In the old days you went to your local race track to play the ponies. Times have quickly changed as horseplayers have more options then ever before and the right place to wager your money depends on what type of horse player you are. Your options include your local race track, online betting accounts with American off-track betting companies via their online web sites, such as Youbet.com and TVG.com, or you can bet over the Internet with an online Sportsbooks (and Race Book). I always suggest that horseplayers that wager several days each week use several of these options to experience the ultimate in betting convenience.
While nothing beats a day at the races, most tracks don’t give their players much bank for their buck and don’t offer many incentives for a big player. In fact, the smaller tracks give nothing back to their patrons and your money goes directly into the wagering pool hurting the return price on your bet. Those of us that have owned and bred horses still honor live racing as the Sport of Kings needs all the help they can get now that the popular racing times of Secretariat and Seattle Slew are long gone.Wagering with the “legal” Internet sites located within the confines of the United States offers the live racing experience from the comfort of your home. No more trips to the track as you can turn on cable, or your satellite dish, and watch over 70 tracks right from your sofa and collect without ever putting on your pants. These online horse racing sites are as reliable as wagering right at the local track, as your bet goes into the actual track pools, but they aren’t allowed to offer traditional rebates like the online sportsbooks and race books can. They do offer up to the minute changes, such as live horse racing odds and jockey changes. Some form of loyalty program and reward their players with free merchandise, which can be anything ranging from a baseball cap to free Daily Racing Forms. Of course, the best place to get past performances, racing forms, or updated odds is always DRF.com, which is the Daily Racing Form home site.
The appeal of an online Race Book is that most offer their players a rebate program between 3% and 7% of their total wagers. That’s right, for every $1000 you bet with them – win or lose- they’ll refund $30 to $70 of your dollars back! While this won’t excite small players, those who wager big money each and every day know how quickly rebate money can add up. The other appeal of an online sportsbook account is the fact currently none of them are hooked into the pari-mutual pools and you can bet your horse without hurting your odds!
If you’re like bettors, you probably wager on more then just horse racing. If that’s the case, betting with an online sportsbook account allows you the oppertunity of football betting, basketball betting and MLB baseball betting. More often than not, these online betting sites also offer digital casino games, featuring table games such as BlackJack, Roulette, Baccarat and many types of Slots.
Betting horses online also has some drawbacks as they usually offer small betting limits, especially on the smaller tracks, and since the money doesn’t go directly into the wager pools, they actual track doesn’t get their percentage and hurts the racing industry as a whole. Remeber, the tracks are able to offer their purses to the horse owners because of the money bet on their races each day.
