With increased competition one would hope that the online gambling experience for horseplayers would improve. But that looks to be not the case. Gambling operators are either ignoring horse racing altogether or incorporating an existing horse racing ADW (Advanced Deposit Wagering) providers into their value offering. For players looking to bet horses online, the number of choices is staying about the same.
Though few in numbers, these ADWs are still competing for your gambling dollar. The list of these reputable large ADWs includes Twinspires.com, Xpressbet, 1/ST Bet, TVG.com, DRF Bets, NYRAbets.com, and BetAmerica. The basic products are very similar but each offers nuances that appeal to people differently.
Let’s look at what should be on the list for new players shopping for a place to bet the ponies.
Sign Up Bonuses
Every gambling provider these days is offering sign up bonuses. My advice is to take them all. Just like with sports betting, you don’t have to use that site forever. Just use it enough to take advantage of the bonus. Since horse racing is parimutuel, there is no odds shopping, different wagers, or middling. Use the sign up bonus as an introduction to that site, evaluate how comfortable you are with it, and go from there.
Deposit/Withdrawal Options
The big horse racing ADW operators all offer the same basic options for deposits and withdrawals, and they are all reputable. The basic deposit/withdrawal options are ACH (bank accounts), credit card, PayPal, Moneygram, Green Dot and PayNearME.
Several also offer the option to use wire transfers, proprietary prepaid cards, in-person “at the track”, check/money orders, etc.
When transacting with one of our recommended and approved ADWs, the general safety of the transaction is never in question. However, it pays to know the fees involved in some of the transactions. Electronic funds transfers via ACH are usually free. Many of the other options have upfront fees. Some are flat fees, others are amount based. I would never pay a fee for this and I recommend you don’t either.
Check the fee structure to make sure you get the most bang for your buck at the windows. If you are depositing $50 it makes no sense to pay a $5 fee.
Referral Programs
Every horse racing ADW has a referral program. The usual procedure is that you get a referral code and have your friends/family use that code when they sign up. You are paid when they deposit and satisfy some minimal wagering requirements.
Some ADWs will pay you with a cash entry into your account balance and others give you wagering credits that expire if unused over a specified time period.
The referral payment amounts have gotten smaller over the past few years. This has made them almost inconsequential. I will make a referral if it comes up, but I will not badger anyone to do it for a $10 referral fee. When the referral fees were $50 or $100….well, that is a different story.
Rewards Program
Every ADW also offers a rewards program based on the amount of money you wager with them. Before you get too excited, you usually have to wager a bunch of money before you see enough “points” to cash in for a $2 or $5 credit.
Larger players can negotiate “rebates”. To become one of those guys you must wager tens of thousands of dollars per month. If you are already in that category you don’t need me telling you which ADW to sign up with.
The basics for the average new player are going to be fairly similar amongst the big ADWs.
Once you have signed up at one or more of these horse racing sites, it is then time to evaluate the actual product offering.
The Bet Pad
The most basic part of choosing between the ADWs is determining your comfort level with their bet pad. You may be surprised at how different the experience can be between the different bet pads. Here are several bet pad options that area matter of personal preference:
- Some stay in-page, others are pop-outs.
- Some are better for multi-horse wagers (exactas, trifectas, etc.) and some are better for multi-race wagers (Pick 3, Daily doubles, etc.).
- One-click betting vs. confirming each bet or not. Some providers give you the option to not confirm your bets. You make this choice in your account settings. Others force you to make a second “confirm bet” click.
- Ease of cancelling. Some ADWs populate your active and placed wagers on the main screen while others make you exit to a wager history or today’s bets screen to cancel.
People focus on different things when they make wagers so this is just a matter of personal preference.
Watching the Races
There are two separate functions of video: the live feed and the replay center. Additionally, there are the general aesthetics of the video offerings to consider.
- Watching the live feed.
When viewing the live race feeds there are several factors to consider:
- Is it a pop-out or in screen view?
- When playing multiple tracks, how many pop-outs can be viewed simultaneously?
- Ease of transition to full screen mode and back
- When the pop-out is activated, is the default volume muted?
- Watching Replays
Every player’s handicapping can be enhanced by viewing replays of past races. The way each ADW provides access to the replays varies. Most of the options for replays should be similar to the options for the live feed, plus a few more things specific to replays. This is what I look for:
- How easy is it to select the replays? Experienced horses usually have multiple prior running lines. I like to see the selection in chronological order with the horse’s name, post position, and program number. With scratches and multiple entries, the program number and post position do not always match up. It is not a good feeling when you are watching the #4 horse only to find that the horse you cared about was the #7 breaking from post 4.
- Is there a head-on option? Gauging action at the break and again in the stretch is greatly enhanced by a head-on view. Not all ADWs provide this.
- Program information from the replay race. I like to see the final odds and results for the whole field when viewing a replay. Some ADWs offer it, some don’t, and some offer pieces of it. For me, I can’t live without all of it.
Access to Data (The Form)
Each horse racing ADW has a partnership with one of the 2 major horse racing data sources, Brisnet or Daily Racing Form. These 2 services provide the main source of formatted and usable horse racing data. The data for both is published in a format called “past performances”. Each also publishes their own version of speed figures to evaluate past races.
The past performances (“pp’s”) are the data you will be using to develop your own methods of handicapping so it is the most important factor in the decision to select an ADW. At first glance it may seem that the 2 forms are the same but after you get used to one or, better yet, find success with one, you may never switch.
Besides the ADWs alignment with one of the data services, there is also a big difference in how they manage the cost of this data. There are 3 general pricing plans:
- Pay as you go. You can buy pp’s for a single race or for all races at that track with no obligation to make a wager
- The ADW may charge you upfront with the agreement to refund the charge if you make predetermined minimum wagers on the tack you purchased
- The ADW may give you the pp’s for any track(s) you choose and only charge you if you do not wager on any of the tracks you downloaded.
I greatly prefer option 3.
In addition to the data in the pp’s, most ADWs also have some prepackaged data analysis tools available. You can click on various elements of their display to drill down on horse, jockey, trainer, track and surface data. The level of granularity and complexity varies by provider.
Depending on an individual’s experience and comfort level, much of this data can be seen as either irrelevant or absolutely mandatory. Getting used to the way this data is presented will probably tell you which ADW is going to be best for you.
Live Odds
Each horse racing ADW has their own way of presenting the current odds but each should make it very straightforward to see the following elements:
- Live win odds
- Win-Place-Show pool amounts
- 2 horse combination matrices for exactas/quinnellas/daily doubles, etc (aka “probables”)
- “Will pays” on the closing leg for multi-race bets
Horse racing is a complex game to gamble on. The user interface and data availability are important factors to measure when selecting an ADW to bet with. Once a player becomes comfortable with the data and the interface, that player is probably a long-term customer as he cannot get that EXACT value offering from a different provider. This is why it is imperative that horse players make the right personal choice when deciding on an ADW to do business with.
