Racing & Pari-Mutuel
Pari-mutuel payouts
The money paid to winning bettors from a collective wagering pool after the operator takes its cut, with each ticket's return depending on the total pool and how much was bet on the winner.
- Also called
- Pool betting; tote (from totalisator).
- Applies to
- Horse racing, greyhound racing, jai alai, some lotteries, and multi-race pools like daily double and pick 6.
- Payout formula
- Pool after takeout: WR = WT(1 – r); per-dollar payout: WR / Wm.
Key points
- All wagers of the same type are pooled; deductions (takeout) are removed, and the rest is shared among winning tickets proportionally to their stake.1
- The final payout is not fixed when the bet is placed; it is determined when the pool closes.1
- If there are k winning outcomes, the distributable pool is split into k equal shares before per-dollar payout is calculated.1
Where this term is used
Related terms
Racing
Pari mutuel
The underlying betting system that pools wagers and computes returns.
Racing
Pari mutuel machine
The totalisator device that calculates and displays pari-mutuel payouts.
Racing
Pari-mutuel horse racing
How pari-mutuel betting works specifically in horse racing.
Racing
Pari-mutuel betting example
A worked example showing how payouts are calculated from a pool.
Racing
Pari-mutuel meaning lottery
How the pari-mutuel system applies to lottery games.
Racing
Pari-mutuel slot machine
Slot machines that use a pari-mutuel payout structure rather than fixed odds.
Sources
- Parimutuel betting en.wikipedia.org Provides the definition, formula, and application of pari-mutuel payouts.
Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.