Each-Way Betting Explained | How Each-Way Betting Works

Each-way betting is massively popular among Online Casino sports bettors in Australia, and for good reason. Not only will an each-way bet give you a profit if your chosen selection wins, but it will also give you a handy return even if your selection only comes close to winning. 

This return for a near-miss appeal to most sports betting fans because, in some cases, the place return can be equal to or even more significant than the cost of the each-way bet. That can help you to keep potential losses to a minimum while still giving you a chance to win twice over.

In this article, you’ll learn how each-way betting works. We’ll explain how the bet functions, how it can be used in various sports and how to calculate potential returns. We’ll also provide advice on how to use this bet strategically.

Each-way betting means that you are betting on a selection to win an event and also to get a place in that same event. This is possible because an each-way bet is two different bets. One is a win bet, and the other is a place bet. Because an each-way bet is two bets in one, it will cost twice as much as a win-only bet. Therefore, a $10 each-way bet will cost $20 in total. The good news is that both bets can win simultaneously so that you can profit twice over.

The win part of the each-way bet works like any other win bet. If your selection wins the event it competes in – whether it’s a horse race, a golf tournament or a football championship – the bookie will pay you the win stake multiplied by the odds taken for the win. You’ll also get your win stake returned.

The place part of the wager is a bet that your selection will do well enough to achieve a recognised runner-up position in the chosen event. For example, in many horse races with eight or more runners, the place bet will win if your selected runner finishes in first, second or third place.

Because it’s easier for a selection to achieve a place than to win the event outright, the place bet won’t pay the full advertised win odds. Instead, the bookie will pay you a stated fraction of the win odds – often ⅕ or ¼ of the win odds. Your place bet stake will also be returned to you.

While the basic concept of each-way betting is much the same no matter what event you are betting on, how that concept is applied in practice will tend to differ in some way. Some sports can accommodate just one or two each-way opportunities, while others can give you half a dozen or even more ways to use the bet. In the following sections, we will briefly explain how you can make each-ways bets in the most popular sports of horse racing, golf and football.

Picking the outright winner in a horse race is always a challenge, and the larger the number of runners, the greater that challenge is. This is why each-way betting is particularly popular among those who like to bet on the gee-gees while giving themselves the best chance of getting a return from the bookie.

The number of runners in a horse race determines how many place positions it will have. Generally speaking:

• A race of 4 or fewer runners won’t pay for any place.

• A race of 5 to 7 runners will usually pay ¼ the win odds for the 1st and 2nd places only. 

• A race of 8 or more runners will usually pay ⅕ the win odds for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

• A handicap race of 12 to 15 runners usually pays ¼ the win odds for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

• A handicap race of 16 or more runners usually pays ¼ the win odds for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.

We say “usually” in the above examples because sometimes the bookie offers even better deals for the place bet to attract more business. 

Golf tournaments tend to have even more participants than there are runners in a prestige horse race, so it’s not surprising that plenty of golf bettors also like to bet each way. An each-way bet in golf gives you one win bet that your chosen golfer will win the tournament as a whole, plus a place bet that your golfer will finish the tournament with a top runner-up position on the leaderboard.

The number of places paid in a golf tournament will largely depend on how many golfers are participating. Different bookies can also make their own each-way offers to stand out from their competitors. For example, if most bookies pay for the top 5 positions on the leaderboard, another might choose to pay out for the top 6. Some will even pay for the top 10 under the right circumstances.

As well as being able to make each-way bets on the result of a golf tournament, you will also find bookies who let you bet on individual rounds of the event. It’s even possible to bet on how golfers perform over the season.

Footy is another very popular sport that attracts plenty of each-way betting action. You can’t bet each way in a single match, of course, but if you like to bet on your favourite team to win the league or a particular tournament competition, you can easily do that. 

In these cases, the bookie will state how many places he will pay for on the league or tournament table. Again, the more teams involved in the event, the more places you can usually expect to be paid for.

You should never make any bet without knowing exactly how much you stand to gain if the bet succeeds. That being the case, knowing how to calculate the return from a successful each-way bet is vitally important. Fortunately, it’s easy to do so, and you’ll need a minute or two and a calculator.

• The formula for the return from the Win part of the bet is simple: Take the Win part of the outlay and multiply it by the win odds taken for the competitor, then add the Win stake.

• For the Place part of the bet, you must first multiply the Win odds by the Place fraction to get the true Place odds. You can then multiply the Place part of the outlay by the true Place odds, then add the Place stake to get the return.

• Add both return figures from the Win and Place to see what you would get back in total – including your original stake – if your selection wins.

Let’s see an example to see exactly how this works in practice. 

For illustration, we’ll assume that you want to bet $10 each way on a golfer called Paddy McCaddy in a big tournament. The bookie offers odds of 50/1 for him to win and will pay ⅕ the odds if he achieves a top 5 leaderboard position.

In this case, you’d first multiply the $10 win stake by 50, which is $500. You’d then add your $10 stake to give you a total Win return of $510.

Next, you’d multiply the 50/1 odds by ⅕ (0.20 in decimal) to give you Place odds of 10/1. You can then multiply your $10 Place stake by 10, giving you $100, and add your $10 stake to provide you with a total Place return of $110.

Add the Win return of $510 to the Place return of $110, and you would get a total return of $620 if Paddy wins the tournament outright. If he fails to win but gets a top 5 position, you’d only get the Place return of $110. And if he fails to make the top 5, you’d lose both parts of the bet, leaving you $20 down.

Most casual sports fans tend to make each-way bets equally casually, but that probably isn’t the best approach. The power of an each-way bet varies according to the type of event you’re betting on, the number of competitors that are taking part, and the odds available about your chosen selection. It, therefore, makes sense to use each-way bets when they are most advantageous to you.

One of the best strategies is to bet each way only when the return from the place part of the bet would be sufficient to cover the cost of the bet as a whole. For example, if you wanted to make a $10 each-way bet (total cost $20), you should check to make sure that the potential return from the place element would be worth $20 or more.

Of course, all bettors are different, and some are quite happy to simply get a fraction of their outlay back if their selection achieves a place. There is, however, a lot to be said for taking a “Heads I win, Tails I get my money back” approach.