Grand National Guide to Betting

If you're new to racing, this basic Guide to Betting on the Grand National should help answer some of the questions you might have. If you're not sure exactly what type of bet you want to have on the Grand National, here are some of the basics.

Don't forget though, having a little flutter on the horses should be fun and it doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes you're as likely to have a winner by just deciding you like the name or the colours of the jockey!

Here we explore some of the basics to help you understand betting:

Betfair - Free £25 Grand National Bet
Open an account with the betting exchange Betfair and they will match your first horseracing bet with a free bet to the same value. Start betting with Betfair and place a bet of £25 to get the maximum free bet on offer.

Claim a free £25 Grand National Bet at Betfair - Click Here!

What your investment will return

When placing a bet, your stake or investment is the amount of money you are willing to gamble - be it a cautious £1 or a rather more adventurous £100. If you're a winner, your winnings (also known as 'returns') are calculated according to your horse's odds.

So if you back a horse lets say Monty's Pass at 10/1, if you place £10 at 10/1 your winnings will be £100 and you will also get your £10 stake back, therefore in total your returns will be £110.

Stan James - Free £25 National Bets
Stan James is a name that many people are familiar with and have an excellent Grand National free bet offer of £25. Just open an account with Stan James, deposit funds into your account and place your first bet and Stan James will match your first stake of up to £25.

Claim a free £25 Grand National Bet at Stan James - Click Here

Grand National Bet Types

• Win Betting - Is also referred as 'on the nose', you're selecting a horse to win. This is as per the example above.

• Each-way Betting - This gives you a win and place bet on the same horse. If your horse wins, you collect both the win and the place dividend. Because an each-way bet is two bets, your stake is doubled i.e. as per the example above £10 each-way bet will cost you £20. If your horse wins, both bets pay out. So following on from the example above, you win the Win part as explained and also the place part which would be ¼ of the 10/1 which is 2.5 times your £10 stake.

  So your £20 investment will return
  Win part - £110   Place part - £35
  Total return including your investment will be £145

  If in this example Monty's Pass does not win but is placed i.e. 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the Grand National you do not win the first part of your bet, that is the win part but your second bet pays out. In this case your total return including your stake returned is £35. So in this case you win £15 in total.

• Place Betting - This bet is available with Totesports or the betting exchanges. You're selecting a horse to be placed. In the Grand National you will get paid out on the first 4 horse home. This means your horse needs to finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th.

Also remember your winnings are Tax Free.

For the Grand National it is probably a good idea to have each way bets as the odds of the horses are generally quite attractive, that is greater than 10/1.

Another additional point to consider is that for the Grand National, the Bookmakers are very keen to get you as a customer and you will find if you shop around online that a number of the Bookmakers offer each way for the first 5 horse home. This just gives you a slightly better chance of winning.

On the betting exchanges you can get odds for the place only. Unlike what is explained above the price reflects what another individual is prepared to offer. Therefore you will find that it will not exactly be ¼ the odds of the horses price.

Grand National Speciality Bets

As this is such a major betting race the Bookmakers do offer unusual bets some of which are

• How many horses will finish
• Horse Match Bets - this is taking 2 horses of similar ability who will ahead of the other
• Selected horses to finish or not finish the course

These are just a few of the different types of bets that you can have and we will cover these in greater detail under Grand National Speciality Bets.