Taking Money From Dummies at the Racetrack

By Dave C Williams

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Believe it or not, most people do not understand how betting on horses actually works. The average person thinks that they are betting against the racetrack. That is understandable. When you make a bet at the racetrack you hand your money to the person who works at the betting window, and if you win, they hand it back to you.

What they are really doing is pooling all of the money that has been bet on a race, and then handing it out to the winners when the race is over. They take a cut (usually around 19% of the total) but they have no interest in who wins or loses the race. They make their money no matter who wins. When you win a race, your winnings come from the players who made losing bets. When you lose your money is divided up among the winners.

Smart guys win, dumb guys lose.

Make a visit to your local racetrack one weekend and take a look around at the people who are there. The racetrack is a microcosm of society. You will see very wealthy horse owners in the paddock with their horses, average middle class people enjoying an afternoon outdoors, and more than a few people who look like they don't know where their next meal is coming from. All of them are players in this game and it is your goal to take their money.


Understanding horse racing odds is critical to learning how to beat the game. Every track has a handicapper, and its this persons job to set the "Morning Line". The morning line odds are the odds that appear in the racetrack program. These odds are really nothing more than one person's opinion of how the public will bet on a race. They take a look at all of the horses in the race and then determine who will probably be the favorite. In turn, the public comes to the racetrack, takes a look at the program, and more often than not agrees with the guy who made the morning line. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy! The casual horse racing fan will usually bet the favorite because that horse has the "best chance" of winning. In reality the favorite only wins about one third of the time.

Others who are new to the game, or there only to have some fun and bet a few bucks, will choose horses with the funniest names. Or they will choose horses whose jockeys are wearing the prettiest silks. Others will bet on their lucky number or birthday. These people will get lucky and win a few races, but in the long run these are the dummies you will be taking money from.

To consistently make money at the racetrack you need to become a student of the game and understand how to handicap horse races. Handicapping is the art and science of looking at past performance information of the horses in an upcoming race and using that information to determine who has the best chance of winning.

There are many handicapping methods that you can use, and many betting systems available to help you narrow down the field. But, a smart horseplayer will learn that handicapping is only about one third of the problem.

Another third of the problem is recognizing value. After you have handicapped a race and come to a solid conclusion about which horse can win, you have to look at the current odds and decide if they are providing you with any value. As a seasoned handicapper you may feel that horse number 4 is the best in the race, and think that he has a 25% chance of winning the race. Are the current odds providing you with any value? A horse with a 25% chance of winning should have odds of about 3:1. If his odds are lower than that then you are not getting the proper value. If they are higher, then you should consider him to be a good bet and go to the windows!

The last third of your problem is how to bet on the race, and how much to bet. You can bet to win, place, or show. Or you can make "exotic" bets like exactas, trifectas, and superfectas. More importantly you need to bet consistently and with a plan. Money management is crucial to any long term success you wish to have a the racetrack. The dummies you are playing against will be throwing their money around with little regard to value or where to bet, and your best chance at taking it from them will require you to bet within your limits and with a disciplined approach.

The money is there for the taking. Take some time to learn how to correctly handicap, study free past performances to get the hang of it, then go take some money from the dummies at the racetrack.

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