A lot of people ask this question of which has the highest odds, Horse racing or Baseball? The very first thing to consider is how the odds are determined.

Determining Odds
This is one of the main differences between horse and baseball betting. In horse racing, ‘pari-mutuel’ betting is used, this means that the bet is mutual and the odds are determined based on the number of punters that wager on a specific horse.

It shows that all bettors of a particular race are in competition against each other for a single pool of cash.

In baseball betting, the bookmaker sets the odds with no regards to the amount of people betting on a specific team or the amount of money that is being used to wager.

Also, in horse racing there is a high level of manipulation and fixing most especially with online websites who offer a betting exchange option. This means than as a punter, you can create your own odds.

Pari-mutuel Betting
This is determined with the use of a formula that considers the total amount of wager on a race, the amount that has been wagered on each horse and the percentage to be kept by the track or off-track site.

The payouts on horse racing are always based on the final odds for the particular race and not the odds that the bettor got when placing the wager. For instance, a punter could have placed a bet when the odds are 2-1, but if the stallion’s odds are 4-1 when the race starts, the bettor will win 2 times of what he/she would have won if the odds had not increased.

Considering how odds are being determined, it is safe to conclude that horse racing has the highest odds and punters would definitely make more money betting on horses than on baseball. The Grand National event is always a great avenue for punters to make money while betting on horses with very high odds.

But how would you recognize a winning horse?

Well, you can start by dong a little research on the previous Grand National winners. A list of the Grand National winners since the year 1950 and their details have been compiled. However, you should take note of this important pointer;

Age definitely matters!
You should totally forget 7 year olds. You would notice from the list that since 1950, there has been no 7 year old winner as the last 7 year old Grand National winner was way back in 1940. The Grand National is a race for experienced thoroughbreds.

8 year olds however, should not be totally ignored. Although, they tend to struggle in the Grand National, 4 have actually won since the year 1990 including the 2017 winner, One For Arthur who had a starting price of 14/1. Even though a few 8 year olds have performed excellently in the past few years, it is still a little bit difficult to put too much faith in the younger stallions.