With some types of betting easier to understand than others, it might be simple to figure out what bets are refundable for certain sports or events. For horse racing, where many permutations and some old-fashioned jargon can get in the way, it can sometimes be tough to see exactly which circumstances are valid to ask for a refund for your horse racing bet.
Since there can be different rules for each bookmaker that offers odds, if you have a specific question in mind to get a refund, it is worth checking out what each bookie says about their rules to avoid being disappointed.
To get the best information around horse racing bets, and for upcoming events and news such as Cheltenham tips, sites such as GG compile everything in one place to make things easy to find.
One of the key areas for people to look for a refund comes when there is a false start. These are not uncommon occurrences and for every famous race in history, there will have been more than one occasion where a false start was declared.
In this case, it will be classified as not being “under starters orders” and if this then means the horse you have placed a bet on is unable to run for whatever reason, a refund will be available for this bet.
Interestingly, there is actually a committee which deals with bets in horse racing and the rules around it to ensure clarity and fairness. Called the Tattersalls Committee, this therefore means that any bookmakers you choose to bet with will file their decisions based on this process set out by this organisation.
If the horse you place a bet on does still fall under starter’s orders but it is deemed by the official starting the race not to have actually started, a refund is possible. A bet placed on a horse whose race is not counted as being under these orders will be liable for a refund.
The horses that are then declared not to be part of the race can also affect the outcomes of the betting stakes in other ways, since the final placements and the available bets for aspects such as positions can be changed if there are no longer the same number of horses running the race.
This can make for some surprises and is where people might rely on the insights of journalists covering the sports to get an idea into how to predict which horses are less or more likely to run a race if it needs to be re-run.
When it comes to keeping up with jargon, it is worth noting that in some locations around the world or even across the UK, different terminology may be used. In this context of horse racing betting refunds, a horse can be described as being scratched off the list instead of not being under starter’s orders or a similar term.
