Win Place Show, huh? So you want to partake in some pari-mutuel wagering? Don’t worry, that’s a fancy term that means “betting among ourselves”. When you place a wager on a horse race you are not betting against the “house” as you would be if you were wagering at a casino in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Instead, you are betting your horse against every other bettor. Let the best man win!

A bet can be broken down into two elements; the Stake - how much you risk, and the Payout - your potential return including your Stake. The most common type of bet is a single, but bettors can combine different bets into one and place a multiple bet - this can be a double, treble or any other multiple (four or more bets. The pay schedule will simply more down to the lesser payment. For example, the bettor will win if a baseball parlay for four teams has three winners and one game is canceled because of rain. The bet will only pay based on the schedule for three winners instead of four as originally planned.

What is a Win Place Show Bet?

Win Place Show bets are commonly called straight wagers and are the most traditional in horse racing. They are lower risk bets compared to exotic wagers like Exactas and Trifectas. These wagers are a good place for the novice horseplayer to jump in. Let’s look at the different wagering requirements.

The Three Different Win Place Show Bets

Win: If you wager $2 to Win on your horse, you collect only if your horse finished first.

Place: If you wager $2 to Place, your horse must finish first or second for you to collect. But remember, you don’t get the Win payoff, just the Place payoff, which is generally smaller than the win payoff.

Show: If you wager $2 to Show, your horse must finish first, second, or third. But remember, you only collect the Show payoff.

Many experts consider playing a horse to Win to be the best bet in horse racing. Before placing a Win bet a horseplayer can see the odds on the tote board and then determine if those odds represent good wagering value.

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After all, return on investment is really the name of the game.

Win Place Show Strategy

A term you may hear tossed around at the track is an “Across the Board” wager. Here you are wagering on a horse to Win Place Show on one ticket. If your horse wins, you receive Win Place Show payoffs. If your horse finishes second, you receive Place and Show payoffs; and if your horse is third, you receive the Show payoff only.

These wagers would be considered “low risk” betting, at least compared to the rest of the wagering menu. There also is a lower “takeout” on these wagers. The takeout is the cut the track takes to pay purses and expenses. The “take” on Win Place Show wagers is generally around 17% depending on the jurisdiction. The takeout on Exactas and Trifectas can range from 19% to as much as 30% at some tracks.

Win Place Show Payout Examples

Here are a couple of examples of Win payoffs based on the odds you might see on the tote board:

2/1 pays $6.00
7/2 pays $9.00
9/2 pays $11.00
10/1 pays $22.00
(Based on a $2 win bet).

Horse Racing Betting Explained

Win, Place, Show – How To Bet On Horses (Part 2)

Continuing with the example from the prior post: Win, Place, Show (Part 1), let’s change the order of finish slightly by switching the top two horses #8 and #2.

The former payouts are shown on the left for comparison, and the new payouts are shown on the right.

How Much Does A Win Place Show Bet Payouts

Since #2 is now the winner, his payout line is switched to the top of the chart. He pays $12 for a win ticket because his odds are 5-1. Formula (5 x $2) + $2.

Notice that the #8 place price stayed exactly the same ($7), as did the #2 place price ($6). That is because the same two horses finished in the top two positions, just in reverse order.

Now let’s change the order of finish again by pushing the #8 horse back to 3^rd place and moving the #6 horse up to 2^nd place.

How Much Does A Win Place Show Bet Payout

Since #2 remains the winner, his Win price ($12) does not change. However, notice that his place price decreased from $6 to $5. Why? Because more total money was bet on #6 (the new 2^nd place horse) to place than on #8 (the former 2^nd place horse). This is reasonable, considering that the Win odds on #6 are 3-1, while the Win odds on #8 are 7-1.

Generally the amount of money bet on a horse is proportionate between the Win, Place, and Show pools. The simple reason why the payout is less for Place and Show wagers (compared to Win) is that the payout pool is being divided by two horses for Place and three horses for Show.

How Much Does A Win Place Show Bet Paypal

You can conclude from this information that your best return from a Place or Show wager generally happens when the favorite(s) does not finish “In The Money” (The Top Three Spots). Unless of course you bet on the favorite, which is another story!

How Much Does A Win Place Show Bet Payout

There are a lot of opinions on whether or not it’s even wise to make Place and Show bets, as opposed to just Win bets, but we’ll save that topic for a future post.