Betting tips: What’s the difference between tote and fixed odds?

With the Sydney Carnival happening, now is the best time to put your betting skills to the test.

Pick a Thoroughbred horse and let fate decide the rest.

Try and find a winner but make sure it isn’t a random pick. Instead, make your bet after reading betting tips, assessing form, and watching race replays.

By doing this, you will lessen the chances of your money going to waste. Another thing you can do to increase your chances of winning is choosing a suitable betting system.

The two betting systems available to you are fixed odds and tote. What do these betting systems refer to? Let’s take a look.

Before placing a bet at the Sydney Carnival, you need to make a choice: tote or fixed odds. To help you make a decision, here is what each means.

 

Fixed odds

We’ll start with fixed odds.

A traditional form of betting, fixed odds betting involves a bookmaker offering odds on particular result in a match or event. In this form of betting, you take a betting price.

For instance, you would have performed fixed odds betting if you bet on a selection at, say, 12/1 odds.

Now, if your horse wins at 12/1 odds, the bookmaker will pay you 12× stake. Remember, this is in addition to the original stake.

So, if you made a fixed odds bet at $20 on a horse to win at 12/1 odds, you will get a winning amount of $240 plus the $20 you stake.

On the other hand, if your horse doesn’t win, the bookmaker will pay you nothing and you will lose the $20 you bet.

A high margin product, fixed odds is a way for bookmakers to protect themselves against price fluctuations.

When you perform fixed odds betting, you lock in the fixed odds price for your pick.

After you make the bet, the fixed odds price won’t decrease or rise.

 

Tote bet

This is something that doesn’t happen in a tote bet. Unlike a fixed odds bet, a tote bet isn’t fixed and shortens or rises based on the money coming into the system.

Also referred to as pool betting, tote betting is betting in which you bet on your favourite without knowing how much you’ll win on the bet if the horse you picked triumphs.

The reason for this is that in tote betting, the dividend is decided only after the event begins.

In tote betting, all bets are arrayed together in a pool.

Additionally, in this form of betting, bookmakers display odds that they believe you’ll get. The amount of bets received when you make the bet is what the bookmaker’s approximation is based on.

Though, keep in mind that the approximation will change if more money enters the system.

 

Decisions, decisions

Until betting stops and the event has commenced, no one knows for sure the amount they’ll receive in tote betting for a winning bet.

Now that you know all about both fixed odds and tote betting, you can decide for yourself which one is better for you.

 

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