How are Trifecta and Superfecta payouts calculated in Horseracing?

Question

How are Trifecta and Superfecta payouts calculated in Horseracing?

Answer 1

It's a complicated formula... much TOO complicated to try to explain it here.

That being said, the gimmick bets are figured the same way the mutuals are figured.  Remember, you are betting AGAINST the OTHER bettors and NOT against the track.  The only thing the track does is hold the wagers and pay the winners.

Peri-Mutual payoffs are figured by adding up all of the pools for win, place and show separately.  Let's take the Win pool... add all the bets... subtract out the tracks percentage for handling the wagers, divide what is left by the total number of tickets for the winning horse and pay the bettors.  The Gimmick bets are figured the same way, but there is a lot more that comes out for "handling fees">

Answer 2

It's not all that complicated, but with these bets the data used for calculating the payoff is something you never ever see.  

The total amount bet in the pool, minus the takeout (which can be anywhere from 17 to 30 percent depending on where you are) is the net pool.  The net pool is divided up among the number of $1 winning wagers to calculate the payoff per $1 bet.  Since most tracks announce a $2 payoff, all they do is double it.

If there is $400,000 in the trifecta net pool and $4,000 bet on the winning combination, the $1 payoff will be $100.  The difference between this and the win pool is that you see the win pool odds everywhere; there is no place at the track you can see the trifecta odds.

Also, in the event that there are no winning tickets, the trifecta pool is divided among all ticketholders selecting the top two finishers with ANY number in the third slot.  If there are no tickets with the top two horses, then the pool is distributed to those ticketholders with the correct first place finisher and ANY numbers in second and third.  If nobody has the winner in the top spot, the entire pool is refunded.

Same concept with the superfecta.  No winning tickets means they pay off on the first three finishers and ALL for fourth, then the top two finishers and ALL for third and fourth, then the winner and ALL for second, third, and fourth, etc..

These things will not happen frequently at a major racetrack, except when huge longshots run first and second.  But at a smaller track with very little money in the pools, it can happen even with mid-priced horses running in the top spots.