Extra Place Betting Guide
What is an Extra Place Offer?
An Extra Place Offer is a betting promotion for horse races done by many bookmakers. Extra Place Offers add a bonus to your bet, making each way betting more exciting.
Learning how to profit from Extra Places is quite difficult, especially if you are unfamiliar with each way betting.
The concept of the offer is in the name, when you make an each way bet they also pay out for an extra place, sometimes even two extra places!
To learn how to guarantee a profit from this offer, you first need to learn what an each way bet is, which you can read about below.
What is an Each Way Bet?
The Basics of Each Way Betting
Each way betting is where the bookmaker takes your each way stake, doubles it, and automatically bets half of the stake on the horse to win, and the other half on the horse to place.
It does this by giving you Each Way Odds, Each Way Terms, and making you choose an Each Way Stake.
They use this information to split your Each Way Bet into 2 separate Bets on your selected horse. The two bets are described below.
1) Bet on the Horse to Win
The First Bet is on the Horse to Win.
The bookmaker takes your Each Way Stake (half of your Total Stake) and places it on the Horse to Win the Race, at the Each Way Odds.
In the above image, the Each Way Stake is £25 and the Each Way Odds are 10/1.
Your First Bet will be a £25 Bet at 10/1 (or 11.0) odds for 'Big John Wayne' to Win the Race.
You would Profit £250 from THIS HALF of the each way bet if Big John Wayne Wins the Race.
2) Bet on the Horse to Place
The second Bet is on the Horse to Place.
The bookmaker takes your Each Way Stake (the other half of your Total Stake) and places it on the Horse to Place 3rd or 4th in the race. This will be at one quarter, or one fifth of the Each Way Odds.
In the above image, the Each Way Stake is £25 and the Each Way Odds are 10/1, and the Each Way Terms are '1/5 Odds, 3 Places'.
Your Second Bet will be a £25 Bet at 2/1 Odds (10/1 x 1/5) on 'Big John Wayne' to Place in the Top 3.
You would Profit £50 from THIS HALF of the each way bet if the horse finishes 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Betting on a Horse 'To Place' means for it to finish in the top places in that race, e.g. Top 3, Top 4 etc.
The amount of places that bookmakers pay out for changes with each race, for a smaller race it may only be the Top 2 Places that count as 'Placing', but a larger race might have the Top 5 horses count as 'Placing'. The bookmaker will tell you how many places count as 'Placing' for each race.
When you place an Each Way Bet, the bookmaker takes your Each Way Stake, say £25, and they will double it to get the Total Stake which is £50, so you even though you type in £25 for the stake, you are actually staking £50.
It will split your Total Stake into 2 bets: £25 will be bet on the horse To Win, £25 will be bet on the horse To Place.
Once you place your Each Way Bet there are 3 possible outcomes:
1) The Horse Wins the Race
You Win the both of the Bets within the Each Way Bet.
You Win the 'Win Bet' Since the Horse Won the Race, you also win the 'Place Bet' since your Horse obviously also finished in the Top 3, Top 4 or however many places were paid out.
2) The Horse Places but Does Not Win
You Lose the 'Win Bet', but you Win the 'Place Bet'.
The Horse didn't Win the Race so you Lose that half of the bet, However your Horse did Place i.e. it finished 2nd, 3rd or 4th etc.
This is usually good enough to Break Even, so overall you shouldn't lose money on this bet since the winnings from the 'Place Bet' should be larger than the Stake you Lost on the 'Win Bet'.
3) The Horse Does Not Win and Does Not Place
You Lose both Bets.
You don't Win the 'Win Bet' or the 'Place Bet' since the horse finished behind both. This means the horse placed anywhere below the place requirements. i.e. If the bookmaker is paying out for 4 Places, then your horse finished from 5th to last place.
You Lose your Total Stake, which is your Each Way Stake x 2.
Conclusion
Hopefully you are now familiar with what an Each Way Bet is, therefore you also understand what an Extra Place offer might be, it is simply where bookies offer to pay out for an Extra Place.
For example, when every other bookmaker is doing 1/5 - 3 Places terms for an each way bet, a bookmaker doing an Extra Place offer might be doing 1/5 - 4 Places, giving us value in the form of the 4th Place.
Calculate Each Way Place Odds
1) Enter the Each Way Odds into the Calculator in Decimal Form (Use the Odds converter if you need to change them).
2) Choose the Place Payout fraction by typing the denominator or just simply click the button.
3) See what Odds the bookmaker will pay at for the place part of the each way bet.
Each Way Place Odds Calculator
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Each Way Place Bet Odds
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Odds Converter
How Do You Profit From an Extra Place Offer with Matched Betting?
To profit from an Extra Place Offer in matched betting, we first place an Each Way Bet on a horse in an Extra Place Race. This is our Back Bet.
The bookmaker will pay out for an extra place on the 'Place Bet' half of the Each Way Bet.
For example, the bookmaker is counting finishing in the Top 4 as placing, while every other bookmaker is saying only the Top 3 horses count as placing.
In addition to our Each Way Bet on the bookmaker, we also place a Lay Bet on the Horse to Win, and a Lay Bet on the Horse to Place.
If the Horse Finishes in the 'Extra Place' (4th), we Win our Place Bet on the bookmaker, and we also Win the Place Bet that we had on the exchange, since the horse DIDN'T 'Place' on the exchanges place terms (Top 3).
Our Extra Place Calculator will tell you what Stake you need to Lay for the Win, and what Stake you need to Lay for the Place.
To use this calculator all you need to do is Enter the Details of the Each Way Bet, then enter the Lay Odds for the Win, and the Lay Odds for the Place, we have put a Calculator further down on this page so you can try it out.
Once you have placed all of the bets, you are hoping that the horse finishes in the 'Extra Place'.
The 'Extra Place' is the additional place that the bookmaker is offering. If the bookmaker is offering 1/5 - 4 Places, but on the Exchange you are Laying 3 Places, then you are hoping the horse finishes 4th.
What Happens if the Horse Finishes 4th?
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We Lose the 'Win Part' of the Each Way bet as the Horse DIDN'T WIN.
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We Win the 'Place Part' of the Each Way bet as the Horse FINISHED in the TOP 4.
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We Win the 'Win Lay Bet' as the Horse DIDN'T WIN and We are Laying the Bet.
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We Win the 'Place Lay Bet' as the Horse DIDN'T FINISH in the TOP 3.
Win Bet
Place Bet
Bet365 Paying out for 4 Places
Smarkets Only Paying out for 3 Places
It is the difference in how many places different bookmakers are offering that we can take advantage of, but only when the Each Way Odds are high enough that it is worth doing.
You can find all of the Extra Place Races and the Bookmakers on our Extra Place Races Page, But its about finding the particular horses on each race with Odds High enough that we can actually make a profit, and this only happens sometimes, and for a brief period of time before the bookmaker changes the odds.
In Our Discord Group people send in a message alerting every time there is a good opportunity for an Extra Place Bet, and you can get notifications for this so you don't have to find each one manually. See more about this below.
How to Do an Extra Place Offer
1) Find a Close Match
Find a horse in an extra place race where the Each Way Odds are similar to the Lay Odds for the Win and for the Place, with at least one less place on the Lay Bet.
You can use an Extra Place Calculator to check this, and we have put one below, but you should also check out our extra place calculator page for a more in depth tutorial on how to use it.
You want to find a horse where the implied odds are over 25.0.
The implied odds are essentially the potential profit of the bet divided by the qualifying loss of the bet. They represent the hypothetical odds for the horse to finish exactly in the extra place.
2) Use an Extra Place Betting Calculator
Input the odds for your selected horse into the Extra Place Calculator. It will then figure out what Stake you need to Lay for the Win, and what stake you need to Lay for the Place in order to minimise risk and maximise profit.
Our Calculator tells you how much you may lose but also how much you will win if it finishes in the extra place, as well as telling you the implied odds.
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Each Way Bet
Lay The Win
Lay The Place
Extra Place
Not Extra Place
Win Lay Stake
Place Lay Stake
Log Your Bet
3) Place Your Bets
Now that you have the details of the bet, you can place the Each Way Bet with the Bookmaker. Once this is confirmed, place both of your Lay Bets on the Exchange.
Make sure the odds haven't changed in between you calculating and placing the bets.
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Check Odds
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Place Each Way Bet with the Bookmaker
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Place Lay Win Bet with the Exchange
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Place Lay Place Bet with the Exchange
4) Log Your Bet
Come back to the calculator and Click 'Log Bet' for it to be automatically saved to your Profit Tracker with all of the details taken from the calculator.
After the game you can go back and tick off whether or not the Horse Finished in the Extra Place. Our Profit Tracker will then automatically update your Total Profit.
5) Sit Back and Relax
There is no need to watch the race, you can just sit back and wait for the outcome, which you can check online, on the Bookmaker, or on the Exchange.
Matched Betting Extra Place Offer Example
Imagine you place a £25 Each Way Bet on a horse called 'Goldsmith', at odds of 10/1, and the bookie is paying out 4 places at 1/5.
You are essentially staking £25 on Goldsmith to Win at odds of 10/1, and £25 on Goldsmith to Finish in the Top 4 at 2/1. So your total stake is £50.
But the Lay Odds for Goldsmith to Win and to Place have gone low enough that we can take advantage of this Extra Place Offer.
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The Lay odds for Goldsmith TO WIN on Smarkets are 11.
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The Lay odds for Goldsmith to FINISH TOP 3 on Smarkets are 3.25.
To Win
To Place
If you type these numbers into the extra place calculator (or click the button below), the calculator will tell you what Stakes to Lay for the Win and the for the Place in order to maximise profit.
For this example it should tell you to place the bets listed below.
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Lay Goldsmith TO WIN on Smarkets with a Lay Stake of £25 at Lay Odds of 11.0.
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Lay Goldsmith TO PLACE IN THE TOP 3 on Smarkets with a Stake of £23.08 at Lay Odds of 3.25.
If Goldsmith Finished 4th Place we Profit £73.08.
But if Goldsmith finished anywhere other than 4th place we Lose £1.92.
This means we have implied odds of 39.06, so we are essentially betting on Goldsmith to finish 4th at odds of 39.06.
The race ends, and Goldsmith Finished 4th, therefore we get paid out by the Bookmaker for the Place, while we don't have to payout for the Place on Smarkets. Since the Win Bets Cancel each other out, overall we profit £73.08.
Different Extra Place Bet Strategies
There aren't many strategies involved in Extra Place bets, but once you understand them you can start doing races with more than 1 Extra Place.
Bets With 1 Extra Place
This is obviously the most common extra place offer, and you have hopefully learned how to do it from the above guide so far. For 1 extra place you would want an implied odds of over 25.0 preferrably.
Bets With 2 Extra Places
Sometimes a Bookmaker may offer 2 extra places, and this is an amazing opportunity to make some easy profit.
The process for this is exactly the same, including how you use the calculator, the only difference is that you only need implied odds of around 10.0 or more to make it profitable in the long run.
You will have a higher probability of landing the extra place since there are 2 of them.
Bets With Even More Extra Places
Also, very rarely, they will offer even more places, as you can see in the picture above offering 8 places instead of 4 places on Skybet.
Will The Bookmaker Ban You For Doing Extra Place Bets?
Bookmaker Sites have algorithms to detect suspicious betting activities, and might notice if you are placing an unusually high amount of Extra Place bets.
While matched betting isn't against the law, bookmakers perceive it as taking undue advantage of bonuses, and they might limit your access to future promotions, or even ban your account.
Nevertheless, if you do it cautiously, you can still make a lot of money from the promotions. We recommend you keep your Extra Places down to a maximum of 1-2 per day, and don't do particularly high stakes.
You can also reduce your chance of being banned by occasionally placing regular bets. This approach helps in portraying yourself as a regular bettor to the bookies. You should still lay these bets to minimise losses.
Should you face restrictions or bans, known as 'gubbing', there is still the option of multi-accounting using a different identity.
Premium Members in Our Discord Group get additional help and guidance to make this as easy as possible, helping to multiply profits and make Matched Betting sustainable.
Which Other Sports have Extra Place Offers?
Extra Place Offers have been around for a while and loads of bookmakers do them, as you can see in the Extra Place Races List, they will most likely be a promotion for a long time since they are clearly profitable for bookmakers.
There are also other sports that have similar Extra Place Offers, it is not just horse racing. These are listed below.
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Greyhound Racing
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Football - i.e. where a team places in a tournament
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Golf
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Snooker
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Tennis
These offers are a bit less common, and therefore they are less profitable. However, it is always worth checking the implied odds when you do see these offers as it is easy profit.
Do you Need Money to Start Extra Place Offers?
People also often wonder how much Bankroll they need when starting matched betting or doing Extra Place Offers.
We recommend you have around £500 bankroll to start, as there is a lot of Lay Betting involved in Extra Places, meaning you will need a lot of money in your exchange account to cover the liability.
If you have not signed up to any Bookmakers yet, you can very easily build up a bankroll of £500+ just from their Sign Up Offers, so you won't have to put any of your own investment into your accounts.
If you have already signed up to all UK Bookmakers, or you have exhausted all of the Sign Up Offers, you can build up a good bankroll through using Reload Offers, Weekly Bet Club Offers, making the most of Price Boosts, and other methods before you start dedicating money towards Extra Places.
How are Each Way Odds Typically Calculated?
Most bookmakers use the following set of rules when deciding how many places they are paying out for on an each way bet.
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1-4 runners in a race: no places, win only contest
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5-7 runners in the race: two places, one quarter of the odds
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8 or more runners in the race: three places, one fifth of the odds
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12-15 runners in a handicap: three places, one quarter of the odds
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16 or more runners in a handicap: four places, one quarter of the odds
But, when they are doing an extra place promotion on a race they obviously add one to each place meaning 5-7 runners would be 3 places instead of 2 places and so on.
Betting exchanges also follow this outline, but you should always check just to make sure you can find a betting exchange with the market you are looking for.
Which Bookmakers have Extra Place Races
There is a long list of UK bookmakers who offer Extra Place Races as a promotion, and we expect it to stay like this. All of the bookmakers that currently do extra place offers are listed below.
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32RedBet
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888Sport
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Bar One Racing
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Bet UK
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Bet365
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Bet600
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Betfair Sportsbook
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Betfred
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BetGoodwin
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BetMGM
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BetWay
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BoyleSports
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BresBet
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Casumo
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Coral
16. FafaBet
17. FitzDares
18. Grosvenor
19. Ladbrokes
20. LeoVegas
21. LiveScoreBet
22. NetBet
23. Paddy Power
24. QuinnBet
25. SkyBet
26. Sporting Index
27. SpreadEx
28. ThePools
29. UniBet
30. VirginBet
31. William Hill
Can You bet on Multiple Horses in one Race?
Yes, you can bet on multiple horses in one race, but you should do each back bet on a different bookmaker.
This is because betting on multiple horses in the same race, with the same bookmaker, can arouse suspicion. However, if each back bet is on a different bookmaker, then they have no way of knowing.
This is actually a great method to increase how many extra place offers you end up profiting from, because if they're in the same race there is a higher probability that one of them finishes in the extra place.
While they can't both finish in the extra place, assuming there is only one extra place, it still increases the overall value, as the probability of each extra place bet winning increases significantly.
But, finding these can be rare as its not often that you will see a good opportunity for 2 horses in the same race on 2 different bookmakers, as the odds for this won't match very often.
You can also do more than 2 horses in the same race if you find it, as long as they're all on different bookmakers.
Which Exchanges Are Best For Extra Place Offers
Common exchanges include Smarkets, Betfair Exchange, and Matchbook.
While Smarkets is the exchange used most often for matched betting, Betfair Exchange and Matchbook both typically offer more place options than Smarkets due to higher liquidity.
Smarkets
Betfair Exchange
Matchbook
As you can see above, Smarkets only have the market to bet on 3 Places for the 14:55 in Southwell, while Betfair Exchange and Matchbook both offer the opportunity to bet on 2, 3 and 4 places for the exact same race.
Smarkets is perfect for extra place offers, but if you want to do an extra place bet without actually using the bookmaker promotion, you can bet on less places using the Betfair Exchange or Matchbook.
Do You Pay Taxes on Extra Place Profits
This is why matched betting is so great. It is absolutely tax free, as, despite the fact that it isn't actually gambling (since we guarantee a profit), it's actually categorised as gambling winnings, which are tax free.
The UK government will never see 1 penny of your matched betting profits.
From Sign-up Offers to Extra Place Bets and all of the other great ways to make money from bookmakers, absolutely none of it is taxable, making matched betting one of the best side hustles around right now.
You do not need to declare any winnings to HMRC since they stopped taxing gambling gains in 2002.
We can keep you updated if they ever do change this, but it is highly unlikely as it would be an unreasonable tax law, where it would be incredibly hard to differentiate between matched betting profits and real gambling profits.