When you see a bet that says 2/1, this means if you bet £1 and win, you will make £2 profit. On winning bets, you also get your original stake back (in this case, £1) so you would receive £3.00 in total.

When the suggested stake is no longer £1, it can get more complicated but you’ll soon get used to it.

5/2 means that if you bet £2, you could win £5. However, you don’t have to bet £2 – it’s written this way because £2 is the first whole number that will give you another whole number in winnings (in this case, £5). If you bet £1, you would win £2.50 instead.

Once you understand the maths behind fractions, you can work out your winnings – even if your stake didn’t match the one in the odds given.

Top Tip

We make online betting easier by letting you know your potential return as you enter your stake. Don’t worry, your bet won’t be placed until you confirm it, so you can always use this to help see how much you will win without doing the maths.

If you’re betting in-store, a member of our team will always be happy to help and explain the odds.

Fraction terms:

Now you understand the maths, it’s time to get down with the lingo.

• Evens

  This is 1/1 read aloud. This means you double your original stake.

• Favourite

  The “favourite” will be the option with the shortest odds, and is the most likely outcome. Shorter odds mean it will pay a smaller amount.

• Long shot

  The “long shot” is the option with the longest odds, and is the least likely outcome. Longer odds mean it will be pay a larger amount.

• ‘Odds-On’ e.g. 2-to-1-on

  “On” means that the numbers are in the reverse order. 2-to-1 is 2/1, but 2-to-1-on is ½. At 2/1, a £1 bet would win you £2 profit, whereas at ½, a £1 bet would give you a profit of 50p.

Don’t worry if you’re still confused – that’s why we offer decimal too. We want everyone to be at the heart of the action – whichever method you prefer.

Decimal odds view

Most people find decimal odds easier to understand, so they are great for those who are new to betting. But don’t worry if you’re not familiar because our examples will explain:

The use of these odds gets rid of the need to use round whole numbers. The decimal odd displayed is simply the amount you would win if you bet exactly £1 (you would also still get your stake back too, of course).

For example, if a decimal odd is 0.5, a £1 bet will give you 50p profit – it’s the same as ½ but it’s clear without any maths. You also receive your £1 stake so you would have £1.50 in total.

You will need to do some sums when you stake any amount other than £1 though, but it’s only one calculation – just multiplying. If you bet £10 on 0.5, you simply multiply 10 x 0.5 to get £5. You don’t need to do this when staking £1 because multiplying by 1 results in the same number. If you prefer to bet small and bet with a stake less than £1, you can still do the same – you just need to use another decimal e.g. 80p would be entered as 0.8.

Did you know?

We make it easier to find out if odds are ‘good’ by colour coding.

Pink – the price is going out (AKA drifting). The odds are getting longer. The longer the odds, the bigger the amount you can win.

Blue – the price is coming in. The odds are shortening. The shorter the odds, the smaller the amount you can win.

Grey – the market or odds has been suspended. This may be because the odds have shortened so much it is considered almost a ‘certainty’, or the event has already begun and as such, no more bets will be taken.

Now that you know the basics of betting, it’s time to find the market that suits you.

Horse Racing Betting Explained

Horse racing is one of the most popular betting markets. For a lot of people, their first experience of gambling is The Grand National, but you can bet on races all year, around the world.

There are two types of races – flat and jumps. In “Jump” races, there are hurdles/fences. In “Flat” races, there are none. The following advice applies to both styles.

What does “going” mean?

“Going” refers to the condition of the horse racing tracks. This can affect the performance of the horses – some will race better in soft, others will prefer good to firm.

Generally, the softer the ground, the slower the racing. You rarely see “hard” races as this surface is usually too dangerous for horses and jockeys.

The British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) recognises seven official terms for the ground condition:

> Heavy

> Soft

> Good to Soft

> Good

> Good to Firm

> Firm

> Hard

What determines ground condition?

> The track type (e.g. soil, and whether the track is dirt, turf or artificial)

> Weather (e.g. the moisture content of the track from rainfall)

> Previous race (e.g. if the ground has become compacted by previous runners)

Why does this affect betting?

> Different horses have different ground preferences – details of this are in the “form”

> Because of this, odds can change after a ground condition announcement

What is “form?”. And how do you use racecards to read this?

This is how you understand a horse’s past performances. You can learn about a horse’s form from racecards.

Five days before the event, all potential runners are published online. Two days before the event, the final runners are then confirmed. There can still be non-runners but these racecards are how you find out who is racing and can be studied to place an educated bet.

The racecard will display the horse’s name, number, weight, trainer, colours worn by the jockey (so that you can follow the race when watching) as well as the jockey’s name. It will also inform you of the jockey and trainer’s strikerates (% rate at which they win) as well as the horse’s sire (father) and dam (mother).

To the right, you’ll find the Racing Post Spotlight, which is a short write up from the Racing Post about the horse currently selected.

Underneath this information, you’ll be able to see the horse’s form in it’s entirety.

These are the basics, but there is more detail given in the form.

Here are what the symbols mean:

> B = brought down (this means that horse fell but through no fault of its own i.e. another horse may have fallen in front of it whereas it otherwise would not have fell)

> F = fell (this is likely to have been due to a fall at a fence in a jumps race)

> P = pulled up (this means that the jockey decided not to continue with the race. This is usually either due to safety concerns and/or because the horse does not have a chance of winning the race.

> U = unseated rider (this is when the jockey has fallen off or been forcibly unseated by the horse, even though the horse has continued racing)

> / = new season

>    = new year

We provide racecards for all our races online. Just select the race you’re interested in and then press “Complete form”.

We hope that has helped make the world of “form” a little clearer. If you prefer not to study form, you can instead read our experts’ tip blogs. They’ve read the form for you, so that you don’t have to!

Betting Types for Horse Racing

There are many types of bets. So, which one is best for you?

Win Only betting

The easiest bet to understand is a “win only” bet. This places a bet on the horse to finish 1^st place – any other finishing position is a loss.

It is simple to work out how much you win as advertised odds will be for a win. So, a 20/1 or 20.00 horse winning will get you £20 profit if you bet £1.

Each Way betting

Betting “each way” means that you gain make a profit if your horse wins or finishes placed. The number of places depends on the number of horses in a race.

The below are the standard places. For promotions and big races, we often offer payment for additional places so always look out for any extras.

> Races with less than 5 runners – win only

> All races with 5-7 winners – 1^st and 2^nd

> Non-handicaps with more than 8 runners – 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd

> Handicaps of 12-15 runners – 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd

> Handicaps of more than 15 runners – 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th

How much you win depends on the odds and your stake, and the fraction of the win odds paid out for places.

For most races, a place will pay ¼ of the win odds. However, for non-handicaps of more than 8 runners, this will be 1/5 odds. Again, this is standard and can sometimes be more with promotions.

It’s important to remember that when you place an each way bet, you are actually placing two bets. We break down what this means below:

Example of an each-way bet

Bet type: “£10 each way”

Race type: Handicap of 12-15 odds

Odds: 10/1

Total amount bet: £20 (£10 on the horse to win, £10 on the horse to finish placed)

How to work out what you would win:

You need to divide your bet into two parts – win and the place.

Returns on the win bet would £100 and the return of your £10 stake = £110 return from win bet part.

Returns on the place bet (1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd) are at a ¼ of the odds. A quarter of 10/1 is the same as odds of 10/4, or you can divide the win bet outcome (minus the stake) by 4. You would win £25 and get your £10 stake back = £35 return from place part of bet.

If your horse wins, you have won two bets. A 1^st place will get you the winnings and stake from the win bet part (£110) and the placed bet part (£35), meaning you would win a total of £145.

If the horse finished second or third, you only receive the place part. In this example, you would get £35.

Horse Racing Accumulators

You probably associate accumulators with football but they can be used across all sports.

A horse racing accumulator lets you to have any number of selections across different races, but every selection must win.

It has the potential for a large win as it works by all your stake being bet on your 1^st selection. The winnings of this go onto your next selection and continue until the end, or you lose.

These are also known as a roll-up or an acca. There are also specific names for different sizes of accas – doubles for two rolling bets, trebles for three selections, and then four-fold accumulators, five-fold accumulators and so on.

Betting Against

In certain races, you have the option to “bet against”. This means you are betting for your selection to beat another named horse. You can ignore the rest of the field, and view it as a two-horse race.

It doesn’t matter if your horse is second-to-last – it could still be a winner if its competitor is last!

Betting Without

“Betting without” can be win or each way, but it ignores a selected horse. This is usually offered against a favourite.

This is useful when there is a very short-priced favourite. You can bet without this horse, and its place in the race is erased. If it comes 1^st then the actual 2^nd place horse would become the winner in the context of this bet.

Forecasts and Tricasts

The forecast is one of the most popular bets for horseracing. It involves making two selections in any given race. You need to select the horses that will finish 1^st and 2^nd.

A tricast works on the same principle, but instead of 1st and 2nd, you also bet on 3rd. A tricast can only be placed on races where the 3rd horse would be considered a place in an each way bet.

There are many different types of forecasts and tricasts:

Straight Forecast

You pick the horses that will finish 1^st and 2nd in the correct order of finishing.

Your stake covers both horses, so a £10 straight forecast will cost £10.

Reverse Forecast

You pick the first two horses, but you don’t need to select the correct finishing order.

How you pay for your bet is different to a straight forecast. A bet described as a “£10 reverse forecast” costs £20 as you bet £10 on both orders of finishing. Think of it as an each way forecast.

Combination Forecast

This lets you pick 3 or more selections in a single race. You need 2 of your selections to finish 1st and 2nd to win.

They work by placing a bet on all possible combinations from your selections. So, with every horse added, the number of bets (and the size of your stake) grows.

Here is how it breaks down:

> 3 selections = 6 bets

> 4 selections = 12 bets

> 5 selections = 20 bets

> 6 selections = 30 bets

Straight Tricast

You need to pick the horses that come 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in the correct order.

Your stake covers all horses, so a £10 straight forecast costs £10.

Combination Tricast

You pick the horses that will finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd but you do not need to pick the correct order.

Unlike a forecast, this is not usually referred to as a “reverse” because it is not as straightforward as each way, as even with just 3 selections, there are 6 possible winning finishing orders so you will need to multiple your original stake by 6, not by 2.

You can also have a combination tricast with 4 or 5 selections. Your bet will pay out if 3 of these finish in the first 3 places. However, the amount of bets you are placing is dramatically rising. Four selections amounts to 24 bets and 5 selections results in 60.  This also rises the cost of your stake.

Because of these combinations, if you only picked 3 selections and therefore had 6 bets, a “£10 combination tricast” would cost you £60.

Full Cover Bets

A full cover bet is any bet that has multiple bets over a set number of selections. There are many of these, each with their own term. Below, we answer the questions you may have:

What is a Trixie bet?

This is a combination of 3 double bets (accumulators with 2 selections) and 1 treble bet (an accumulator with 3 selections). Although it is made up of 4 bets, it only contains 3 selections. You need 2 or more of your selections to win to make a profit.

You can choose a Trixie for win-only or for each way. Generally, it’s better to go for win only if you have shorter odds.

What is a Patent bet?

This is a combination of 7 bets involving 3 selections in different events. The bet includes 3 singles, 3 doubles and a treble. This can be thought of as a Trixie with 3 single bets added.

If your 3 selections were X,Y,Z, you would have single bets on X, Y and Z, doubles of XY, YZ and XZ and a treble on XYZ.

You only need 1 successful selection to guarantee a return. The amount you bet depends on whether you bet with your stake per bet (in which case your stake will be 7 times the written amount) or you stake a total across all bets. How you place your stake does not affect the amount you win.

What is a Yankee bet?

A Yankee consists of 11 bets that use 4 selections in different events. This involves 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold accumulator. A minimum of 2 selections are required for a successful return.

If your selections were WXYZ, your 6 doubles would be WX, WY, WZ, XY, XZ, ZY, your 4 trebles would be WXY, WXZ, XYZ, WYZ and your accumulator would be WXYZ.

What is a Super Yankee / A Canadian bet?

This involves 26 bets based on 5 selections in different events. A Super Yankee (Canadian) has 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-fold accumulators and a five-fold accumulator.

You need a minimum of 2 of your selections to be successful to get a return.

What is a Lucky 15 bet?

A Lucky 15, unsurprisingly, contains 15 bets. Despite the large number of bets, it only involves 4 selections in different events. It includes 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles, and 1 four-fold accumulator.

What is a Lucky 31 bet?

This contains 31 bets, based on 5 selections in different events. The bets are 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-fold accumulators and a five-fold accumulator. This is a Super Yankee with 5 additional singles.

What is a Lucky 63 bet?

This is similar to the Lucky 15 and Lucky 31 but consists of 63 bets involving 6 selections in different events. The bet is made up of 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-fold accumulators, 6 five-fold accumulators.

What is a Super Heinz bet?

A Super Heinz consists of 120 bets involving 7 selections in different events. The bet includes 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 fourfold accumulators, 56 fivefold accumulators, 28 six-fold accumulators, 8 seven-fold accumulators and an eight-fold accumulator.

You need a minimum of 2 of your selections to be successful to get a return.

What is a Goliath bet?

A Goliath consists of 247 bets. This bet is made up of 8 selections that lead to 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 fourfold accumulators, 56 fourfold accumulators, 28 six-fold accumulators, 8 seven-fold accumulators and an eight-fold accumulators.

This is one of the largest bets available and would usually only be used by experienced gamblers. It has the potential for very large winnings, but also large losses because of the size of stake required. When 2 selections win, a return is guaranteed.

With so many horseracing betting options, you can choose whichever one suits you. Whether that’s a simple win or an ambitious accumulator, you can

Football Betting Explained

The beautiful game offers 90 minutes (and extra time) of betting opportunities. You can bet in-play or place your bets before kick-off. At Coral, we offer a variety of betting types to make following football even more interesting.

Before kick-off:

Final Results

You can either bet on who (if anyone) will win a match, or the exact score.

There are different ways of betting on these:

Match outcomes

You select whether the “Home” or the “Away” team will win, or if it will be a draw. If you do not know who the home or away team are, the teams playing will always be written in the order of Home V Away.

Betting on match outcomes like this is all about the final result so it is based on the outcome after extra time or penalties, if this occurs.

You can also bet on match outcomes that ignore draws, such as draw no bet and double chance:

>     Draw No Bet

With Draw No Bet, you are still betting on which team will win. However, in the event of a draw, your money is refunded. Because of this insurance, you will get smaller odds so if you are successful, you will win less than standard match outcome betting.

>      Double Chance

The double chance bet can also ignore draws, but in a different way. You can bet on a chosen team to either win or draw within one bet. As long as your team doesn’t lose, neither do you.

We also offer the option of a different double chance – you can bet on either team to win, which means you only lose if it is draw.

Correct score

The exact score of a football game is generally harder to predict than the outcome, so this will likely pay better odds.

Goals and Scorers (including Both Teams To Score)

Not only can you bet on the score, but you can also bet on who scores and when.

The markets we offer are “First”, “Last”, “Anytime”, “2 or More” and “Hat trick”. You can also bet on there being no goalscorer.

You can bet on when a specific player scores or how many goals they score. This does not include penalties in the event of a penalty shoot out in extra time.

Both teams to score (BTTS)

You can bet on both teams to score on its own, or you can combine this with an outcome bet.

In the singular BTTS market, you can also bet against this and place a bet on neither teams to score – which is the same as betting on the score being 0-0.

With “To win & BTTS” combined, you need both teams to score as well as your chosen team to win to get a return. It is your choice if you wish to cover the bets separately but the combined bet offers enhanced odds as it is harder to predict.

Halves

As a game is split into two halves, you can also bet this way.

You can bet either on scores or goals within individual halves (e.g. “1^st Half Correct Score”, “Both Teams to Score in 1^st Half”), events happening in both or either halves (e.g. “Score Goal in Both Halves”, “Win Either Half”) or the 1st half result and the final result (e.g. “Half-Time/Full-Time” – an example bet here would be draw at half time, away to win at full time).

Markets beyond goals

The world of football betting is much broader than just the winning result, or even the amount of goals.

You can bet on many more markets within football, such as the amount of bookings and corners. Even outside of matches, you can place bets during transfer season on player’s next clubs.

In play Betting Explained

Betting live and in play is an exciting way to get involved. You can bet on options exclusive to in-play, such as “Next team to score”, where you can select either team or “No goal”. These can happen quickly so you will normally know whether you win or lose sooner than waiting for a game to finish.

When betting in play, you can also bet on many of the usual football markets, such as the overall score, with odds fluctuating as the game progresses.

Cash out is not a type of bet, but it is a feature that allows you to collect your winnings before the end of the match. A bet placed before kick-off, can give you all of the excitement of an in-play bet. Cash out also puts you in control.

If your bet is winning while in-play, you can quit while you’re ahead and cash out. Or, if you’re losing, you can get back some of your stake by cashing out. We also offer cash out on accumulators – if you’re in profit before the last leg, we offer a guaranteed cash out return.

If you’re not sure whether to keep your bet alive or take your money and run, we offer a partial cash out. This allows to collect some winnings but leave some of your stake. Our easy-to-use slider lets you decide exactly how much you would like to take, and how much you would like to leave on – from just 10% up to 90%. Find out more about Coral Cash Outs.

Now that we’ve covered the betting basics, you can put your knowledge into practice with our current horse racing and football betting markets.