Horse race betting systems need not be complicated to understand for beginners if one familiarizes himself on the basics on what is written in the toteboard. The toteboard in a race track displays the odds and/or payoffs for each horse. The toteboard displays the win odds quoted on each horse. A student on horse race betting systems should understand that this odds gives him the information on how much profit can be made from the amount of bet that was placed. For example, 6-5 is getting a profit of $6 for placing a $5 bet, a 20-1 win odds is getting $20 for a $1 bet. Horse race betting systems generally round off the pay-off to the nearest denomination which also depends on the rules of the race track. This in horse race betting sytem’s terminology is referred to as breakage.
Horse race betting systems includes calculating the exact win odds for a horse from the data on the toteboard. Data includes the total win pool and the total amount bet for the horse. The total pool is the total amount bet places on all the horses to win. A beginner on horse race betting systems should not get excited when he sees the total pool since that amount is not the amount to be given to ticket holders since the track usually takes about 14% to 50% of the total amount before it is given to the winners. This amount is called the ‘take’.
Using horse race betting systems, a bettor can calculate the odds on the horse by subtracting the ‘take’ from the total pool and again subtracting the amount that was wagered horse which will give an estimate of the amount to be paid out. Further calculation using the horse race betting systems will give the bettor the odds by dividing the pay-off cash by the amount wagered on the horse.