“Tote” is short for Totalisator, a system introduced to Britain in 1929 to offer pooled betting on the countries racecourses.

How Does it Work:
all the stakes on a race are pooled together, a deduction is made to cover expenses and the Tote’s contribution to racing. The remainder of the pool is divided by the number of winning units to give a dividend which is declared inclusive of a £1 stake.

In other words, pooled customers are betting against each other, whereas in bookmaking they bet against the bookmaker.

Odds fluctuate according to the pattern of betting and betting ceases when the race starts.

“The Tote”, is made up of discreet business units:

Tote Credit Club offers a telephone betting service as well as providing offices on every racecourse.

Racecourse Division – Betting points are situated on every racecourse offering the full range of Tote bets including, at most locations the facility to bet at other racecourse meetings.

Tote Direct – Many off-course bookmakers now operate Tote Direct on-line terminals enabling Tote bets such as the Scoop6, Jackpot, Placepot and Trifecta to be transmitted to the racecourse Tote Pools.

The following are the types of bets which you can place with the TOTE:

WIN – The object is simply to select the winner of a race.

EACH WAY – An each way bet requires your horse to be a winner and placed.

EXACTA – The Tote Exacta requires you to guess the 1st and 2nd place winners.

JACKPOT – Tote Jackpot requires you to select all 6 winners of selected race mettings.

PLACEPOT – The placepot requires you to place a horse in each of the 6 selected race meetings.

QUADPOT – Tote QUADPOT is similiar to the placepot but only operates on 4 quadpot races.

TRIFECTA – The TOTE Trifecta requires you to guess the who will come 1st & 2nd & 3rd on a race.

SCOOP6 – Is a TV event that requires you to guess the winner of 6 nominated (Tote Scoop6) Saturday TV events.