Tote betting and Pari-mutuel are essentially the same thing. The system of pari-mutuel betting was invented by a Frenchman called Pierre Oller in 1865. Prior to the invention of this system all betting was done with bookmakers.This is the only way to bet in the United States as bookmaking was made illegal in the early 1900s and as a result many racecourses shut down. It was only when pari-mutuel betting took over that racecourses reopened again.

Pari-mutuel betting means that you are betting against all the other people at the course. If you bet on a horse and it wins, your winnings come from all the money other people have bet. The money bet on each race is pooled together and winning bets are paid out by other peoples losing bets. From this pooled money a percentage is taken out of the final total. Some goes to the racetrack some to the horse owners and some is taken out in tax. The remainder is split between everyone who has bet on the winning horse.

Therefore the amount you win is dependent on how many people have bet on that horse. For example if there is a total win pool of 10000 pounds and 1000 people all bet a pound on the winning horse each of these people would 1/1000 th of the pool i.e. 10 pounds. This would mean the tote board would have shown odds of 10.0 at the start of the race because you will receive back ten times your stake. There are separate pools of money for the different types of bet. So if your place bet wins you would receive a share of all the total place bets made.

Odds on the tote board are shown in decimals rather than fractions. These odds change continually depending on how much money has been bet on each horse so if someone was to place a large amount of money on one horse the odds would shorten significantly as if this horse were to win the persons stake would make up much of the total pool. When you place your bet at the tote window you will be presented with a ticket with the details of your bet. Make sure it is correct before you leave the window as mistakes can not be rectified later.