Totalizer
The totalizator is a method for determining the amount of winnings when betting on horse races , the toto , the lottery and the like. Ä. At the totalizator, the betting participants bet among themselves and not against a bookmaker , as is the case with sports betting at fixed odds .
development
This type of bet was invented in France around 1865 by Pierre Oller, a Parisian chemist and perfume dealer; According to other sources, however, the totalizator was developed by the racecourse owner and founder of the Moulin Rouge, Joseph Oller . This type of bet became known under the name pari-mutuel (dt. As much as "bet among themselves"); In the English-speaking world, this bet is therefore also called "parimutuel betting". This system was soon adopted for official betting operations at all major racing courses in the world.
The first totalizator in Germany is a small wooden house at the Great Hamburg Handicap 1870, in which the betting business for this race day was handled. With this, the organizers used a chance to increase their income, as the racing days up to the North German Derby in 1869 became more and more popular .
The German Imperial Court ruled on April 29, 1882 that making books at horse races and betting on the totalizator should be viewed as a game of chance .
The Australian George Julius from Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd. invented the first mechanical totalizer, the first time at the racecourse in 1913 Ellerslie ( New Zealand was used). The first totalizator in the United States went into operation in Chicago in 1933 on the "Arlington Park Racecourse".
Julius, who was later ennobled, founded the “Automatic Totalisators Ltd.” in 1917. (ATL) “and now built electromechanical totalizator machines. The first complete electronic totalizer was developed in 1966. In the early 1970s, almost every major racetrack used an ATL tote.
Totalizator bets can now be made not only at the race track ("on track betting"), but also in betting offices. The entrepreneur of the betting office then does not act as a bookmaker, since he is not an opponent, but as a mere broker of bets, as a so-called "totalizer" [sic].
Today, races can be followed live via the internet stream or on their own special- interest channels on television, and so bets placed on the internet make up a steadily growing share of total sales.
Totalizator quotas
Outright bets
In the simplest case of the bet on victory, the odds for a certain horse are calculated as the quotient of the sum of all stakes minus taxes etc. and the sum of the stakes on the horse placed.
- Example : The winning horse Cherry received € 2,000 and all starters a total of € 6,000. This amount, the so-called gross pool , is now reduced by the so-called take out , approx. 1/6, so that a net pool of € 5,000 is distributed to the winners. The payout ratio is therefore 5/6 or 83.3%.
- The win rate is thus calculated as 5,000 / 2,000 = 2.50. The odds determined in this way are often rounded down to 1/20 ( breakage ) - in this example, however, the result is an exact value, so that no rounding has to be carried out.
- A betting participant who z. For example, if you bet € 20 on Cherry, you get € 2.50 back = € 50, and your net profit is € 30.
Since bets are accepted until the start of the race, the odds are not yet known when the bet is made. Therefore, only the so-called contingent odds , i. e. provisional odds, are displayed. This peculiarity is characteristic of all bets on the totalizator; The difference is that with a bookmaker bet, the odds are fixed when the bet is made.
Place bets
The calculation of the odds for place bets is explained using the following example with three place ranks.
- Example : € 2,000, € 1,000 and € 800 were placed on the three placed horses, Cherry, Black Dream and Morning Star, and a total of € 6,000 on all starters. This amount will now be reduced again by the so-called take out , so that € 5,000 will be distributed to the winners. The sum of the winning stakes, i.e. € 3,800, is now deducted from this amount, the remaining € 1,200 are now divided into three pots of € 400.
- The net quota for Cherry is therefore 400 / 2,000 = 0.20; the gross quota is obtained by adding 1, it is therefore 1.20. A betting participant who z. For example, if you have bet € 20 on Cherry, you will get back 1.20 € 20 = € 24, and your net profit will be € 4 or 0.20 € 20.
- Similarly, the space quotas for Black Dream and Morning Star are calculated at 1.40 and 1.50, respectively.
No provisional place quotas can be announced before the start, as the place quota of a horse depends to a large extent on which horses occupy the other prize ranks: If a horse achieves a place and the other places are occupied by outsiders, the place quota is the highest. However, if the remaining places are taken by favorites, the place quota is low.
Occasionally, if the places are occupied exclusively by horses that are strongly favored by the betting public, the sum of the stakes on the placed horses exceeds the net pool. In this case one speaks of a minus pool , and the result would be a place quota less than one: A betting participant would not even get his stake back - despite his correct prediction. The quota is now set at 1.05 - at the expense of the organizer - so that the betting participant achieves at least a small profit. However, this is not common practice; in Germany, for example, only the stake is reimbursed (10 for 10).
For the calculation of the victory or place quotas in the case of ex aequo placements, see Dead Race
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Margaret Cabell Self The Horseman's Encyclopedia , New York, 1946
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, entry "pari-mutuel"
- ^ The Billion Dollar Betting Machine
- ^ Philip A. Pines: The Complete Book of Harness Racing , p. 221
