk and it produces more small returns. It does not fix a poor price, and on outsiders it makes one worse.

A word on all of this

None of these pages is a tip, and none describes a way to win. They describe what betting costs, which is a different and more reliable subject. If your betting has stopped being fun, BeGambleAware has free, confidential help, and the National Gambling Helpline is on 0808 8020 133.

Common questions

How does an each-way bet work?

It is two equal bets: one on the horse to win, one on it to place. A fiver each-way costs a tenner. If the horse wins, both halves pay. If it places only, the place half pays and the win half loses.

How many places does each-way pay?

It depends on the field. Typically two places in five to seven runners, three in eight or more, and four places at a quarter of the odds in handicaps of sixteen or more. Below five runners there is usually no place betting.

Is each-way better than a win bet?

On the favourite, marginally: -8.67% against -8.98% in our testing. On outsiders it is considerably worse, at -30.12%.

Why did my each-way bet cost double?

Because it is two bets of the amount you asked for, not one. This catches almost everyone once.

Do the place terms change if there are non-runners?

They can. If withdrawals take the field below a threshold, the number of places paid can drop, and the bet settles on the reduced terms.

Are extra-place offers worth taking?

An extra place is a real improvement to the terms rather than a cosmetic one, since it widens the way the place half can win. It does not change the fact that the underlying price still carries the bookmaker's charge.