The Placepot asks you to find a placed horse in each of the first six races at a meeting. You don’t need a winner, just a horse that finishes in the places, six times in a row.
It is a Tote pool bet, so the payout depends on how much is in the pot and how many tickets survive, not on fixed odds. This guide covers the rules, how lines and stakes work, and what happens with non-runners. It is part of our horse racing guides series.
What is a Placepot?
A Placepot is a bet on the first six races at a single meeting, with each race known as a leg. To win, at least one of your selections in every leg has to be placed. Lose one leg and the whole ticket is out.
The Tote’s rules say the standard Placepot runs on the first six races at all British meetings and selected overseas meetings. The bet has to be struck before the first leg starts.
How does the Tote Placepot work?
All Placepot stakes go into one pool. The Tote takes its deduction, and what’s left is shared between the tickets that found a placed horse in all six legs.
The dividend is declared to a £1 stake and paid in proportion to what you staked. Under the Tote rules it is rounded down to the next 10p, and the minimum Placepot dividend is £1.10.
Because it is a pool, the size of the dividend comes down to how many people get through. When well-backed horses finish in the places, lots of tickets survive and the dividend is small. When fancied horses miss out, fewer tickets survive and the share is bigger.
What if nobody wins?
If no ticket finds a placed horse in all six legs, the pool is carried forward to another Placepot chosen by the Tote. Part of a pool can also roll over when there is less than £1 of winning tickets.
How many places does the Placepot pay?
The places that count depend on the number of runners in each race, and they are the same as the Tote’s place pool:
- 2 to 4 runners: 1st only.
- 5 to 7 runners: 1st and 2nd.
- 8 to 15 runners: 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
- 16 or more runners, non-handicap: 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
- 16 or more runners, handicap: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
These are the Tote’s place terms, not a bookmaker’s each-way terms, so don’t assume they match an each-way bet in the same race. Our guide to how each-way bets work covers how bookmakers set their place terms.
If fewer horses finish than there are places on offer, only the finishers count as placed. If horses dead-heat for a placing, all of them count as fully placed.
Lines and stakes: how much does a Placepot cost?
One horse in each leg is a single line. You can pick more than one horse in any leg, and the number of lines is the number of selections in each leg multiplied together.
For example, two horses in leg 1, one in leg 2, three in leg 3, then one, two and one in the last three legs gives 2 × 1 × 3 × 1 × 2 × 1 = 12 lines. Your total outlay is the stake per line multiplied by the number of lines, so 12 lines at 50p each costs £6.
Minimum stakes per line and per bet are set by the Tote and can differ between the app, the website and the on-course windows, so check them where you bet. Lines add up quickly, so decide what you’re happy to spend before building a perm.
Bankers and covering a leg
A leg with only one selection is often called a banker. The usual approach is to stand one horse in races you feel sure about and use extra lines in big fields or competitive handicaps, but every extra horse multiplies the cost of the whole ticket.
The unnamed favourite
In any leg you can pick the unnamed favourite instead of a named horse. Your selection is then whichever horse goes off starting-price favourite. With joint or co-favourites, the one with the lowest racecard number counts.
What happens to a Placepot if a horse is a non-runner?
A non-runner is not void in the Placepot. The Tote rules move that selection on to the starting-price favourite in the same race, and with joint or co-favourites the lowest racecard number is used.
That is different from a fixed-odds single, where a non-runner’s stake is usually refunded and the other bets may face a deduction. Our guide to non-runners and Rule 4 explains how that works with bookmakers.
If a whole leg is abandoned, declared void or ends as a walkover and isn’t re-run that day, every selection in that leg is treated as placed. The bet is then settled on the remaining legs, provided at least one leg takes place.
Placepot, Quadpot and Jackpot: the differences
- Placepot: a placed horse in each of the first six races at one meeting.
- Quadpot: a placed horse in each of races 3 to 6 at a meeting, unless the Tote states otherwise. It is a way back in if your Placepot goes down early.
- Jackpot: the winner of each of six races nominated by the Tote, which can be spread across more than one meeting. One Jackpot pool usually runs each day.
- Placepot 7 and ITV7 Placepot: cross-meeting Placepots with more than six legs, where you need a placed horse in every leg.
Reading a Placepot on a big day
Big Saturday cards, such as Cheltenham’s Paddy Power Gold Cup day on 14 November 2026, tend to bring large fields and competitive handicaps into the first six races. Our Cheltenham November Meeting 2026 guide covers the key races this weekend.
A few things are worth checking on the racecard before you start:
- Field size in each leg. It sets how many places are paid, and a late non-runner can drop a race from three places to two.
- Whether a big-field race is a handicap. With 16 or more runners, a handicap pays four places and a non-handicap pays three.
- Short-priced favourites. If a favourite places, most tickets survive with it, which keeps the dividend down.
- Your total cost. Count your lines before you place the bet, not after.
Remember that it is a pool bet with a deduction taken out. There’s no form angle that guarantees a return, and a bet that keeps you interested all afternoon still costs money.
Placepot FAQ
What is a Placepot?
A Tote pool bet on the first six races at a meeting. You need at least one placed horse in every leg to win, and the pool is shared between all the winning tickets.
How does the Tote Placepot work?
Stakes go into a pool, the Tote takes a deduction, and the rest is split between the winning tickets. The dividend is declared to a £1 stake and paid in proportion to your stake per line.
How many places does the Placepot pay?
It depends on field size: the winner only with 2 to 4 runners, two places with 5 to 7, and three places with 8 or more. A handicap with 16 or more runners pays four places.
What happens to a Placepot if a horse is a non-runner?
Your selection is moved on to the starting-price favourite in that race. With joint or co-favourites, the one with the lowest racecard number is used.
What is the difference between the Placepot and the Jackpot?
The Placepot needs a placed horse in each of the first six races at one meeting. The Jackpot needs the winner of each of six races chosen by the Tote, which can come from more than one meeting.
Sources: checked on 14 November 2026 against the Tote betting rules, the Tote’s Placepot guide and the Betfair Tote introduction to Tote betting.
Header photo: Jezki and My Tent Or Yours in the 2014 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham by Carine06, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped, darkened and with text added; the header image is shared under the same licence.
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