There are many different greyhound racing bet types available at Australian bookmakers, including same race multis and all of your standard wagering options. The most popular greyhound bet types are still win and place bets, however exotics like trifectas, quinellas and and exactas are still very common. This article will highlight all of the most popular greyhound racing bet types and some not so popular bet options.
The online world has opened up more and more avenues for punters in terms of where and what types of bets they place on the greyhounds. This article cuts through the jargon and explains the greyhound bet types available when you’re punting on the dogs and what bookmakers are the best to place these bets.
Generally for greyhounds, the top online bookmakers offer middle tote prices for exotic bets (quinella, trifectas, doubles, trebles, quadrellas) meaning they will all be paying the same prices for those wagers. However, most bookmakers will have slightly different fixed odds for each runner so it is important to shop around. In addition to this, many online bookmakers offer special sign-up promotions and specials so it is vital you make sure you are investing your hard-earned cash with a bookie that will reward you in return.
There are different types of bets to consider when looking to back a winner at the greyhounds. Each bet types has differing levels of payouts, depending on the difficulty level. For instance, unless you back in a long shot, chances are a trifecta will pay significantly more than backing a dog to win.
A win bet, as the name suggests, pays a winning dividend on the winner of the race.
Win bets can either be placed on the tote (parimutuel) or on fixed odds.
For example $10 on the win at odds of $2 will return $20 if your runner wins.
Place bets pay a dividend when the chosen runner comes first, second or third (depending on field size). However, the winning amount is generally much smaller than what a win bet would pay, purely because of the increased chance of the bet being a winning one.
The winning dividends for place bets are affected by how many runners are in the field and can be summarised as follows:
Place bets can be placed on the tote or on fixed odds. For example $10 the place at $1.80 will return $18 if your runner places.
An each-way bet is two bets in one; incorporating a win bet and a place bet (both as described above). If your selection wins the event you will collect a winning dividend on your win and place bets, while if it finishes second or third (depending on field size) you will collect only on your place bets.
For example if you have $10 each-way ($20 total) at odds of $10 the win and $2.50 the place you will receive:
A quinella is a greyhound racing bet type that requires you to pick first and second in any order. The dividends are calculated based on the amount of money on the correct combination in the betting pool.
There are a couple of variations to the standard quinella that punters can also choose from:
Box quinella: A box quinella allows you to pick more than two runners, with any of your selected runners required to run both first and second. You can include as many runners as you like in your boxed quinella, however, the more runners you choose the greater the cost for 100 per cent of the bet.
Standout quinella: A standout quinella allows you to stand out one or two or more runners you are more confident about. For example, if you stood out No.2 with numbers 1, 3 and 7 it would cost you $3 and you would need No.2 to share the first two placings with 1, 3 or 7 for it to be a successful bet.
An exacta is like a quinella except you have to pick the first two runners in the correct finishing order. For example, if you place an exacta on No.5 and No.8 you would need No.5 to win and No.8 to run second in order to win.
Generally exactas pay more than quinellas, but they are also harder to land. Like quinellas, you can also box exactas to include more than two selections, however, once again the price of the bet increases with the number of runners you choose.
A trifecta requires you to select the first three runners past the post. The most popular type of trifecta when betting on greyhound racing is a box trifecta which allows your selections to finish in any order, as long as they are still the first three.
Alternatively, you can chose to place a stand-out trifecta, where you have to select runners in their correct finishing order.
Both types of trifecta also allow you to add additional runners to increase your chances of winning, however, the price of the bet will also go up.
If you want to box five greyhounds in a trifecta (the full amount costing $60) but do not want to outlay that much money, you can take a flexi-bet trifecta which will allow you to invest a smaller amount with the return being a percentage of the full trifecta dividend.
To win a duet bet, you must correctly select two of the three placegetters in any order (only available on races that have a full field of eight runners). The duet will pay a winning dividend if you select first and second, first and third or second and third.
A single duet is great when you believe you have two runners which will be placed in the top three, a box duet is ideal if you like three or more runners, while you can also opt for a standout duet wherein you stand out a runner to finish either first, second or third with a number of other runners to finish in the remaining positions.
Duets are a great concept, however, they are not incredibly popular in the greyhound betting world meaning the pools are generally smaller.
Same race multis are a new bet type that have gained popularity in recent years. Same Race multis essentially allow you to bet on more than one out come in a race.
For instance, you could include two dogs to finish top two and another two to finish top four on the same bet slip.
This greyhound bet type can be a great way to find value in races where there appears to be none, with it surprising how often a dog at odds finishes in the top four. Be wary with same race multis though, because the more legs you put in, the harder they can be to hit.
Some TAB meetings, particularly those with small or unknown fields, may not have same race multis available on them.
Continuing on from a quinella and trifecta, a first four, as the name suggests, involves picking the first four runners to complete the race.
There are four types of first fours to place on greyhound racing:
Doubles require you to pick two winners of two different races on a TAB-covered greyhound meeting.
Running doubles involve picking the winner of two consecutive races (e.g. races six and seven).
Daily doubles require you to correctly pick the winner of two nominated races at a meeting (e.g. races five and seven) .
You can select more than one greyhound for each race, however, the more runners you select, the more the bet will cost to ensure you receive 100% of the winning dividend.
Trebles involve picking the winner of three straight races. The winning payout will vary depending on the odds of the greyhounds which win each leg, so if you are lucky enough to pick a long shot that salutes as a part of your treble then you can make some serious coin.
A quadrella or ‘quaddie’ involves picking the winner of four races at the one meeting.
While a quaddie can be hard to win, they are appealing as their pools are normally massive and are often subject to jackpots and special promotions. You can select more than one winner for each quaddie leg, but you will need to increase your bet amount to receive a full percentage of the dividend.
In an all-up bet, punters can select runners for either a win or a place over various races throughout the card, with all of the legs required to be successful to claim a payout.
The winning dividend is calculated by multiplying your initial bet amount by the odds of your selections with all money won on the previous leg then placed on the following leg.
For example, if you have a $1 all-up on race 1 No.1, race 3 No.4 and race 7 No.8, assuming all bets are successful, it would be calculated as follows:
When placing your bet (win, place, each-way) you can do so either through fixed odds or the parimutuel market.
With tote betting, all bets of each type (win, place etc) are placed in individual pools with the odds that are paid out being calculated by sharing the pool among the winning bets.
Before the race, approximate odds are displayed based on what is expected to be paid out, should the bet win, calculated on the bets already placed.
With parimutuel betting the odds can quickly change depending on how much is invested on a particular runner; the punter is not guaranteed to receive the odds displayed at the time of placing their bet.
Most greyhound betting sites offer the middle tote if you decide against taking fixed odds or they are not available, meaning they will pay the second-highest dividend from the three main Austalian totes if your bet is successful.
Fixed-odds betting allows the punter to know precisely what odds they will receive if their selection wins.
Unlike in parimutuel betting, not all punters will receive the same return on their investment as the odds can change over time based on the amount wagered on each runner, however, they are guaranteed to receive the odds on offer when they placed their bet, unless there are late scratchings.
All of our recommended online bookmakers offer fixed odds on greyhound racing, with most markets appearing around 15 minutes before each event.
Australian greyhound racing fans are spoilt for choice with upwards of 10 quality options for those betting on the sport. These greyhound racing betting sites will feature all of the greyhound bet types that we have spoken about on this page, although there can be slight variations or omissions. For instance a bookmaker like Sportsbet is huge and they will have basically anything you want, while a smaller option like Palmerbet may not have some bet types like same race multis. Use things like bookmaker reviews to to find the bet types that you are looking for. Our bookmaker reviews will guide you through everything from the greyhound bet types available, right through to the bookie deposit options you can use to fund your account.
Several online bookmakers such as Sportsbet (Sportsbet review), Neds (Neds review) and Ladbrokes (Ladbrokes review) are probably the no.1 options in terms of greyhound bet types. But if you are looking for the best odds, often it can pay to dig a little deeper and check out betting sites such as Betfair (Betfair review), Palmerbet (Palmerbet review) and Unibet (Unibet review).