What You Need to Know about Pari Mutuel Odds
To be perfectly honest with you, whilst it is always a good idea to understand everything that there is to know about betting, there will be few occasions when you will actually need to use Pari Mutuel odds.
If you are a horse racing enthusiast, you will probably have come across Pari Mutuel odds when placing a bet on the Arc de Triomphe meeting, but apart from that, you will probably never have been offered Pari Mutuel odds on any bets that you have placed.
The nearest thing to Pari Mutuel odds that most UK punters will be familiar with is Tote betting so it would be fair to say that the Pari Mutuel is the French version of the Tote and is ultimately run by the government.
It is what is known as a pool bet, and the way this works is as follows.
Every bet that is made on a horse race, for example, is pooled together, the government will take a cut of the total pool (usually 10%), and the Pari Mutuel odds will be calculated using the available pool.
To make the Pari Mutuel even easier to understand for UK punters it might be a good idea to use the Tote as another example of pool betting, in this instance, the tote placepot.
If you are not familiar with how the placepot works, a punter needs to pick a horse or horses to be placed at a specific meeting.
If the punter manages to get a horse or horses placed in each race, they will win a share of the total pool, minus an amount which the tote claims before the pay-out.
The figure which the punter will win depends on the amount of money in the pool, and this is divided by the number of punters who have won.
Is There a Quality Pari Mutuel System?
To be perfectly honest with you, if you are looking for a quality Pari Mutuel system, you will probably end up being disappointed.
There are some great selection systems in general, but there is really no need for a Pari Mutuel system because it is difficult to know the odds that you will be getting on a selection because it depends on how much money is in the pool, and how many punters are backing the same selection.
This obviously means that if you are matched betting, for example, it is difficult to know how much money to lay off on a betting exchange because you would just be guessing.
The problem with guessing is because the Pari Mutuel odds could dramatically change and you could end up making more of a loss than you expected.
You would be far better off taking the time to study the form of the horses who are taking part in the race and placing a bet using the results of the research which you had carried out.
Pari Mutuel Odds Are Not the Only Option
Don’t forget that Pari Mutuel odds are not the only option if you want to place a bet on a French horse race, especially the big races because most of betting sites UK will offer traditional odds on the outcome of the race.
It could be argued that there is value in taking advantage of Pari Mutuel odds as opposed to the more traditional odds that you will be used to but to be perfectly honest with you, that would be up for debate.
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On the lead up to a French horse race though, you will see a display of the Pari Mutuel odds so you will be able to get a good idea if there is any value on betting on the Pari Mutuel odds as opposed to the odds that are being offered by a sportsbook.
If there is not much in it in terms of the difference in odds, it might be a good idea to stick with what you know, but if the value on offer with Pari Mutuel odds is exceptional, it would be silly not to take advantage of the greater odds.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed
If you are just starting out with online gambling, it would be a massive mistake in trying to learn about the different aspects which are associated with betting.
If you are just placing normal bets, you should concentrate on placing value bets from a dedicated betting bank and see how you get on from there.
If you are matched betting, it would be a good idea to concentrate on the different methods which are associated with matched betting and building up your betting bank.
If you are a novice bettor and spend time trying to learn about Pari Mutuel odds, Kelly Criterion betting, confirmation bias and other betting terms, the chances are that you will feel completely overwhelmed and completely miss the point of what betting is all about and that is winning money!
Should You Learn about Pari Mutuel Odds?
Whether you learn about Pari Mutuel odds is obviously entirely up to you, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that it won’t be the end of the world if you decide to give it a miss.
Most punters will only be aware of Pari Mutuel odds when they are studying the form for the Arc de Triomphe, but for the rest of the year, they won’t even be aware that there are Pari Mutuel odds available.
If you are an accomplished bettor though, it won’t do any harm at all to compare a value which may be on offer with Pari Mutuel odds because it can make a big difference, especially when you are the type of punter who places larger bets, with the added benefit that you are not going to have your bets restricted if betting directly on Pari Mutuel odds.
