What Is The Minimum Bet On Horse Racing? (Find Out!)

There are many different ways to bet on horse racing, and you don’t always have to run a high risk to get a high reward.

Making money betting on horses is all about being tactical, as much as it is getting lucky.

So, it isn’t always about placing the highest bet to get the best return.

Sometimes, you want to let small bets build up over time.

A friend of mine asked me what the smallest possible bet you can make is, so I decided to look into it.

What is the minimum bet on horse racing?

Different tracks may have different rules, but in most places, you can bet a minimum of $1 on any race. In the past, $2 used to be the minimum but it has gone down over time. Some online betting agencies might do bets as little as $0.01—but in general it will be somewhere between $0.50-$1.

There are a number of different types of bets in horse racing that fit this minimum requirement, as there are some types of more elaborate bets that you would need to place more money down for.

So, let’s look at the different types of bets in racing and how the minimum works.

What is the lowest you can bet on horse racing?

So, while we can say as a rule of thumb that traditional bookmakers will require a minimum bet of around $1, there are a few different types of bet you should be aware of that could affect this.

The most common and easy-to-understand type of bet in horse racing is a basic or “straight” wager.

Most newcomers will generally start out with these bets.

In the past, straight wagers, as I said, had a $2 minimum, but that’s mostly been changed now.

Straight wagers are then either win, place or show.

For a win wager, again probably the one most people are familiar with, you pick a horse and if that horse wins you win the bet.

On a win bet, the takeout rate (how much of the pool is removed to cover expenses) is generally 15-20%, and what remains is distributed to those that placed win bets on the winning horse.

A place bet only requires your horse come first or second, and the minimum bet is likely to be the same although it may be slightly higher.

Because you have a higher chance of winning the payoffs are typically smaller.

Finally, show bets are the easiest of the three straight bets to win, as your horse only needs to come in the top 3.

As you can imagine, this makes the payout lower still than a win or place bet.

Race tracks are just as popular as they ever were today, and though in many areas of our lives the internet seems to be taking over, with horse racing you definitely have both options.

So, let’s look at online betting.

What is the minimum online bet on horse racing?

Online betting is usually very different.

Naturally, online betting platforms can attract a much higher number of bettors, so online betting sites are much more incentivized not to require a minimum bet.

There are obviously a lot of betting sites out there today, and many will operate differently, but the fact is there are many, many betting sites which do not require any minimum stake.

That is to say, you can make a bet of 1 cent.

Some of these sites are lesser known and more obscure.

As the sites become more well-known, the minimum bets can go up.

Some might require a minimum bet of 10, 20, 25 or 50 cents.

Some of the more popular online betting sites do require higher minimum bets similar to what you might find at an actual racetrack, in the region of $1-$2 or even as high as $5.

Online betting certainly has the advantage of a lot more variety than bet makers at race tracks, but you won’t necessarily get better odds.

Betting on horse racing is fun and accessible for everyone, then.

In many situations, there really is no minimum bet—you can bet as low as you like!

This is, of course, not always the case, and more traditional oddsmakers generally will require a minimum bet somewhere in the region of $1-$2.

If you were thinking of placing dozens of small bets on lots of different races, online might be the way do it.

Online betting certainly is a great way of getting used to and familiar with the whole process before heading out to a track.

Otherwise, get down to the track and place a $1 bet.