How To Bet On Horse Racing in Canada

Horse racing and betting go together like peanut butter and jam.  If you watch a horse race it’s just natural to want to have some action on the race.  Betting on the races is a crucial part of horse racing culture and it adds a ton of excitement to the experience.

This page will give you all of the information you need to start betting on horse races online from here in Canada.  I’ve provided a detailed explanation of the most common bets you can make on a horse race.

Pro Tip: Understand the horse racing rules for any sportsbook you wager at.  The bet and payout limits will vary depending on what track you are betting on.  There’s nothing worse than hitting a huge long shot and then realizing you are only eligible to receive half of your winnings.

Different Horse Race Betting Options

When betting on a horse race you should first know whether the odds are fixed or the odds are using the parimutuel betting system.  In general if you bet on the race in the sportsbook the odds will be fixed, but if you place your wager on race day in the racebook then the odds will use the parimutuel system.

With parimutuel betting the odds can change up until the race.  This is because all of the wagers on each horse are placed into a pool and the payout odds are then calculated based on the amount of money wagered on each horse.

Win/Place/Show

Win, Place and Show are the common bets that you can make on a horse to win or finish in the top 3 of a race.

A win bet requires the horse to finish in 1st place.

A place bet requires the horse to finish in 1st or 2nd place.

A show bet requires the horse to finish in the top 3.

The payout will obviously be more if you bet on a horse to win the race, than if you bet the horse to place or show.

Exotics

Exotic bets generally involve betting on more than one horse on the same ticket and everything has to correctly hit for the ticket to pay out.  Exotic bets are similar to parlay bets in sports.

An exacta bet is an example of an exotic wager.  With an exacta bet you pick a horse to finish first and another horse to finish second.  Both horses must finish in their selected position for the exacta bet to pay out.

The most elaborate exotic bet, and one that can really change lives with a huge payout is the superfecta bet.  With a superfecta you select which horses will finish in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in that order.  It’s not unheard of for superfecta bets of just $1 to pay out north of $50,000 at major races.

Pro Tip: Only bet the minimum for exotic wagers.  This is especially true for the very difficult to hit exotics like the superfecta.  There’s no point in betting more than $1 on a superfecta because there is likely nobody (or very few others) betting the exact same superfecta, so raising your bet only lowers your bets value.