Opportunity to bet while a race is taking place
In-play betting is now an accepted way of betting on all sports
In-play expands the choice for a bettor
In-play extends the lifecycle of a race
There are currently ten bookmakers who offer in-play betting on horse racing:
bet365
Betfair Sportsbook
Paddy Power
BetVictor
Coral
Ladbrokes
Sky Bet
Parimatch
talkSPORT BET
William Hill
Prices are created by GPS trackers for our betting partners
Each horse in every race run at a UK RMG track (excluding Fakenham and Chelmsford) carries two GPS trackers in their saddle-cloth
These trackers are sending back multiple data points every second
These points are then fed into a pricing model to create an in-play price for every horse
Betting takes place as soon as the stalls open on the flat, or from when the starter drops their flag on the jumps, up to either the finishing line or the 1f pole, depending on the operator you're betting with
Betting on in-play races from RMG tracks, using your bookmaker of choice, means you are betting whilst watching the lowest latency pictures available. Streaming on RMG tracks is around 0.4ms behind live, meaning there are no slow picture delays.
There are greater opportunities to find value, for example:
If your horse has exited the race early
If your horse is slowly away
If you were between two horses before the start, the one you backed may not be travelling as well as you hoped. You could still back your other selection
If the pace of the race is slow and the leader has got an easy lead
Conversely, if the pace is frantic and it looks likely to favour a hold-up horse
If the hot favourite exists the race early or slowly away
Markets are constantly fluctuating based on the above scenarios which presents opportunities for in-play bettors. It means bettors can use their skills to react to what they are seeing in real time, changing their opinions based on what is unfolding and the prices available.
How many times have you watched a race and thought, 'that horse is going nicely!'? Well, now you can get involved in the race and back that horse.
Here's three examples below from last season of horses who hit big in-play prices before going on to win their respective races:
Iroko is the most eye-catching. He hit a huge 66/1 in-play on his way to victory in the Martin Pipe Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival earlier this year!
Shishkin is another great example. He went off favourite and was a bit awkward in the early stages at Aintree. Ahoy Senor was going very well in the lead and would take some catching. Shishkin, however, did indeed catch him after rallying late in the race in impressive fashion. In-play punters were able to get double-figures if they backed the winner in-play!
Check out the closing stages of the race:
Some operators now let you cash out in-play. It allows you to make a judgement call during a race as to whether your horse is going well or not.
If you have a multiple that is reliant on the final leg, you don't have to make the decision to cash or or not pre-race, you could wait until during the race to make that choice.
Or maybe you have backed a horse that is a front runner in a race lacking pace, you might be confident your horse will get an easy lead and therefore your selection could trade shorter in-play, allowing you the opportunity to lock-in a profit.