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Here are some tidbits of information and tips that can come in handy if you wish to engage in greyhound betting.
These tips and tidbits are valid regardless of whether you want to bet at the track or if you want to place a bet in an online sportsbook. Online sportsbooks offer a large selection of bets to place. There are a lot of different sports betting websites that feature greyhound racing. Many of them offer generous promotions and bonuses if you start playing with them. Click here to find the latest casino & sports betting promotions.
About the boxes
From a statistical perspective, Box 1 and Box 2 are extra likely to produce winners.
Box 8 has also produced more winners than the average but is considered much more difficult to predict and there is more variation between different racetracks.
Of course, we are only talking statistics here – the results of a huge number of races. Betting on Box 1, 2 or 8 will in no way guarantee a payout. If it did, greyhound betting would seize to function.
It is also important to keep in mind that dogs are living creatures. They are individual and they have individual preferences and abilities. Ideally, learn how the different dogs have performed in different boxes in the past before you make your bet. Some dogs do for instance have a marked tendency to do better when they start from one of the outside boxes, while others are the opposite.
Greyhounds with a tendency to perform better if they start from an outside box are known as Scouters, while Railers have a tendency to perform better if they start from an inside box.
Pay attention to weight fluctuations
Previous to each organized dog-racing event, a multitude of information is released for each dog that will participate, and skilled punters usually pay special attention to a dog´s weight. Have there been any recent fluctuations in weight? A weight gain? A weight loss? Why? A change in weight can be an indication that the dog will perform better or worse than before.
Know who is downgraded and dangerous
When punters say that a certain dog is “downgrade and dangerous” it means that it is starting in a race below the level where it had its most recent success. In essence, it will now be competing against dogs that are not as good as the dogs it competed against during its most recent success. This makes it more complicated to predict how it will perform in relation to the other dogs, which in turn makes betting on the race as a whole more difficult. An experienced punter will make sure to know if any “downgrade and dangerous” dog is registered for the race.
How many dogs can participate in a race?
You need to check local regulations to be sure because this number varies.
In many countries, a greyhound race will never include more than eight dogs. This can take some time getting used to for avid betters on horse races since horse races tend to have a much larger number of participants to take into account.
With only eight (or even less) participants in a competition, your statistical chance of predicting the winner is fairly large compared to events with more participants. Of course, it also means that all the other bettors have a high statistical chance of getting it right – even punters that are neither skilled nor well-informed. With totalisator-betting, expect the prize pot to be shared by a fairly large number of bets.
Because of this, many greyhound punters refrain from simply betting on the winner – especially if the winner is a favourite with a low payout rate for winning bets. Instead, they carry out more complex bets that can bring about a better payout.