Every first Tuesday of November, Australians and horse fans around the world invest millions of dollars in Melbourne Cup betting, hoping for a big payoff!
The Melbourne Cup is a display of Australia’s passion for horse racing. Only during the Melbourne Cup Carnival will you find hundreds of thousands of fans lined up to find a seat and fill up the vast Flemington Racecourse. The general admission spectators jump and shout, while corporate guests stay in private boxes and birdcages to watch the race. Melbourne’s most beautiful women display classic dresses with elegant traditional hats while the men wear tuxedos to follow the Melbourne Cup tradition. Most importantly of all, though, the punter in everyone comes out in full force to have a go on the best event in horse racing.
Melbourne Cup Bets
The Melbourne cup is the richest “two-mile” horse race in the world with prize money of more than AUD$6 million to be won in the 2011 Melbourne Cup. While that $6 million prize pool is certainly impressive, it does not compare to the size of the Melbourne Cup betting pools as fans and punters from all over the world put in their wagers at betting sites like Luxbet.
The Cup invites one of the largest volumes of wagers for a horse race anywhere in the world – it is the absolute biggest betting event on the Australian sports calendar. From the time betting opens to the last hour of the race, a constant stream of punters furiously plan the Melbourne Cup betting and make millions of dollars in bets.
Any punter with even the slightest interest in horse racing joins in the Melbourne Cup betting as the wager pool runs into millions of dollars.
Melbourne Cup Betting Options
There are many different Melbourne Cup betting options available for punters. If you are looking to make a wager for the upcoming Melbourne Cup, study each Melbourne Cup betting option and find the best possible odds for you. Melbourne Cup betting options include win bets, place bets, each-way bets, exactas, quinellas, trifectas, and more.
Win – Most Melbourne Cup betting is wagering on the winner. In a win bet, punters place a wager on the horse they think will win. The best odds for win bets are often found at online sports betting sites.
Place – Not as common in Melbourne Cup betting as a win bet, place bets are still popular for punters who want to minimise their risk. To win a place bet, your horse simply has to finish first, second or third.
Each-Way – The each-way bet is actually a win and a place bet on a particular horse, both bets of equal size. This is the ultimate Melbourne Cup betting option for people who want minimal risk. It doesn’t pay of particularly well, though, and most punter would be better off looking into box bets and other exotic betting options.
Melbourne Cup Exotic Bets
Experienced punters can try their luck at complex Melbourne Cup betting options such as quinellas and trifectas. These types of wagers require the punter to pick multiple winners at exactly the same order. Because of the complexity of these wagers, some of them are only available for selected Australian thoroughbred races like the Melbourne Cup.
Here are some of the most popular exotic wagers in the Melbourne Cup:
Melbourne Cup Quinella – A punter must pick predict the top two winners of the race in any order for the wager to win. Punters usually take the top two favourites when making these bets, but there are many other combinations that punters can choose from.
Box Quinella – Punters pick more than two horses to win first or second in the race. The more horses the punter selects in his “box”, the higher his chances of winning. In effect, a box quinella is just multiple quinella bets, but is an easier way to cover every combination of your preferred runners. These bets are easiest to make at an online betting sites, where you can quickly get help from support staff if you need it.
Melbourne Cup Exacta – Like the quinella, punters must pick two horses to run first and second, but in exact finishing order. The exacta is harder to pick than a quinella, with the advantage that it pays out significantly better.
Box Exacta – Just as with the box quinella, the box exacta allows punters to choose a field of 2 or more horses, and it covers every exacta combination of those horses.
Melbourne Cup Trifecta – Punters pick the first three finishers in exact order. It is quite an achievement to pick the Melbourne Cup Trifecta outright, so most punters go with a box trifecta instead.
Box Trifecta – Punters pick any number of horses from 3 to the field limit, and then cover every trifecta combination of those runners.
Melbourne Cup First Four – Punters pick the first four finishers in exact order. Again, getting this right is hard, so punters usually take this as a box bet.
Box First Four – Punters pick a number of horses from 4 to the field limit, and then cover every First Four combination of those horses.
Online sports betting websites and bookmakers provide Melbourne Cup betting odds so that punters around the world can wager without going to Flemington. For many punters, online betting is a good alternative to betting on the racetrack since they can make their wagers from the comfort of their own home and watch live results.
