Grand National Betting Guide

If you're new to Horse Racing, our guide to betting on the Grand National should help. If you're not sure what type of bet you want to place on the Grand National, here are some of the basics.

Firstly betting on the Grand National isn't that complicated. Infact, sometimes you're just as likely to pick a winner by taking a shine to a name or the colours of the jockeys outfit.

Check out all of the free bets currently being offered by our recommended Grand National bookmakers to make the most out of betting on the race that stops a nation.

When placing a bet, your stake or investment is the amount of money you are willing to gamble - be it a cautious £1 or a rather more adventurous £100.

If you're a winner, your winnings (returns) are calculated according to your horse's odds.

So if you back a horse lets say Hedgehunter at 10/1, if you place £10 at 10/1 your winnings will be £100 and you will also get your £10 stake back, therefore in total your returns will be £110.

Grand National Bet Types

Win Betting
This basically means you're selecting a horse to win. This is as per the example above.

Each Way Betting
This gives you a win and place bet on the same horse. If your horse wins, you collect both the win and the place dividend. Because an each-way bet is two bets, your stake is doubled i.e. as per the example above £10 each-way bet will cost you £20.

If your horse wins, both bets pay out. So following on from the example above, you win the win part as explained and also the place part which would be 10/1 which is 2.5 times your £10 stake.

So your £20 investment will return: win part - £110, place part - £35, so the total return that the bookmakers will owe you, including your investment, will be £145.

If in this example Hedgehunter doesn't win but is placed i.e. 2nd, 3rd or 4th in the Grand National you do not win the first part of your bet, that is the win part but your second bet pays out. In this case your total return including your stake returned is £35.

So in this case you win £15 in total.

Place Betting
This bet is available with most bookmakers as well as betting exchanges like Betfair. You're selecting a horse to be placed. In the Grand National you will get paid out on the first 4 horse home. This means your horse needs to finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th.

For the Grand National it is probably a good idea to have each way bets as the odds of the horses are generally quite attractive, that is greater than 10/1.

Another additional point to consider is that for the Grand National, the bookmakers are very keen to get you as a customer and you will find if you shop around online that a number of the bookmakers offer each way for the first 5 horse home.

This just gives you a slightly better chance of winning.

On the betting exchanges you can get odds for the place only. Unlike what is explained above the price reflects what another individual is prepared to offer. Therefore you will find that it will not exactly be the odds of the horses price.