Grand National

[Chantal]

Guess who just backed the winner!!! I had a fiver each way at 9:1 so will be off to collect my winnings shortly

[oldherbaceous]

How exciting, do let us know what you treat yourself to Chantal.

I bet the bookies have been happier.

[lizzie]

I had the winner too but didn't place a bet. I've never seen a bookie strapped for cash so thought he could do without mine. I actually suggested this horse to The Barsteward as a suitable one for him

[Chantal]

Is anyone any good at working out bets?

I place £2.50 each way at 9:1 (£5 bet)

I was paid out £33.32.

How they hell did they work that out? It's more than I thought I'd get, but I don't understand at all.

OH, I bought a new wiper blade for AJay with the £3.32, I know how to live

[Stephen]

Each way bets usually attract a proportion of the odds.
I know the tax situation has changed but you still got over 12:1 which is good (remember to deduct your stake money which is not part of your winnings) i.e. you won £30.82 and had your £2.50 stake returned to you.
As you will deduce from the above, I am no expert either!

[Chantal]

Thanks Stephen, I understand what you're saying but I'm still confused.

I placed the bet at fixed odds of 9:1, there's no tax any more apparently.

Starting odds were 7:1 but they paid out at 12:1? I've never heard of a generous bookie in my life!

I'm really crap at maths but thought it would be:

2.5 x 9 = 22.50
stake = 5 (2.50 each way)
Total payable £27.50

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Chantal, maybe you should pop in and see if they have overpaid you, i'm sure they would be pleased to have the money back, as they must need it.

[Chantal]

Not a chance and in any case, I bet £5 on the one that came 10th, so by my reckoning they gave me that stake back too and an extra 32p for luck

[Cider Boys]

Hello Chantal

From my misspent youth I think that your winnings would be worked out as below

If you placed a £2.50 each way bet your total stake equals £5.

(You used to get the option to either pay the tax at the time of placing the bet or if not you pay the tax on your winnings.)

As your horse won the race, the £2.50 bet for the win attracts 9-1 odds therefore you win £22.50 and get your original stake money back = £25.
The other half of your each way bet pays out a fraction, usually a quarter of the odds for a place and in a race of the size of the Grand National that would usually mean the first four places would qualify as a place bet attracting a quarter of the odds.
Therefore at 9:1 of £2.50 = £22.50 /4 = £5.625 + your stake of £2.50 = £8.125.

Total winnings returned with stake money = £25 + £8.125 = £33.125.

Good luck

Honest Barney

[Cider Boys]

What I was trying to say is that an each-way bet is infact two bets. Bet one is for a win and bet two is for a place. Therefore a £2.50 each-way bet is a £2.50 win bet and a £2.50 place bet. The win bet attracts the win odds (9:1 in your case) and the place part of the bet attracts a quarter of the win odds (9:1 /4).

As your horse won you get the winnings of the win part of the bet and the place part of the bet together with your stake money.

This all reminds me of many happy years of my earlier life when I used to work part time for loacl trainers and ride out National Hunt race horses and also got the opportunity to ride out these thoroughbreeds with local hunts to qualify them for point to point racing. Regrettably I have not ridden a horse for nearly thirty years now and alas I no longer weigh around 10 stone!

Barney

[Chantal]

Thanks Barney, that does makes some sense and it may well have been 12p and not 32p.

I'll cancel any ideas that OH may have had about giving some money back

[Geoff]

Here's a link that will do Barney's maths for you
http://www.betcalc.com/eachwaycalc.php

[Chantal]

OOoh that's clever, I've bookmarked that, just in case I win again next year Actually, that's not as daft as it sounds as I don't often bet on the National (or anything else) but when I have bet, I've usually won something. One year I picked the winner and third place, it's just a shame I only had a couple of quid on each