One of the great things about horse racing betting is the multitude of Kentucky Derby wager types available at tracks and simulcast sites all around the country. However, legal online racebooks and sportsbooks like Bovada, SportsBetting, BetOnline, BetDSI, and others have all those kinds of wagers and more!
The Kentucky Derby wager types available to members of these Internet racebooks dwarf those that you’ll find at OTBs and even in the best Las Vegas casinos. And the entertainment value inherent in all these options for novice and veteran horseplayers alike rivals that of being at Churchill Downs for the Derby in person. Almost.
Pari-mutuel Betting On The Kentucky Derby
Like all horse racing betting, the majority of Kentucky Derby wager types available to members of online racebooks are of the pool-based, or pari-mutuel, varieties. Pari-mutuel betting on the Kentucky Derby works at online books the same way it works at racetracks themselves, with the posted odds and moneylines being “good guesses” rather than representing fixed payouts.
In other words, you won’t know exactly how much you stand to win on various betting odds for the Kentucky Derby until all bets are in, the boards are closed, and the book takes out its cut (a.k.a. “vigorish”). Winners are paid out from the total remaining betting pool, with the lines indicating the share of the winnings that each victorious bettor is entitled to based on their individual wager amounts. (There are two exceptions to the pari-mutuel nature of Kentucky Derby betting, however: futures bets and prop bets.)
Kentucky Derby Futures Bets
Fixed bets, as opposed to pari-mutuel, pool-based wagers, are available in the days leading up to the big race. These come in the form of Kentucky Derby futures bets, and they are like any other sports betting wager type. The moneyline on a horse racing futures bet indicates exactly how much you stand to win per a given monetary risk, and that amount is fixed at the time you place your bet.
However, Kentucky Derby futures bets are riskier than the pari-mutuel wagers you’ll see on the day of the race, as most futures boards are published in advance and some of the horses won’t actually make the final field for the Derby. If you bet on such a horse, you will not get a refund if he or she doesn’t make the cut for the Run for the Roses.
Kentucky Derby Straight Bets
Kentucky Derby straight bets are not the same as more traditional sports betting straight wagers. Instead, in the context of horse racing betting, straight bets comprise single wagers on Win, Place, and Show outcomes. These types of wagers are also called “WPS” in horseplayer shorthand, and they work this way:
Win – You must pick the winning horse.
Place – You must pick a horse that wins or comes in second.
Show – You must pick a horse that wins, comes in second, or finishes third.
Kentucky Derby straight bets are the simplest kinds to place, and the Show bet in particular typically has the smallest payouts, as it is statistically the easiest wager to predict correctly.
Kentucky Derby Exotic Bets
The real meat of horse racing betting – and the reason for its tremendous gambling allure – comes in the form of the exotic bet type. Kentucky Derby exotic bets are like those at any other horse race, with the exception that they all draw way more action, which means that the payouts are that much better. The most common exotic bets you will see at legal online racebooks for the Kentucky Derby are the following:
Quinella – You must pick two horses that finish in first and second place, in either order. This bet is considered to be average in difficulty. Decent payout.
Exacta – You must pick two horses that finish in first and second, in that exact (exacta!) order. This bet is fairly difficult to win. Great payout.
Trifecta – You must pick three horses that finish in first, second, and third, in order. This bet is considered to be extremely difficult to predict correctly. Very large payout.
Superfecta – You must pick four horses that finish in first, second, third, and fourth place, in order. Superfectas are extremely rare to hit on, and only a handful of bettors pick them correctly in any given Kentucky Derby race. Huge payout.
Daily Double – You must pick the winning horses of two consecutive races. There is a high level of difficulty with this bet, and the payout is quite good.
Pick 3 – You must pick the winning horses of three consecutive races. This is a very difficult wager to win, but the payout is high.
Pick 4 – You must pick the winning horses of four consecutive races. The winning percentage on a Pick 4 is extremely slim, but the payout is massive for a small investment.
Pick 6 – You must pick the winning horses of six consecutive races. Correctly picking a Pick 6 is like winning the lottery. The payouts are huge but extremely rare.
Kentucky Derby Prop Bets
The other kind of fixed (i.e. non-pari-mutuel) wager types available to legal online racebook members are Kentucky Derby prop bets. Proposition bets are rare in horse racing in general, as OTB sites, tracks, and most casinos don’t actually offer them. As such, they are unique to Internet-based horse race betting sites, and they offer a lot of added value to online horseplayers.
Props are typically only available for the biggest Grade 1 stakes races in the world, and because the Kentucky Derby is the biggest one there is, you’re sure to get dozens of props at your legal online racebook of choice. Proposition bets for the Kentucky Derby include wagers of the over/under and yes/no varieties, and common props comprise things like whether or not a horse will beat Secretariat’s Derby record, how many lengths the winning horse will win by, whether or not the Derby winner will take the Triple Crown, and so on.
If you’re interested in checking out all the Kentucky Derby wager types in store for the big race, you definitely want to check out all the unique props your racebook has to offer.