With top speeds of around 50 miles per hour, greyhound races provide an exhilarating experience. Likewise, betting on dogs offers a lot of fun, but it can be profitable as well. However, you can say goodbye to long-term profits if you don’t have a working greyhounds betting strategy. To help with this problem, we created an extensive guide for betting on greyhounds on the best UK betting sites.
So, without further ado, let’s check how you can make money betting on dogs.
Six Quick Facts About Betting on Greyhounds
- Almost all greyhound racing tracks in the UK feature six dogs per race.
- The UK built the first racetrack in Hendon in 1876.
- The ways to bet on greyhounds are almost identical to betting on horses.
- Many elements can affect the dog’s performance, including the trap position and the current form.
- The straight win bet is the most common betting market on UK betting sites.
- Exotic betting options on dogs can include complex permutations but also offer hefty payouts.
The golden days of greyhound racing might be long gone, but the community is still alive and kicking. Although rivalries like the one between Scurlogue Champ and Ballyregan Bob don’t fire up the crowds anymore, millions of punters worldwide bet on dogs.
If you are new to the game, greyhounds racing could seem complex and frenetic. For that reason, we’ll start the guide by revisiting the basics and showing how to bet on dogs in the first place.
After that, we’ll move on to more elaborate betting methods, including the best strategies for betting on the long-legged beasts. Greyhounds racing hides many secrets; blink, and you might miss something. That’s why a well-prepared plan can make all the difference between hefty returns and losing your money.
How to Bet on Greyhounds in the UK
In essence, betting on dogs follows the same principles as betting on horses. That’s why the betting markets are almost identical, with subtle differences. After all, a race is a race, whether it’s thoroughbreds or greyhounds running from start to finish.
Indeed, the betting principles are similar, so it all starts by finding a reliable betting site. Fortunately, the bookmakers on our homepage are licensed, reliable, and ready to provide an exceptional betting experience.
Finding a suitable betting site is one of the essential dog racing tips for beginners, but it’s far from being the only one.
Namely, you should also learn about the types of dog races and the most popular events. In general, UK tracks hold six dogs per track, offering punters a wealth of betting opportunities. Only the stadiums in Towcester and Shawfield come with eight and five dog traps, respectively.
Therefore, money is up for grabs, so visit some of the new betting sites and click on the greyhounds betting tab. Then browse the menu and inspect the betting odds.
How to Win at Dog Racing
Of course, finding the greyhounds markets on the platform is only the start of the process. If you want to profit from betting on dogs, it’s essential to find value bets and favourable betting opportunities.
Bookmakers provide early odds on high-profile races, but the starting price can drift and offer better or lower value to a punter. Thus, one of the greyhounds racing systems that work every time is to wager on the websites that provide the best odds guaranteed. By doing so, you’ll receive the best prices regardless of the fluctuations before the event.
Like in horse racing, different bookmakers can provide different prices for the same race. Thus, punters should also shop around and compare the odds coming from several platforms. Moreover, creating accounts with multiple bookies is a common practice these days because it allows you to take advantage of the best prices on the market.
Anyone willing to learn how to win betting on greyhounds should also realise the importance of understanding the dog racing scene inside out. In other words, your long-term success depends on accumulated knowledge about specific dogs, their trainers, breeders, and kennels from which greyhounds arrive.
As the Ferraris of the dog world, modern greyhounds often come with a famous pedigree and lineage. For instance, Westmead Hawk, a superstar greyhound, also had a prolific career as a stud, producing several future champions. Thus, punters hunting big wins in the dog racing world should consider these aspects before wagering their hard-earned money.
Of course, knowing more about dogs will help you learn how to bet on greyhounds in general. So, you can kill two flies with one blow by digging a bit deeper and expressing an interest in the dog’s pedigree and the breeding line (sire/dam).
Likewise, previous performances of a specific greyhound can affect results in the upcoming races. Thus, it’s crucial to study the dog’s form and check how it ran in the last five or six events. Fortunately, even the best betting apps, not to mention websites, will provide a brief history of the dog’s results in the previous races.
What Is the Best Way to Bet on Greyhounds?
Depending on your betting style, you could opt for different strategies for betting on dogs. In essence, no approach is wrong, as long as you follow the basic money management principles and never bet more than you can afford.
On the other hand, some betting systems can yield better returns than others. Nonetheless, before moving on to plans and strategies, punters must grasp the basics of different bet types. After all, betting on greyhounds strategy-wise starts by selecting the markets and adding them to the bet slip.
For example, the straight win bet is the most basic option you could opt for when betting on dogs. In translation, you only need to predict the winner. To do so, select one of the six candidates and place a wager. Of course, it will be easy to calculate returns since you only need to multiply the odds with the stake.
Another option for your greyhounds betting strategy would be to minimise the risks by opting for each-way bets. As the name implies, these wagers cover two outcomes. The selection can both win and finish placed (second or third) to provide a return. Admittedly, the payouts for the place positions are only a fraction of the rewards for the winning bet. Even so, punters can use each way markets to back outsiders and less fancied dogs.
However, if your goal is to learn how to bet on greyhounds to win massive amounts, you could opt for more exotic wagering options. For instance, Doubles and Trebles are combination bets where you need to predict the winners of two or three races.
If you want to focus on only one race, the so-called Forecast and Tricast bets could be your cup of tea. You’ll need to predict the first two dogs in the correct order for the first option, while the latter requires the first three greyhounds.
The list of available bet types goes on for days, including Exacta, Trifecta, Trixie, Yankee, and many others. Therefore, the best course of action is to experiment using low-value stakes until you find a strategy that suits your style.
Additional Tips for Betting on Greyhounds
Like in many other racing sports, ground conditions and the weather can significantly affect the outcome. That is why punters should always check the forecast before betting on dogs at some of the top-rated UK online casinos.
Also, dog racing tracks in the UK come with many specifics and unique characteristics that can affect a greyhound’s performance. Some venues have sharper turns than others, slowing down the pace and allowing underdogs to stay closer to leaders.
When learning how to bet on greyhounds, tips & tricks will also mention the importance of the trap number. The starting position varies from very wide to rails, with the latter having the shortest distance and the sharpest corners. So, do your research before the race and check whether the dog performs well in certain lines.
Form the Best Greyhounds Betting Strategy
The formula for betting on greyhounds remains an elusive secret for many punters, but that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. Today’s dog racing is equally exciting as it was decades ago, even though real-life audiences have decreased. Yet, the modern streaming methods allow punters to watch the races from the palms of their hands, also making betting on dogs more accessible than ever.
All you need to do is look for a suitable greyhounds betting strategy and join the action on some of the top UK online betting sites.