Best Horse Racing Betting Sites

Deciding where to start or which of the best horse racing online bookmakers is the one for you can be daunting, but luckily for you, you don’t have to do the hard work, as we have ranked them according to exactly what you need. Rating betting sites is a pleasure for our team due to our passion for the sport and the betting industry.

After years of analyzing sites and reviewing feedback from real bettors, we’ve seen firsthand what makes or breaks a great betting site. Our goal is to connect you with books that aren’t just safe but offer great odds and a smooth experience from sign-up to payout.

Our team of industry-leading experts has scrupulously analysed each horse racing betting site from different angles, and you can find them here at Gambling.com. You simply decide which betting site you like the look of. We have a betting site review for every one of them. You can access these by clicking on any links at the top of the page.

We are committed to promoting responsible gambling. That’s why we only review fully licensed operators and offer tools and resources that address responsible betting practices.

Our experts grade each of the betting sites they review on a scale of one to 10 across 10 different categories that we deem to be most important to sports bettors. To determine these scores, we don’t just sit behind a screen and rate sites—we test them, compare them, and dig into the user experience to see how they stack up. Our process ensures we only recommend betting sites that meet our high standards.

Here is the 10-step rating process we use when evaluating a horse betting site:

1. Check if the bookmaker is licensed, safe, and secure.
2. Sign up for the site and go through the verification process.
3. Deposit real money into the betting account.
4. Claim the welcome offer and verify the terms and conditions.
5. Analyze the value of the odds and the number of betting markets available.
6. Claim promotions for existing customers and verify their T&Cs.
7. Place a range of different bet types across different sports.
8. Contact customer support to ensure a high level of service.
9. Test the desktop site on desktop and the app on both iOS and Android devices.
10. Withdraw funds to confirm available payment methods and average processing times.

At Gambling.com, we assembled a team of genuine horse racing betting experts. All are seasoned horse racing bettors and have helped us arrive at the recommendations on this page. 

Below, you can read what they each look for when choosing a site to bet on racing.

Our in-depth reviews are designed to give you all the information you need to choose a horse racing betting site confidently. Personal preference will also play a big part in deciding which site to bet with.

Here are a few key questions you should ask if you're researching horse racing bookmakers yourself:

Online betting apps all use the same basic format for horse races. The homepage is intuitive, with a list of links pointing to the different races that will be run at the tracks.

When you click on a race you want to bet on, a list of the entries will appear on the screen.

There are horizontal bands lined up one under the other, containing much information beyond the horse names and numbers. The morning line will appear next to the horse number, and the odds will be updated in real time.

You will see the names of the horse’s sire (father) and dam (mother). The trainer and the jockey will be listed, so you have the basic info right before you.

There are buttons for win bets, place bets, show bets, and exotic wagers.

You may find it confusing if the exact betting options aren’t available on every online platform you use. Horse racing offers a wide variety of betting options, and the types of bets can differ across regions like the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. 

This section will give you an overview of the most common bets in these regions.

This bet type is universal. Win wagers are self-explanatory; you're picking which horse will win the race. "Place" and "Show" bets pick which horse will finish in the top positions. A "Place" bet means picking a horse to finish first or second, while a "Show" bet means picking a horse to finish in the top three (first, second, or third).

Picking which bet type to place depends on your risk tolerance and the betting odds. Betting on a favorite place or show is safer but offers smaller returns. Conversely, betting on a long shot can yield significant returns.

Across-the-board bets, covering win, place, and show, can be profitable if the horse wins and provides some return if it places or shows.

Now, we can move on to the exotic wagers.

When you bet an exacta, also known as a forecast bet in Europe, you pick the horses that will finish first and second in the exact order. If you make a straight exacta bet, you pick the one that will come in first and the one that will come in second.

But what if the second horse you bet on finishes first? That happens a lot, so people often play exacta boxes. This is actually two different bets. Let’s say that you like the 7 and the 9 horse. If you play a box, you bet 7-9 in that order and have a 9-7 exacta.

The minimum exacta is $1, so a $1 two-horse exacta box would cost two dollars because you are essentially holding two $1 tickets. You can also box more than two horses, and the cost will increase.

There is no limit on the number of horses you use in your box, but the cost of a huge box can be prohibitive. Even if you are willing to put up the cash, you can collect on an exacta and lose money.

There is also an exacta wheel. You take a horse to win the race and select several different horses to come in second. You can create a ticket with more than one horse on top, but the price keeps increasing.

A quinella, also known as a reverse forecast in Europe, is like an exacta box rolled into a single bet. When you play a straight quinella with two horses, and they are first and second, the exact order of finish is irrelevant. There are straight quinellas, quinella boxes, and quinella wheels, and there is typically a $2 minimum.

This is one of the more customer-friendly exotic wagers. You must pay for two bets with an exacta box to get one winning ticket. A quinella is more efficient because you do not burn any money if you win. (Most tracks do not offer quinellas for this reason.)

Now, we are moving into the exotics that can pay some big bucks.

With a trifecta bet, called a tricast bet in Europe, you pick the three horses that will come in first, second, and third in the exact order. Once again, you can play trifecta wheels, partial wheels, and trifecta boxes.

Since picking the top three horses is difficult, these bets sometimes pay hundreds or thousands of dollars. At most tracks, the minimum trifecta increment is $0.50, but it is $1 at some venues.

When playing a superfecta, sometimes called a supertrifecta or simply a "super" in Europe, you pick the first four horses in their exact finishing order, which is no easy task. Boxes and wheels will be the way to go if you want to play superfectas with much hope of winning.

Since you will need many combinations to have a legitimate chance, the minimum betting increment is just $0.10.

You pick the winners in two consecutive races when you play a daily double, commonly called "double" bets in Europe. The minimum increment is $1 or $2, depending on the track policy. You can pay more and select multiple horses to win each race to increase your chances.

A word of caution: playing four horses in one race and three in the next race may sound like a sure winner. But beware of low payoffs if favorites win, so you must strike a delicate balance.

The Pick 3, typically referred to as a "treble" bet in Europe, is the same concept as the daily double, but you must pick the winners of three consecutive races. Since the task is more difficult, the payouts are higher than the daily double returns.

The minimum Pick 3 bet is just $1 at most tracks.

With a couple of exceptions, Pick 4s are offered at every track at this point. As the number of legs increases, the potential returns get more and more juicy. (In Europe, this bet type is called a "fourfold" or "quadruple" wager.)

The horizontal payouts are based on the odds of winning horses, so they are larger when long shots win unexpectedly.

The Pick 4 bet is favored due to its balance of risk and reward. It involves predicting winners in four races, which is challenging but achievable. Affordable tickets can include multiple horses, and payouts can be substantial, especially with long shots.

Even with moderate favorites, returns are decent.

You want to play a single horse in one race if you can. If you single a race, it will keep the ticket price affordable when you use multiple horses on the other legs.

Can you bet all the horses in every race? Yes, but the total bet would cost over $600 for a $0.50 increment, even if there are no more than seven horses in any race in the sequence. In all likelihood, the Pick 4 will not pay that much. If big favorites win four straight legs, it may pay less than $20.

If you want to aim for a bigger payout, you can attempt to pick the winner in five consecutive horse races. Known as a "kivefold" or "quintuple" bet in Europe, Pick 5 is another market based on a minimum $0.50 increment, but you can bet more if you choose.

At most tracks, the Pick 4 will start in the second race of a Pick 5 sequence. This placement allows you to play the Pick 4 if you are knocked out of the Pick 5 after the first leg.

Using only one horse in one leg is especially important when making these bets. And, of course, you can choose overlapping actions to maximize potential returns.

At most tracks, the Pick 6 (a "Sixfold" or "Sextuple" bet across the pond) is the ultimate bet that centers around consecutive races. When you try to pick the winner of this many races, you need as many entries as possible in each race. That’s easier said than done because it’s expensive to keep adding horses to your ticket.

It is easier at tracks with a $0.20 base Pick 6 wager. The old-school standard is $2, still in place at some tracks like famous Santa Anita in Southern California.

Since it is extremely difficult to pick the winners of that many races, the payouts are significant. How much are we talking about?

In 2017, a lucky bettor won $891,000 on a $2 Pick 6 wager. Back in 2008, a 49-1 shot named Future Prospect crossed the finish line first in the last race at Churchill Downs, and the Pick 6 paid an incredible $1.127 million.

Usually only available for major races like the Kentucky Derby, Breeders' Cup, an ante-post bet is essentially a futures bet, where you back a horse well before the race date. The advantage here is that you can get much longer odds on a horse you fancy, but risks are involved because horses that don’t run in the race are counted as losers.

In-play betting, also known as in-running betting in horse racing, is where you can back a horse in the middle of the race depending on how a horse is doing.

This is particularly useful when you might worry about a horse early on in a race, as some horses might not start very well or be prone to acting up before the race begins. You can see how a horse starts and acts accordingly by waiting until a race has begun to place a bet. However, be cautious if you’re following the live stream (more on that next), as there may be a delay between the actual race and the stream, meaning you could back a horse just seconds before they fall back.

Not every bookmaker offers this service for horse racing.

The following bet types are typically available outside the U.S., primarily in Europe:

• Each Way: This extremely popular bet is placed on a single horse. You bet the horse to win or “place,” usually in the top two or three positions, depending on the number of horses running in the race. For races with fewer than eight horses, the place bet covers the top 2 positions (1st and 2nd), while in races with eight or more horses, it typically covers the top 3 positions (1st, 2nd, and 3rd).
• Betting Without the Favorite: Sometimes you want to back a horse, but think that the favorite cannot be beaten. In this case, you can place a bet without the favourite at revised odds, effectively betting on a race without that particular horse participating in the contest. If you back a horse to win without the favourite and he finishes second, you win your bet.
• Distance Betting: Sometimes you fancy a horse not only to win, but to demolish a field. Some betting sites offer you the chance to lengthen your odds by stating that the horse will win by over 20 lengths.
• Match Betting: Bet on one horse to beat another at odds based on the relative chances of the two horses performing better than the other.
• Trixie: This bet type involves four bets with three selections: three doubles and one treble.
• Lucky 15: This bet type requires you to make four selections and place 15 bets total: four singles, six doubles, four trebles, and one four-fold.

Many horse betting sites use pari-mutuel systems, but some offer fixed-odds betting, depending on the platform and region. In pari-mutuel betting, all the money wagered on a race is pooled together, and the odds are determined by how much has been bet on each horse. The payout changes depending on the pool, so it’s never fixed until after the race.

With fixed-odds betting, you know your payout upfront. For example, place $10 at 5-1 odds, and you'll collect exactly $50 if your horse wins, no matter what happens in the betting market afterward.

Pari-mutuel betting works quite differently. The odds aren't fixed—they shift until post time based on how much money goes where. Your winnings come from dividing the pool among all winning tickets, after the track takes its cut. Those odds on the board? Merely projections that can change dramatically before the race starts.

• Irish Derby
• Champions Day (New Zealand)
• The Plate (Canada)

Horse racing is divided into genres based on breed; here are the most common ones.

Thoroughbreds

The Thoroughbred is the most dominant breed in racing worldwide. Some specialists are bred for specific surfaces, and races are often restricted by gender.

Generally speaking, colts and older male horses are faster than fillies and mares, and male horses have more stamina.

Quarter Horses

Quarter horses are bred to run short distances of a quarter mile or less. There are fewer quarter-horse meets, but quarter-horse racing is very popular in the United States.

Los Alamitos in California, Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico, and Remington Park in Oklahoma are some notable quarter-horse tracks.

Standardbreds

Standardbreds run in harness races, and they pull carriages that are called “sulkies.” The drivers do not have to be extremely light like jockeys. These horses are trained to either trot or pace, which are two slightly different gaits.

The highest quality standardbred races are run in the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

We at Gambling.com take responsible gambling very seriously. Our main goals are to connect you with reliable betting operators while maintaining a safe gambling environment for all users.

Horse racing betting sites must follow strict protocols to spot, prevent, and reduce gambling-related harm. These aren't optional measures; they're legal requirements and essential safeguards that protect vulnerable players from developing problematic habits.

We always keep these requirements in mind whenever we review and rate a betting site, and we only partner with licensed operators that adhere to legal standards. Moreover, all betting sites we review here have responsible gambling tools and resources to help you stay in control of your betting.