Betting On Horses
Horse-racing in South Africa is quite a substantial industry and makes an impact on the economy. It is responsible for many jobs and the annual turnover is estimated at R5 billion. Currently, there are eleven operational race courses in the country; six of these courses are run by Phumelela Gaming and Leisure, and the other five are run by Gold Circle (Pty) Limited. These two companies control betting in South Africa and work together to form an organised industry in the country.
Betting on horses can be over the phone, through a bookmaker, on the computer and via text messaging. Commonly, tote betting is used is in horse-racing. The way tote betting works is that prior to any race, all the money bet on the various bet types is pooled together. Once the race begins, the pool is frozen, a take-out is deducted and the final pool is declared. After the race, the nett pool is divided amongst all the winning tickets.
Betting in its simplest form requires you to choose the horse that is going to reach the post first. The minimum spend on betting is R6, however, one bet is equal to R1. This means that you are required to take 6 bets at one time. If you win, you will then get paid out 6 times the dividend. When placing your bet, you need to tell the operator which venue and which horse you are betting on, and the number of times you are betting (minimum of 6 bets).
There is also something called a place bet, where you choose a horse that will finish in the first 3 runners out of 8, or the first 4 runners out of 16, depending on the race size. This is a safer option if you are worried about betting on a winner, then rather bet for place. There are a number of other ways to place bets: swinger, exacta, trifecta, quartet, double, pick 3, jackpot, pick 6, and place accumulator.
There are many option that are available in betting on horses so find out everything related to it and the industry so that you are fully informed before dealing with money.