Straight Forecast betting is a fairly unique bet option and one on which you have to correctly predict which horse (or greyhound) you think will come first and second in any race.
You can choose to place a straight forward wager for any stake you like, however the dividend will be announced to a one Pound stake so if you have placed a 10p straight forecast wager and it wins, and the dividend is declared as £33 then your winnings will be £3.30.
Picking the first and second in a race can be quite hard to do however in a greyhound race or a horse race with a small filed their are only a few possible results, so by spending a little time looking at the form could pay dividends.
The dividend of a straight forecast bet is worked out using a mathematical formula which takes into account the odds of the winner and the second, if the odds are higher the straight forecast dividend will be higher, conversely if the first and second favourite come first and second the dividend will be smaller.
The beauty of a straight forecast wager is that you can spend a day betting for relatively small stakes and it only takes one winning straight forecast to come up trumps and you can often end the day with a healthy profit. Open an account at the UK sports book Bet365 and why not try yourself!
Many bookmakers have started to round up to the nearest pound the straight forecast return which means you can get a little extra value by sticking only to those bookmakers that offer this little bonus payout.
You can also have straight forecast doubles and trebles, this is when you perm together more than one straight forecast, be warned these bets seldom win but when they do you can get some massive payouts, so they are not for the faint hearted punter!
Horse Racing Straight Forecast Bets
To place a straight forecast wager simply choose your stake and enter the word straight forecast at the side of your stake and then with the name of your selection onto the betting slip.
The first horse you name will be the one that has o come first and the one you name under this selection will be the horse you need to come second in the race.
You can, should you wish place what is called a reverse forecast, here your two selections can finish first or second, in any order, however when you place this wager it will cost you exactly double the price of a standard straight forecast wager.
So a £1 reverse forecast wager will cost you £2 and as long as your selections finish first and second in any order then you are a winner.
You will also come across a wager that is similar to a straight forecast, this is known as an Exacta bet, once again you have to pick which horse or greyhound you think will come first or second in a race.
The difference with an Exacta is that this sort of wager (when placed at the race course or race track) is part of a pool, this means all bets are placed ion a pool and the number of winning tickets is then divided by the pool to arrive at the Exacta winning dividend.
When you place you Exacta wager online or in a land based bookmakers away from the course your stake is not entered into the pool but you winnings will be paid at the same rate as the on course dividend.
The returns declared on a straight forecast and Exacta bet are usually quite similar but occasionally there can be big anomalies when the outsiders are placed first and second as the Exacta for example will have fewer winning tickets in the pool and hence the returns can be bigger!