A Quick Guide To Grand National Betting
As a child betting on the Grand National was one of the highlights of my year. Whilst it may seem odd to people from outside the United Kingdom that we activity encourage our children to gamble, it has to be remembered that the Grand National day is the only time it's deemed acceptable!
At the age of eleven I picked my first Grand National winner (Corbiere @ 13/1) and was amazed by how many cans of Vimto and bags of crisps my 20p each way bet returned! The Grand National has changed quite a bit since the mid eighties, where the only place you could bet were the small smoke filled bookmakers and where you were limited to betting on the nose or each way. Today the choice of places to bet and the types of bets available is bewildering.
To help you make sense of it we have produced a guide to the types of bets available on the Grand National and provided videos to show you how to place a bet at a tradtional bookmakers shops.
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The Simple 'Win' Bet
We start our guide with the simplest bet to understand, the win bet. This is when you back a horse to come first in the Grand National. Lets say you bet £10 that Hedgehunter wins the Grand National at odds of 33/1. Should Hedgehunter come first you will get back £330 from the bookmakers plus your original £10 stake.
Should your horse Hedgehunter fall, finish second, third or anywhere else but first you lose your £10 stake.
The 'Each Way' Bet
The 'Each Way' bet is a little bit more complicated than the simple win bet but still fairly easy to follow. When you back a horse 'Each Way' you are betting that your horse will finish in either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th positions. (Paddy Power generally pays out for 5th place as well)
Technically an Each Way bet is made up of two bets, this example will show you how it works. If you want to back a horse Each Way for £10 it will actually cost you £20, because you are betting £10 that the horse will win and £10 that it will 'placed in either 2nd, 3rd or 4th position.
If your horse wins the race at odds of 10/1 you will win £100 plus you will get the £10 win portion of your original win stake back, but you will lose £10 of your original £20 stake because your horse can't finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th as well!
Should your horse finish in either 2nd, 3rd or 4th position, known as a 'place' you will win £25 plus the £10 'place' part of your original £20 stake will be returned. You might be wondering why you only get £25 back in winnings if the odds are 10/1 and your bet was £10, shouldn't that be £100! Well no, the bookmakers only pay out a 1/4 of the quoted odds on horses that finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th.
The 'Each Way' bet is one of the most popular types of bet for the Grand National race, as it gives you the best of both worlds. Should your horse win you still get the full odds and hopefully a nice big payout, plus you have added thrill of knowing that even if your horse isn't challenging for the first place at the end of the race you can still cheer him on for 2nd 3rd or 4th and win!
The Multiple-Bet/Accumulator
Multiple Bets or Accumulator bets are very popular with punters as they offer large returns for small stakes, with a multiple bet you are trying to predict the outcome of many races or the exact finishing order in one race. Obviously this is more difficult than just picking the winner.
Here's an example of a real Accumulator bet from the 2008 Grand National: During a lunch break an unnamed married man strolled into Paddy Powers betting office in Bantry, Cork on Saturday with 20 Euro (£15) and backed Silverbirch at 33/1 for the Grand National, 16/1 Kings Key and 12/1 Al Eile also at Aintree on the same day. Once all three had romped home he headed back to the bookies to watch his final horse, 10/1 Paymaster General run at Lingfield where Paymaster General (ironic name) did the business and the punter netted a cool five hundred thousand euro, not bad for a 20 euro bet!
If you fancy trying this type of bet you can normally find a special betting slip in the bookmakers that lists all the options. If you want to place this type of bet online then Paddy Power is the place to visit.
Specials and Novelty Bets
Along with the standard types of horse racing bet like 'Each Way' and 'Win Only' you can also bet on the Grand National in a number of unique ways. We taken a detailed look at some of the more unusual bets here.
