Greyhound Handicapping: Do Exotic Bets Pay Off?

In the old days, people went to the dog track, bet to win and that was that. Way back in the 30′s when greyhound racing really got started in the US, there were no exotic bets. You picked a winner and if it didn’t win, you lost.

Nowadays, though, you can bet a dog to win, place, show, come in first or second with another dog in a quiniela, come in first, second or third with other dogs in a trifecta or even come in with 3 other dogs in a superfecta.

If you want to bet even bigger, you can pick the winners of 3 races and get the Pick-3 jackpot. But wait, there’s more! Why bet on 3 dogs when you can bet on 6 in six races and hit the Pick-6? I suppose sooner or later, someone will come up with a Coverall like they do in Bingo and have a giant jackpot for the person who picks every winner in every race on a program.

This is all well and good, but have you ever really thought about whether these exotic bets pay off? I have. I know they wouldn’t make me money, which is why I seldom bet them. I never bet the Pick-3 or Pick-6. I have enough trouble picking a winner in one race, never mind 3 or 6.

Not that I haven’t had days when I picked most of the winners on the program. I have. But I’d rather put my money into bets that I know I’m better at picking like quinielas and the occasional trifecta. They’re my “bread and butter” bets, because they’re bets that make money for me consistently.

If I were to spend as much money as you need to spend to hit those big exotic bets, I wouldn’t have money left for the bets that help me leave with more money than I came in with. And isn’t that the idea when we go to the dog track?

I think there are very few people who are good enough at greyhound handicapping to pick 6 dogs who’ll win in a row. If you are, then by all means, bet on the exotic bets and make some money at the dog track. But if you’re like most people, you’d probably be better off betting quiniela boxes and the occasional trifecta.