Greyhound racing has its roots in Hare Coursing, where a Hare would be released on a straight track and the first dog to catch it was deemed to be the winner. Coursing had obvious welfare issues and it wasn’t until dogs racing round a circular track, chasing mechanical Hare, was introduced from America that the sport really took off in the UK. The rules are very simple the first dog to get its nose over the finishing line is the winner. This simple formula has an obvious appeal to the gambling fraternity.
Greyhound betting appeals across the class divide but is historically thought of as a working class sport, post war attendances were 30 plus million and on course betting helped to maintain those figures until a change in the law permitted off-course cash bets to be made. This resulted in a decline in figures since the mid 60’s however another change in the law allowing on course betting to be conducted free of tax has helped to stem the decline.
Greyhound racing is popular in the UK, USA, Ireland and Australia and betting across international boundaries is becoming increasingly popular especially via online gambling sites.
As with horse racing there are many ways to place a bet on a greyhound race, some of those are explained below:
To Win – the most straight forward bet the better chooses the dog they believe will cross the line first.
To Place – The bet is made on the dog that you believe will come first or second.
Show Bet – you only win if your chosen dog comes in the first 3.
The Reverse Forecast or Quinella bet – here you chose two dogs that you believe will finish the race in first and second place, you don’t have to identify the order they fill the top two places. An extension to this type of bet is the double Quinella which is the same bet as above but over two consecutive races.
The best Greyhound Betting Odds are normally available for a SuperPerfecta bet – this is where you bet on the order of the first “Four” dogs in a race, you must get the order exactly right in order to win the bet.
Of course there is another way to enjoy greyhound racing other than online odds or at your local bookies. The UK has many greyhound tracks where you can enjoy this wonderful sport, they are scattered all over the UK in Belle Vue, Brighton & Hove, Coventry, Great Yarmouth, Harlow, Henlow, Mliton Keynes, Nottingham, Oxford, Perry Barr, Peterborough, Reading, Romford, Sunderland, Swindon, Wimbledon and many more. If you want a thrilling evening out you’d be hard pushed to do better than ‘going to the dogs’.
