Win Bets Explained

The ‘win bet’ is the simplest wager to understand. In the context of the Grand National you’re betting that a horse comes home in first place, if he doesn’t – your stake is lost. If your horse wins the race you’ll get paid out at the quoted odds.

Every horse running in the Grand National has a chance of winning it. That chance is indicated by the odds provided by a bookmaker. The lower the odds, the greater the chance of the win. The bigger the odds get, the less chance the horse has of winning. At least that is the theory.

When you back a horse to win the race you will be quoted specific odds. They will generally look like 10/1, 14/1 or 25/1 – all the way up to 100/1 or 150/1. If you place a win bet and your horse wins, the amount you get back from the bookmaker will depend on those odds.

It’s not often you will find a horse lower than 6/1 in the Grand National, mainly due to the unpredictable nature of the race.

For the purposes of explaining the win bet, we will use this example:

You have £10 and decide to back a horse with odds of 14/1 to win the Grand National. If he wins, you’ll get back £150 from the bookies.

14/1 means that for every pound you bet you will win 14 back. If you bet £10 at 14/1 you will win 10 x 14 = £140. Plus you get your £10 bet back which gives you a total of £150.

Like all races, Grand National favourites go off on very short odds, though generally not lower than 5/1. But just because a horse is a favourite doesn’t mean it will actually win.

The Grand National is a race designed to give every runner an equal chance and anything can happen in the race. Over the 174 year history of the Aintree Grand National, five horses have returned victorious at 100/1, most recently Mon Mome in 2009.

Placing a win bet is simple, two examples are shown below. You can either place the bet online or fill out a slip in your local high street bookmakers.