A Quick Guide for Betting on Greyhounds in the UK

Greyhound racing used to be one of the biggest sports in the UK. For a few years in the 1940s, attendance for greyhound racing events would attract up to 70 million fans. On the other hand, totalizer bets would accrue in excess of GBP 150 million.

The sport has significantly declined in popularity. But it’s not dead yet. It’s still a well-organized sport with dozens of competing hounds and thousands of fans who stream the events online. If you’re a punter, betting on greyhounds can give you a chance to boost your profits. 

But how do you bet on greyhounds profitably? Follow our guide below.

Know the Different Races

Contrary to popular belief, greyhound races aren’t created the same. Some races are short. Others are incredibly long. Short races involving two bends are known as sprints. Slightly longer races featuring four bends are known as standard races.

When a race involves six bends, it’s called a stayer. A race with eight bends is categorized as a marathon. There are several more races—hurdles feature four bends but dogs have to race over hurdles. Another race type, handicap, combines hounds of different racing categories.

In many racing events in the UK, organizes put together 10-14 races per day. Races take an average of 15 minutes. Many of these races take place outdoors, often on sand surfaces and race tracks of about 400 meters.

Choose a Betting Provider

After you learn the basics of greyhound racing, find a good betting website. You can always wager on a physical betting shop. But in this age of social distancing and lockdowns, the best way to wager is through online sportsbooks.

Besides, online bookmakers have a lot more benefits than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. They’re convenient, provide better odds, regular bonuses and accept all popular payment methods.

If you’re not sure which betting site to choose, find recommendations on review websites. They do the hard work of comparing bookmakers. Then they rank these companies so that you can choose the best greyhound betting sites easily.

Best Tournaments for Betting

If there’s one thing you can be certain of, it’s that there’s a greyhound racing event in the UK every month. It doesn’t matter the sport isn’t as popular as football or cricket. There are numerous greyhound races throughout the country.

Of course, most gamblers prefer to bet on the derbies. They attract the best hounds, best trainers and have lots of data to help you analyze dogs accordingly. Precisely, the biggest derbies include the Scottish, English and Irish greyhound derbies.

Other major tournaments include the East Anglian Cup, the Select Stakes, the Melbourne Cup in Australia and the Association Cup. Many of these competitions run between April and November, meaning there are plenty of events to look forward to this year.

Bet Types

Greyhound racing has bet types that are similar to those used in horse racing. If you’ve ever wagered on horse racing, you’ll find it straightforward to select greyhound wager types. That said, they are easy to understand even to people who’ve never wagered on greyhound.

• Straight bets—you predict the winning hound. 
• Each Way Bet—you get the full amount if you predict the winner and a partial amount if the hound finishes second or third.
• Quiniela—you predict a dog to finish first or second in whichever order.
• Perfecta—you select two dogs to finish first and second in the exact order.
• Trifecta—involves three dogs. They have to finish in an exact order.
• Superfecta—you predict the first four dogs in the exact order.
• Place bet—you get paid if your dog finishes first or second.

There are many more bet types in the greyhound racing space. For example, you can bet on accumulators, head-to-head and combination bets. You can even bet on the distance separating two hounds. Or you can wager on whether the winning dog will have an odd or even number label on it.

Analyze the Data that Matters

Betting on greyhound racing is like wagering on any other sport. You need to analyze the data that matters to make money. In football, you look at form, team history, injuries, odds, tournaments and league position.

In greyhound racing, you analyze data about the tournament, weather, dogs involved, their ages, weight and records. In small tournaments, it might be difficult to pick hounds correctly unless there’s data about every dog’s record.

In the major competitions, however, there’s usually enough data to make informed betting decisions. For example, you can check the age and of every dog involved. Age is important because it can provide a hint of the hounds to bet on.

Young hounds, for example, perform extremely well in sprints and standard races. Older dogs of between 30 and 30 months are slower in shorter races but can outrun their younger counterparts in marathons.

The surface is another important piece of data to check. Some dogs perform better in wet surface—stronger breeds. By contrast, lighter dogs tend to perform well in dry surfaces, so check the weather beforehand.

Betting Bonuses and Free Bets

Can you get a bonus to bet on greyhound racing? It depends on your sportsbook. Choose a generous betting app and you’ll qualify for rewards every week. Choose a mean bookmaker and you might never get a free bet.

Fortunately, no one says you can’t join multiple betting websites. If one bookmaker doesn’t give you enough free bets, join a bookie with regular bonuses. In fact, you could join two or more betting sites to claim all their bonuses.

Although you want to get regular bonuses from your betting provider, ensure the bonuses have fair terms. That’s because far too many sportsbooks give out bonuses with exploitive terms and conditions.

You could get a free bet but then you have to spend ten times the amount you deposited to claim your profits. Read through the policies to discover whether a free bet gives you value or not. Only claim a bonus if it comes with friendly policies.