How Does a Placepot Work? A Beginner’s Guide to Tote Betting in the UK

What is a Placepot?

Placepot is one of the leading horse racing pool bets in the UK. This type of pool betting is operated through the Tote and gives punters the chance to pick at least one horse to place in the first six races of a race meeting. You normally compete against other bettors, as opposed to the bookies, in the hope of predicting the correct score to win a share of the prize pool.

The popularity of Placepot bets with UK punters stems from the potential for high payouts even from small stakes. For example, the highest Placepot payout in history was paid out in 2019 when a horse racing fan won more than £182,000 with just a £2 stake.

How Does a Placepot Work?

As mentioned, Placepot works with the Tote pool betting system and is available at every UK race meeting. To help you get started with Placepot work, let’s look at a step-by-step guide on how you can place a Placepot bet.

1. Choose a bookmaker with Placepot: Nowadays, you don’t need to physically attend a race meeting to place a Placepot bet. You can do it online at the top UK bookmarkers popular with Placepot betting. Select your preferred bookmaker among the betting sites we have recommended on this page or our site and sign up.

2. Pick Placepot from the bet types list: Once you have signed up or logged into your account, navigate to the Tote section and select Tote Placepot bet. You can also find other Tote betting options that the bookmaker offers.

3. Choose your preferred meeting: You will then need to pick the right meeting that you would like to bet on. When picking your meeting, remember that some are more lucrative than others. We recommend that you choose a race meeting with competitive openers.

4. Pick your horses: In each of the six races (legs) of your chosen meeting, you will need to pick at least one horse to place in the race. In race meetings, consistent or high-rated horses are more valuable than occasional winners; thus, we recommend that you pick runners that regularly finish in the top three or four. This lowers your risk since these horses are more reliable.

5. Enter your stake: After picking your horses, enter your stake and place your bet. Remember, you can place as low as £0.01 stake per horse (depending on the bookie), and your total stake depends on the number of selections you picked in each race.

6. Wait for payout: Since Placepot is a pool bet, the Placepot dividends or payouts will depend on the money accumulated from the wagers and the number of punters who picked the correct horses. If only a few bettors picked it to place, the prize pool (Tote takes 27 of the total pool and 73 is split between the winners) will be split fewer ways, meaning you will get higher returns — and vice versa is true.

Example of a Placepot Bet

Now that you know how to place a Placepot bet, let's look at an example;

On the first day of the Cheltenham Festival, you decide to place a Placepot bet. On the bet, you chose one horse in the first, three horses in the second, one horse in the third, two horses in the fourth, two horses in the fifth and three horses in the sixth race.

To calculate the cost of your bet, first need to calculate the total lines by multiplying the number of horses in each race. That is; 1 × 3 × 1 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 36 lines. So, if your stake per line is £0.10, your total stake will be £3.60.

Assuming the Placepot pool prize is £300,000 and there are 1,000 winning tickets (punters), the payout will be calculated as follows,

£300,000 x 73% = £219,000

So, the dividend pays out around £219 (£219,000 ÷ 1,000) for a £1 stake. And since your total stake (if you predicted all 36 lines correctly) was £3.60, you will get a payout of £219 × £3.60 = £788.40.

Placepot Rules You Need to Know

When placing your Placepot bet, there are certain rules you need to follow. These rules will help you in determining your Placepot payout.

The first rule you need to understand is the dead heat rule. Typically, a dead heat occurs when two or more horses finish the race in an exact tie. So, if you had selected a horse that finished the race in a dead heat, the horse is considered to have placed, and your bet continues to the next leg.

Another Placepot rule is on the no-runners. This usually happens when a horse you selected gets removed from the race after the Placepot has already started. If you have a non-runner in a Placepot, your selection will be replaced with the favourite for that race. And should there be more than one favourite, the horse with the lowest racecard number will be selected.

Tips for Picking a Winning Placepot

Placepot offers a great and fun way to enjoy horse racing betting in the UK and land a massive payout. To maximise your winning odds, there are some simple strategies you can use when placing your Placepot bet. And studying the horse’s form is the most crucial strategy, as it will tell you whether the horse has a high chance of placing in the race. That also means you will also need to learn how to read a racecard because it details all the information about the runners, including statistics from previous races, odds, and ratings.

To boost your winning odds, you also need to spread your selections by placing more than one horse in the race lines. In fact, there are no limits on how many horses you can pick, but you should create a balance between value bets and favourites. As well, pick unnamed favourites instead.

Another smart strategy for placing a winning Placepot bet is value hunting. That means you should research every horse you intend to pick and compare your assessment with the odds the bookmaker has given each horse. Sometimes betting sites tend to overvalue favourites, and if you believe a particular runner should have more favourable odds than the favourite, choose that horse instead of the official SP favourite.

You should also stake sensibly, keeping in mind that your total stake increases with every additional horse you place in the race. On most bookmarkers, the minimum stake per line ranges between £0.01 to £0.10, and you must bet a minimum total amount of £0.50.

In addition, you should watch market trends and join a Placepot syndicate to spread costs and boost coverage. This is especially advantageous for major horse racing events like the Cheltenham or Grand National.

Best UK Race Meetings for Placepot

The UK horse racing calendar is filled with some of the greatest race meetings with massive Placepot pools that attract horse racing fans and punters from all over the UK. Let’s look at some of the UK’s top racing meetings that can award you massive payouts in Placepot bets.

Cheltenham Festival

Held in March every year, Cheltenham Festival is the most popular event with Placepot punters in the UK, as it offers some of the biggest prize pools in history. This is because it attracts loads and loads of fans and punters in its four-day event. In 2019, for instance, a punter took home over £182,567 from a £2 stake, which is the highest Cheltenham Placepot payout in history.

Royal Ascot

This is another popular race meeting in the UK, and in 2025, it just paid out a massive Placepot dividend of £26,424.30. Held over five days in the middle of June every year, the Royal Ascot is one of the most unique horse racing festivals, as it attracts even the UK’s royal family.

Aintree (Grand National Festival)

The Aintree or Grand National Festival is the ultimate test of horse racing that has punters tuning in from all over the world. This high-profile event is held in April every year, and it offers some of the highest Placepot prize pools with six-figure prizes.

Where to Place a Placepot Bet

There are several reputable bookmakers that offer Placepot betting, and the most renowned site is Tote.co.uk. This platform even has a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices, allowing you to place your bets using a smartphone, tablet, or iPad, and from anywhere, at any time. You can also use selected bookmakers like Bet365, Betway, and Paddy Power, or use on-course betting options to place Placepot bets.

Pros and Cons of Placepot Betting

There are many reasons why UK punters love Placepot bets. We will look at the top advantages of Placepot betting, as well as its cons, to help you make informed betting decisions.

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Responsible Gambling

Placepot betting can be a pretty lucrative and fun experience, but you should practice responsible gambling when betting. For instance, treat every wager as a form of entertainment and not a way to earn income. Also, always stick to your budget and never chase losses because even the most experienced Placepot bettors can lose a bet. You can also use tools like self-exclusion, timeouts, and reality checks to keep your betting habits in check.