How To Bet On Dog Races
Greyhound racing has a close relationship with gambling. Betting is ingrained in the dog racing culture and is largely responsible for keeping the industry alive. Learning how to bet on greyhounds online is a simple manner because the sport itself is simple. Every wager on a race somehow relates to predicting the order in which the dogs cross the finish line.
Best Greyhound Betting Sites
Bet the best two breakers and the best two closers in the race. This should hit the quinella in a four dog box at least 50% of the time. Light dogs have trouble in the wet conditions of the track. I play the dogs in Corpus Christi dog track, Texas. The amount of rain we get is nice.
Online greyhound betting has been a lifesaver for the industry in an age where actual greyhound tracks are hard to find. Most fans live nowhere near a track and would have no way to place bets on races were it not for greyhound betting sites.
If you have an interest in betting on greyhound races but are not sure where to start, we offer a few recommendations here.
It is important to get started at a safe, regulated and reputable greyhound betting website so you can be sure you will be paid if you win.
Additionally, properly licensed dog racing betting websites usually pool all wagers with those taken at the track in order to provide you with odds that reflect the true value of every dog.
- Betting is done through Sports books or Bookmakers entities that accept bets. You can bet on the result of greyhound races and some sporting events. For placing a bet, you go to an online sportsbook. Note that a sportsbook is not the same as an oddsmaker. The sports book just accepts sports bets. An oddsmaker is a man who sets the betting odds.
- There are a number of ways to wager on greyhound races. Here is a brief rundown on the rules of greyhound betting: $2 WIN. Dog must finish 1st. $2 PLACE Dog must finish 1st or 2nd. $2 SHOW Dog must finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. $2 QUINIELA Play 2 dogs, they must come in 1st or 2nd in either order. $3 PERFECTA Play 2 dogs, they must come in 1st & 2nd in exact order.
Where to Bet on Greyhound Races Online
It is no big secret that greyhound racing is in a period of decline today. Many tracks are struggling and closing.
There are still a fairly decent number of tracks in operation around the world today. However, the industry certainly faces challenges going forward.
Greyhound racing betting at online racebooks could very well be the savior of an entire industry.
Greyhound betting sites provide a boon to the troubled industry by generating interest and bringing much-needed money to struggling tracks. If it wasn’t for betting, greyhound racing would be an extremely niche sport.
There are some major greyhound racing events such as the English Derby, the Greyhound Night of Stars in the USA, and the Irish Derby.
In addition to those main events, most greyhound tracks run regular races every day. In some locations, the law actually makes it mandatory for tracks to host races every day.
Fans today enjoy the ability to bet on dog races online easily. If you don’t live near a track, that’s not a problem; you can simply place your bets online. Most sites even provide live, streaming video of races for free. All you need is an account and you watch the action live on your computer.
The traditional greyhound racing industry has a positive relationship with the online betting industry. In some places, greyhound tracks operate their own websites. In other places, racetracks work in partnership with large, respected bookmakers.
What this means is that you get the same odds online as the people get at the track. The money you bet online is pooled together with the money that is bet in person at the racing facility. This provides liquidity, bigger jackpots, and helps keep the industry alive.
Ranking and Reviewing Greyhound Betting Sites
There are two intangible qualities that hold the most sway in determining which racebooks truly deserve the title “the best.” First and most important is the safety of player funds. When you make a deposit to a greyhound betting site, you entrust the site to protect your money and give it back when you’re done.
The safety of your funds is the most basic, fundamental job of a greyhound racing betting site but that does not mean it’s a given. I have seen many greyhound betting sites come and go in my time.
The safest racebooks are those that have established themselves as legitimate, longtime providers. This is the only type of operation we recommend.
Next up is the overall quality of the racebook. This includes the safety of your funds in addition to the site’s customer support, deposit methods, promotions and usability. We’ll get into each of those next.
Customer Support
There’s more to customer support than just answering questions. Any halfway competent greyhound betting site can answer basic questions.
Real customer support is tested when player disputes and legitimate complaints arise. How a book handles difficult situations is what determines whether its customer support is worth anything.
For example, a player writing to say that a book unfairly cancelled his wager at the last minute puts customer support to the test. Does the site take his complaint seriously and address the issue or does it brush him off?
Even if the book determines the player’s complaint has no standing, it can still address the player with respect and explain why it is taking whatever actions it is taking.
Banking Options
A quality dog racebook makes it easy for customers to deposit and withdraw winnings. The best greyhound racing betting sites have easy-to-use deposit methods that are both fast and free.
Withdrawals are even more important, easy cashouts are mandatory. There is nothing more frustrating than dealing with a racebook that slow-pays. If a site can’t get this part right, it doesn’t get listed here – no exceptions.
Value of Promotions, Odds and Prices, Payouts and Coverage
The thinnest of margins draws the line between winning and losing punters.
One of the best things you can do for your long term success is to get the most value out of every selection. This means taking advantage of promotions, getting the best odds, and choosing the best bets across a wide range of tracks and races.
Promotions, odds, and track coverage are all things we look for when ranking greyhound betting sites. The value of any one promotion doesn’t have much of an impact on a single bet, but promotions (and payout odds) have a big impact over a course of weeks, months, years and a career.
Usability and Features
It’s so much easier to place your bets at greyhound websites that are easy to navigate and understand.
Place enough bets at a poorly-designed racing site and you’ll eventually suffer at least a few missed opportunities and poorly-placed wagers
If you have two equal sites to choose from and one of them has an obviously superior betting interface, the decision is simple.
Regulation of Racebooks
UK and European greyhound racetracks work closely with dog racing betting sites to bring the full experience online and to mobile horse racing betting apps.
Most of the major bookmakers have agreements with local tracks that allow you to watch the races in real time on your computer or mobile device and participate in the betting pools hosted by each track.
The dog betting websites that we recommend are all licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.
These greyhound betting websites operate in the open and most of them have long histories. If you’d like to put your handicapping skills to the test, take a look at any of our top-ranked racing betting sites. These are some of the most respected racebooks in all of Europe.
In the United States, online greyhound betting is completely legal thanks to exemptions written into anti-gambling legislation. The UIGEA in particular included a carve-out that specifically mentioned horse and dog racing.
Therefore, major US greyhound betting sites are legal.
How To Bet Greyhounds
For example, BetAmerica.com (full review here) is based out of the United States and has permission from most major tracks to show the live races in real-time online. You can even fund your account with bank-to-bank transfers and Paypal.
Greyhound Betting Regulatory Bodies
In most countries, greyhound races are overseen by a regulatory body responsible for promoting the health and integrity of the industry.
Each country has its own take on how to regulate and oversee greyhound racing, but ultimately the goal is to keep everything safe and fair for the dogs, racing teams, and fans.
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is responsible for regulating greyhound racing in the UK, while the Australian Greyhound Racing Association (AGRA) fulfils the same role in Australia. In the United States, the Greyhound Racing Association of America (GRAA) helps promote, educate and regulate the industry.
How to Bet On Greyhound Races Online
Greyhound betting very closely resembles horse racing betting. All the same types of wagers that you could place on a horse race may also be placed on a dog race and greyhound racing betting uses the parimutuel form of wagering to calculate the odds and pay winners.
The actual process of betting on greyhounds online is a simple matter of logging in to your account and choosing a track.
From there, you select the race you want, the amount to risk, the type of wager, and the dogs you want.
A betting slip on the side of the screen displays a summary of your bets as you add them. When you’re all done, hit the submit button and wait for the results.
Types of Dog Racing Bets and Wagers
- Win: A bet on a single dog to win the race straight up. You win this bet if your dog crosses the finish line first.
- Place: This is a bet that your dog will finish in one of the top 2 places. It doesn’t matter if your dog takes first or second; you win either way.
- Show: Pick a dog and your bet wins if that dog finishes anywhere in the top three. This bet pays less than win/place wagers because your dog only has to end up somewhere in the top three.
- Straight Forecast (Exacta): A more difficult pick to get right, but one that pays out higher odds. In a straight forecast, you pick two dogs to take first and second place in that exact order. You only win this bet if your picks finish in 1st and 2nd in the correct order.
- Reverse Forecast (Reversa or Quinella): Similar to the straight forecast above, but the two dogs you select can finish in any order as long as both finish in the top two.
- Treble Forecast (Trifecta): In this bet, you pick 3 dogs to take the first 3 places in that exact order. This is a difficult bet to win, but it offers high payouts.
- Win and Place (each-way): This is two bets on one dog. Your “win” bet is a straight up bet on the dog to take 1st place. The Place bet pays if you dog finishes anywhere in the top 2. If your dog ends up taking first place, you win both bets. If your dog takes 2nd place, you only win the Place portion of the bet.
- Superfecta: Similar to a trifecta except this time you pick 4 dogs to take the top 4 places in that exact order.
- Accumulator (Parlay): This is a combination of bets spread across multiple races. You place a bet on one race and if you win that bet, the winnings automatically roll over to the next bet. Successful parlays involving 3 or more races offer the promise of massive rewards.
Greyhound Handicapping Strategy
Dog races often include closely matched greyhounds taking part so it is not easy to pick a clear winner. The best approach is to understand and follow the form guide as well as you can.
It is worth trying to get an idea of each dogs’ favoured track conditions before backing a particular section. For example, the length of the race, the weather, recent performances all have an effect on how dogs perform on any given day.
Patience is another useful skill. Watch the odds, compare them to your analysis of each dog, and wait for opportunities that present a clear advantage. There is nothing wrong with sitting out a few races when you cannot identify an obvious advantage.
Getting an Advantage
Because online greyhound betting is set up in the parimutuel format, you essentially compete against the other people to win money.
Your first step in handicapping the dogs is to learn and use the racing program. This is basically the greyhound equivalent of horse racing’s “daily racing form.” You can find the program at the track and at some of the bigger racing betting sites.
The racing program is full of data about each dog, including its past recent performances, its training team, stats and more.
The Greyhound Racing Association of America has a nice guide to using the program here. Learn it and understand it.
There is an incredible wealth of handicapping information out there. It’s just a matter of making the effort to do the research.
The best way to bet on greyhounds is to know what you are doing. Although this sport might seem pretty straightforward, there are quite a few things you have to be aware of before even thinking about how to bet on dog races and win.
We’ll start by explaining the types of racing bets, the different types of races, starting positions, dog running styles, and how to use the knowledge to your advantage by accurately weighing the data.
It’s worth mentioning that this racing betting guide doesn’t include staking methods; if you are unfamiliar with the flat betting money management strategy, please give our dedicated betting guide a good read.
We’re going to build a solid foundation on which you should develop a viable dog betting strategy. Although it is mostly a beginner’s guide, we’ve included a few pro tips for performing successful dog racing analysis in the last section.
Quickly navigate to your desired topic:
Types of Greyhound Bets
The types of bets in Greyhound Racing are practically identical with the types of bets in horse racing, but because not every punter is familiar with them, we’ll start by explaining the most common bet types in dog racing at a glance:
- Win Bet – This is the simplest of all types of greyhound bets: you are backing the dog that you believe has the most chances of winning the race. The bet is going to win only of the dog you picked ends up victorious.
- Place – A place bet is won when the respective dog wins or finishes second in the race.
- Show – The selected greyhound should finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd for the bet to win.
- Each Way – This is a combined bet: half of your stake goes on the dog to win, and the other half goes on your greyhound to place, meaning that he should finish in the top 3 – although this can vary according to the number of participants, bookies preferences and so on. Usually, the odds for the place bet should be roughly ¼ of the dog’s odds for the win. This type of bet is often used on underdogs, as it can bring a profit even if the greyhound places.
- Straight Forecast / Exacta – This bet implies picking the top two greyhounds in the exact finishing order. It is a risky bet that usually comes at long odds.
- Reverse Forecast – This type of bet allows you to pick the top two dogs in either order. This involves a couple of Straight Forecast bets: half stake on each of the two possible outcomes.
- Tricast / Trifecta – This bet works just like the Straight Forecast with the only difference being that you have to predict the finishing order of the first 3 competitors.
- Combination Tricast – It is a type of bet that allows you to pick the dogs you reckon will finish on the podium without specifying the order.
Of course, the single bets are the simplest and the most popular wagers. However, each-way betting is very fashionable amongst bettors who don’t enjoy low prices. Bear in mind that each track sets the odds for their races minutes before they start. That is why some bookies offer you only SP – Starting Price, instead of plain odds. However, if you want to know the odds before betting, either wager with bookies that make their own odds or wait till around 10 minutes before they start to find out what the lines are.
Bookies that offer Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) attract most punters. This means that if you take an Early Price on a race and the Starting Price turns up to be higher, the bookmaker will offer you the better odds.
Types of Greyhound Races Explained (Distance, Surface & Age)
UK greyhound races have 6 competitors. There are between 10 and 14 races at each track, and they usually take place around 15 minutes between each other.
The greyhound racing tracks have an oval shape, 4 bends and a length of around 400 meters; however, there are different types of races (mainly according to distance):
- Sprint – 2 bends (D)
- Standard – 4 bends (A)
- Stayers – 6 bends (S)
- Marathons – 8 bends (M)
- Hurdles – usually 4 bends (H), but involving the dogs having to jump over hurdles that are positioned on the track
- Handicapping is the lesser common type of race that involves greyhounds of mixed grades that race against each other, with the lower tiers getting a head start according to their category.
If you want to know more about the history of Britain’s greyhound stadiums and tracks, take a look at Jon Henley’s post ‘Going to the dogs’ from theguardian.com.
The surface is another important factor because the surface of the track dictates the pace. Although all greyhound tracks in the UK use a sand surface nowadays, the weather can have a significant impact on the race since all dog race tracks are outdoors. Greyhounds that are strong in Stayers usually perform better in wet condition – whereas railers might be affected by waterlogging. By contrast track, records are more likely to be broken in scorching weather, when the track becomes very hard, and the overall grip is excellent.
Age matters! Dogs under 24 months are required to take part in puppy races. Dogs between 21 and 30 months are considered to be most suitable for sprint races. Experts believe that greyhounds reach their prime between 30 and 36 months. However, experienced dogs (3-4-year-olds) will generally perform better in Marathon races. There’s no excuse for ignoring this matter as every dog’s age has to be written on the race card.
The grading system is a ladder ranking system that groups dogs of similar speeds in the same category, giving each of them a fair chance of winning: D – sprinters, A – runners, S – stayers, H – hurdlers. For example, the fastest sprinting greyhounds are competing in D1, the next in D2, and so on.
The most prestigious greyhound racing betting competitions are Grand National, English Greyhound Derby & Irish Greyhound Derby. Take a glimpse at the 2018 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby Final:
Greyhound Racing Lines: Best and Worst Post Positions (Traps)
The seeding system is meant to balance the competition by assigning competitors to traps they perform best in. These positions are called:
- Rails (rls, pos. 1 & 2) – inside traps, the shortest distance around the track
- Middle (mid, pos. 3 &4) – interior traps, position allows dogs to maintain their maximum speeds
- Wide (w, pos. 5 & 6) – outside traps, favoured by wet conditions
The post position assigned to a greyhound could be an important factor as some dogs perform better inside, in the middle or while running wide. However, this doesn’t mean that the greyhound will have to stick to that position, as they will most likely roam to their preferred spot as soon as possible, but certain punters tend to overrate the importance of the designated traps.
Contrary to popular belief, the key here is to figure out how likely it is for the respective greyhound to get to his favoured position early on. This doesn’t apply for the late speed dogs though: it is convenient for these greyhounds to have a lot of speed dogs in the race because the 1st will slow the others. Anyhow, weigh the initial racing lines with a pinch of salt, because stats don’t always tell the whole story and may sometimes lead the punter to make poor decisions which are based on pure coincidences.
Dog Racing Tips For Beginners & Beyond
Now that you understand how they work let’s talk about how to bet on greyhounds to win. There is much more to greyhound races than people who don’t know the sport might think. Once you start watching dog races and betting on them, you’ll feel the taste of it.
Although you can follow the expert’s suggestions, we advise you to collect information from them and craft your predictions. Here are a few tips for dog racing analysis:
- Preferably specialise in one or two tracks unless you have a lot of time to spend doing this. Then if you watch the first two or three races at the start of an event, you may discover a temporary bias.
- Get to know their breeds (genetic analysis of racing performance) and age (dogs peak at 2, while bitches at 3) and take this into account when estimating probabilities.
- Very carefully analyse the suitability of the traps assigned to each dog and interpret how the competitors should roam during the race, and pay particular attention to the first corner. Remember that the post position is just one of the elements that need to be evaluated.
- Always inspect the track conditions. Heavier dogs (weight) and those running on the wide rails generally have an advantage when the track is wet. However, if the temperature is below zero and the track is frozen, inside rails become significantly faster.
- Make sure you know how the dog performs in the current grade he is racing in – he might have just promoted or dropped down a grade.
- Check out when was the last time the dog has raced – a 6-7 days break is always better than a month without running.
- Don’t mind the general form, but rather investigate how well each dog has done taking into account factors such as the race type, the grade, the trap and the track condition etc. At the same time, select only the trouble-free races when calculating the average times.
It’s now up to you to discover how to pick dog races that offer value and get better at visualising races before they actually take place. One last tip would be to start your decision-making process by eliminating the greyhounds that have little to no chance of winning. Good luck!