If you read Lottoland's guide to sports betting, you'll realise that wagering on the outcome of horse races is a little more complicated than it sounds. Wagers in horse racing, particularly exotic bets, introduce a whole new level of complexity beyond traditional sports betting. 

This write-up focuses on exotic bets, a more advanced type of horse race betting, to help you understand what you are getting into before you put your money on the line. Read on!  

What Exactly is Exotic Betting in Horse Racing? 

You can place two main types of bets in horse racing: straight or exotic. Straight bets, as the name suggests, are quite straightforward. You wager on a single horse to come first, second, or third in a race. 

Exotic bets are slightly more complicated but basically involve betting on multiple horses in a single wager. Any type of bet with a component that requires placing a wager that covers more than one horse or race is an exotic bet. Exotic horse betting results in bets that are more difficult to win but with much bigger payouts. 

How Exotic Horse Race Betting Works

As mentioned above, exotic horse race betting involves wagering on multiple runners and sometimes even multiple races at the same time. To win, you must get every prediction right — except for a quinella exotic bet. 

There are different types of exotic racing wagers, and to understand how exotic horse race betting works, you need to familiarise yourself with each one. Below, we take a closer look at each variety of exotic bets. 

Quinella

A quinella is the simplest exotic bet you can place at a horse track. It's also one of the easier exotic bet wagers to win. A quinella exotic bet involves placing a wager on two horses to take first and second place in a race, irrespective of which horse comes first or second. 

Exacta

Just like a quinella, an exacta exotic bet involves placing a bet on two horses to come first and second. The difference is that horses must take first and second place in the correct order. In other words, you're wagering which horse will finish first and which will finish second. 

Trifecta 

As the name suggests, a trifecta exotic horse racing bet involves picking three horses. In this type of exotic bet, you're required to choose which horses finish first, runners-up, and take third place in a race in the right order. 

Superfecta 

A superfecta bet involves picking horses to finish first, second, third, and fourth in a race. Again, the selected horses must finish in the correct order for you to cash your ticket. 

Daily Double

So far, we've only covered bets involving multiple horses. The Daily Double option takes it a step further by combining two races. It involves betting on two horses to finish first and second in two consecutive races, usually the first and second last races of the day. 

Pick 3,4,5,6…

A Pick 3 exotic bet requires the punter to pick the winners of three back-to-back races at the same track. Some online sportsbooks also allow users the option to pick the winners of four, five, six — and so on — successive races. The more the races, the harder it is to win a Pick exotic bet and, of course, the higher the payout. 

Odds and Payouts in Exotic Horse Racing Bets

Exotic bets are a type of pool betting known as parimutuel wagering, meaning that the odds are always changing even after you've placed your bet. Depending on the size of the betting pool, the payouts can be huge.If you get your picks right, these are the kind of bets that make dreams come true. 

How To Place Exotic Bets in Horse Racing

Placing an exotic bet in horse racing is simple. The most important thing is to choose a safe, legal, and licensed horse racing betting site, then sign up and put some money in your account. The process of placing an exotic horse racing bet may vary slightly from one online casino to another but the basics remain pretty much the same. 

Wrapping Up

Exotic horse race betting promises a big payout from a small outlay, which is why it's popular with punters. If you think you're ready to move on from straight bets to exotic horse race betting, this guide covers everything you need to get started. 

However, it should be noted that gambling is not a way of making money, it's more of a risky entertainment activity with possibilities of incurring losses.

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