What Does Each Way Mean in Horse Racing: Places and Terms
The word covers two questions that get mixed together. What the bet is takes a sentence. What the bet pays takes a table, because the paid places move with the field and the fraction moves with the type of race.
§ ON THIS PAGE · 11 sections
What each way actually means
“An Each Way bet consists of two parts, the Win part and the Place part. Each part is an equal stake, i.e. £1 EW will cost a total of £2.”
Three consequences follow from that one sentence, and they are the whole subject.
Settlement
Three outcomes, two lines
- 01Wins
Both lines pay. The win line at the full price, the place line at the fraction.
- 02Places without winning
Only the place line pays. The win half of the outlay is lost in full.
- 03Finishes outside the places
Both lines lose, so the whole doubled stake is gone.
OutputJudge every each-way return against the doubled outlay, never against the unit stake.
The rules put the first two outcomes plainly. Where the selection wins,
“If your selection wins, both the 'Win' and 'Place' parts of your bet will pay out”
and where it is placed rather than first,
“In this circumstance the Win part of your stake is lost.”
Win, or win and each way
On a betting slip the choice is presented as a tick box, which makes it look like an upgrade. It is not an upgrade, it is a second bet at the same size, and the two options are not comparable at equal outlay.
Same £20 outlay
£20 win only against £10 each way
- 01All £20 rides on the horse winning.
- 02At 16/1 a win returns £340.
- 03Any other finishing position returns nothing.
- 01£10 on the win, £10 on the place.
- 02At 16/1 with quarter terms a win returns £220.
- 03Third place still returns £50 against the £20 outlay.
Each way is not a safer version of the same bet. It moves £120 of upside on the win branch into £50 on the placed branch.
That is the trade in one line: at 16/1 you give up £120 of return if the horse wins in exchange for £50 if it merely places. Whether that is worth doing depends on the price, and the arithmetic that answers it, including the exact price at which a placed-only result stops losing money, is in the worked race below.
Standard place terms
This is the table people are looking for when they ask how many places an each-way bet gets. Two things set it: whether the race is a handicap, and how many runners start.
| Runners at the off | Non-handicap | Handicap |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 4 | Win only, no places | Win only, no places |
| 5 to 7 | 1/4 the odds, 2 places | 1/4 the odds, 2 places |
| 8 to 11 | 1/5 the odds, 3 places | 1/5 the odds, 3 places |
| 12 to 15 | 1/5 the odds, 3 places | 1/4 the odds, 3 places |
| 16 or more | 1/5 the odds, 3 places | 1/4 the odds, 4 places |
- Non-handicap
- Win only, no places
- Handicap
- Win only, no places
- Non-handicap
- 1/4 the odds, 2 places
- Handicap
- 1/4 the odds, 2 places
- Non-handicap
- 1/5 the odds, 3 places
- Handicap
- 1/5 the odds, 3 places
- Non-handicap
- 1/5 the odds, 3 places
- Handicap
- 1/4 the odds, 3 places
- Non-handicap
- 1/5 the odds, 3 places
- Handicap
- 1/4 the odds, 4 places
Two rows are worth pausing on because popular guides get them wrong.
A five-runner race is not win only. It pays two places at one-quarter. Guides that say anything up to five runners is win only have moved the boundary by one horse, and one horse is the difference between a place bet and no place bet at all. Win only stops at four runners.
A non-handicap never pays four places under standard terms, however big the field. The fourth place is a handicap concession, which is why the Grand National and the big spring handicaps look so different from a Group One.
A worked race
Take a 14-runner handicap, a £5 each way at 16/1.
- outlay:
5 x 2 = £10; - terms from the table: 12 to 15 runners, handicap, so 1/4 the odds, 3 places;
- win decimal: 17.00, place decimal:
1 + (16 / 4) = 5.00; - wins: win line
5 x 17.00 = £85, place line5 x 5.00 = £25, total £110, net plus £100; - second or third: place line only, £25, net plus £15;
- fourth or worse: nothing, net minus £10.
Note the gap between the third and fourth rows. One finishing position is worth £25 of swing on a £10 bet, which is why the paid-places number matters more than the fraction to most punters.
Why the terms are provisional
The table above is read at the start of the race, not at the moment you bet.
“Each-Way bets are governed by our S.P. place betting terms.”
“the place terms (1/4, 1/5 and number of places paid) will be determined by the number of horses coming 'under starter's orders' and not by the number of declared runners when the price was taken”
Betfair states the same dependency:
“the each-way terms are affected by the type of race and the number of runners taking part”
So the 14-runner handicap above is only a 14-runner handicap until three horses come out. At 11 runners it moves into the 8 to 11 band, the fraction falls from one-quarter to one-fifth, and the place decimal on that 16/1 shot falls from 5.00 to 4.20. The paid places stay at three. Nothing about your slip changed except the payout.
The band edges are where this bites hardest. A handicap declared with 16 runners pays four places, and a single withdrawal drops it to 15 and three places. One horse that never leaves the stalls area removes a paid place from every each-way bet in the race, including bets struck days earlier.
Short fields, fallers and ties
Three settlement rules decide most each-way disputes, and none of them is on the bet slip.
A field that shrinks far enough removes the place bet.
“If any race is reduced to four runners or less, all each-way bets will be taken as "all-to-win" given that there are no places.”
A horse that never starts cannot be unplaced.
“For a horse to be deemed not to have been placed in a given race, it must have started that race.”
A shared finishing position divides the place stake, not the odds.
“If a "dead-heat" between two selections is declared on any event, half the stake is applied to the selection at full odds and the other half is lost.”
The full method for ties, including the case where a placed horse still leaves you out of pocket, is on the dead‑heat rules page.
Extra places are a concession, not a term
Promotions that pay a fourth, fifth or sixth place sit on top of the standard table and can be withdrawn or altered.
“From time to time we may offer promotions that pay out on extra placings in a horse race.”
“In the event of a promotional extra place, Sky Bet reserve the right to change the place terms.”
Both operators put the checking duty on the customer rather than on the advertisement:
“The onus is on the customer at all times to check the each way terms on offer”
“The number of places being paid will always be displayed in the Bet Slip.”
The workable habit is to screenshot the slip, because the paid places shown at placement are the only record you control.
When each way is the wrong bet
Each way is a stake decision, not a risk control, and there are three shapes of race where it does not do what people expect.
- Short prices. A placed-only result returns less than the outlay below 4/1 at quarter terms and below 5/1 at fifth terms, so the place line cannot make money on its own.
- Small fields. Five to seven runners means two places, so a place bet on a strongly fancied horse is often close to a coin flip priced like a certainty.
- Non-handicaps with a short favourite. Three places at one-fifth on an eight-runner Group race pays little on the place line and the win line is where all the value sits.
The counterpart is the case each way was built for: a large handicap where four places are paid at one-quarter and the selection is priced long enough that a placed result clears the doubled outlay comfortably.
Ownership boundary
This page owns the meaning, the standard terms and what changes them. Related questions live on their own pages:
- Each-way betting in golf, where terms are set per market
- Ties and dead heats in full
- How each way sits among the other bet types
Evidence manifest4 primary sources mapped to this guideView sources
Each source below is retained with the claims it supports. Operator sources describe published terms, not independent first‑hand performance.
- Sky Bet help centre, Horse Racing Rules (opens in a new tab)
- An Each Way bet consists of two parts, the Win part and the Place part. Each part is an equal stake, i.e. £1 EW will cost a total of £2.
- If your selection wins, both the 'Win' and 'Place' parts of your bet will pay out
- In this circumstance the Win part of your stake is lost.
- Non-Handicap Races 2 - 4 Runners Win Only 5 - 7 Runners 1/4 the Odds 1, 2 8 or more Runners 1/5 the Odds 1, 2, 3
- Handicap Races 2 - 4 Runners Win Only 5 - 7 Runners 1/4 the Odds 1, 2 8 - 11 Runners 1/5 the Odds 1, 2, 3 12 - 15 Runners 1/4 the Odds 1, 2, 3 16 or more Runners 1/4 the Odds 1, 2, 3, 4
- Each-Way bets are governed by our S.P. place betting terms.
- the place terms (1/4, 1/5 and number of places paid) will be determined by the number of horses coming 'under starter's orders' and not by the number of declared runners when the price was taken
- Betfair Sportsbook, Horse Racing Rules (opens in a new tab)
- Each-way bets (Win and Place) are offered for the majority of races.
- the each-way terms are affected by the type of race and the number of runners taking part
- If any race is reduced to four runners or less, all each-way bets will be taken as "all-to-win" given that there are no places.
- For a horse to be deemed not to have been placed in a given race, it must have started that race.
- From time to time we may offer promotions that pay out on extra placings in a horse race.
- The onus is on the customer at all times to check the each way terms on offer
- Sky Bet help centre, Each Way Bets (opens in a new tab)
- The number of places being paid will always be displayed in the Bet Slip.
- In the event of a promotional extra place, Sky Bet reserve the right to change the place terms.
- Betfair Sportsbook, General Sports Betting Rules (opens in a new tab)
- If a "dead-heat" between two selections is declared on any event, half the stake is applied to the selection at full odds and the other half is lost.
Update record, 7 September 2026: new guide built from published operator racing rules, with the full standard place-terms table split by handicap and non-handicap, the runners-at-the-off rule that decides which band applies, and the short‑field and non‑starter exceptions.
FAQ
What does each way mean in horse racing?
It means two equal bets on one horse: one that it wins, and one that it finishes inside the paid places. The place part is settled at a fraction of the win odds, usually one-quarter or one-fifth, so a £5 each way costs £10 and can return money without the horse winning.
What does win and each way mean on a bet slip?
Win puts your whole stake on the horse winning. Each way splits the same unit stake across two bets and doubles what leaves your account. At 16/1, £20 win only returns £340 for a win and nothing otherwise, while £10 each way returns £220 for a win and £50 for a placed finish at quarter terms.
How many places does an each-way bet pay?
Under standard terms, none in a race of four runners or fewer, two in a race of five to seven, three in a race of eight or more, and four in a handicap of sixteen or more. The count follows the runners that come under starter's orders, not the declared field.
Is each way 1/4 or 1/5 the odds?
Both, depending on the race. One-quarter applies to fields of five to seven, and to handicaps of twelve or more. One-fifth applies to eight to eleven runners, and to non-handicaps of eight or more.
Do the place terms change if a horse is withdrawn?
Yes. The terms follow the runners that start, so withdrawals can move a race into a lower band and change both the fraction and the number of paid places after your bet is struck.